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Ethics and Emerging Technologies - Facial Recognition

Student's Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Number and Name

Instructor's Name

Assignment's Due Date

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Ethics and Emerging Technologies - Facial Recognition

"Ethics and Emerging Technologies - Facial Recognition," a 2021 article by Chochia,

Archil, and Teele Nässi, addresses an ethical dilemma involving facial recognition technology

today. Based on the publication, police enforcement uses technology to detect prospective

criminal offenders. This has alarmed privacy activists, who claim that such technology could be

employed to profile people and violate their civil freedoms.

The article explains how face recognition technology works and how police enforcement

is increasingly utilizing it. It references a Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology

research, which discovered that police employ the technology in at least 26 states. Furthermore,

the report found that many of these jurisdictions employ the technology with little public

supervision or control, raising significant ethical concerns. One of the primary concerns is the

possibility of misuse and abuse. For example, the technology might be used to monitor

individuals without their awareness or agreement, or it may be employed to target people based

on their background or ethnicity. Moreover, the technology's validity is still being questioned, as

it has been known to yield false results.

The potential exploitation of face recognition technology has resulted in calls for

increased regulation and monitoring. Several jurisdictions, like San Francisco and Somerville,

have already approved rules prohibiting police enforcement from using face recognition

technology. Furthermore, the United States Congress is exploring laws that would prohibit the

use of such technology.

Overall, the article illustrates a severe ethical problem with law enforcement's use of face

recognition technology. The potential for technological abuse and exploitation is quite

concerning, and I feel that more robust regulation and monitoring are required. As a result, recent
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initiatives by numerous municipalities to prohibit the use of face recognition technology and the

possibility of more federal legislation demonstrate that the problem is being taken seriously.
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References

Chochia, A., & Nässi, T. (2021). Ethics and emerging technologies – facial recognition. IDP

Revista De Internet Derecho y Política, (34), 1–12.

https://doi.org/10.7238/idp.v0i34.387466