New law in California bans use by police of facial recognition body cameras

California has adopted a law, California’s Body Camera Accountability Act, to block police officers from including facial recognition technology in their body cameras, joining two other states that have created similar laws—Oregon and New Hampshire. According to Gizmodo, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB1215 into law, barring law enforcement from using any “biometric surveillance system” in their body cameras, and enabling people to take legal action against officers who violate the law. The adoption of this law built on San Francisco’s first-of-its-kind ban on government face recognition. According to ACLU, the law ensures that body cameras, which were promised to communities as a tool for officer accountability, cannot be twisted into surveillance systems to be used against communities.