Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders—the Democrat from Vermont who served as a U.S. Representative for 16 years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006—has called for a complete ban on the police use of facial recognition.
According to CNN, the proposal to end the use of the technology for policing is part of a broader plan on criminal justice reform that includes the discontinuation of the 1033 program and a pause of the use of algorithmic assessment tools in the criminal justice system until they are audited.
Sanders is the first presidential candidate to call for an outright ban on police use of facial recognition, although a number of other Democratic candidates have expressed concerns about how the technology is being used.
"Police use of facial recognition software is the latest example of Orwellian technology that violates our privacy and civil liberties under the guise of public safety and it must stop," Sarah Ford, a Bernie Sanders campaign spokesperson, told CNN Business.
