a memorandum regarding ordaining face recognition technology ban

CITY OF CAMBRIDGE OFFICE OF COUNCILLOR McGOVERN mmcgovern@cambridgema.gov Marc C. McGovern Phone: [phone removed] City Councillor · Mayor 2018-19 Fax: [phone removed] To: The Cambridge City Council From: Councillor Marc C. McGovern Date: January 13, 2020 Cc: Anthony Wilson, City Clerk Re: Ordaining Face Recognition Technology Ban Councillors: As we begin the work of this new term, I do not want us to lose sight of the effort made by the previous City Council 2018-19 to prepare an amendment to the Surveillance Ordinance by banning municipal use of facial recognition technology. That amendment was already discussed and moved favorably through the committee and was passed to a second reading on December 9, 2019. Having lain on the table the requisite amount of time, it now comes before this Council to be ordained, an action this Council can take at our first meeting of the year on January 13, 2020. I hope this Council will take final action on the facial recognition technology ban and secure for our residents the protections to our civil rights and liberties that lay at the heart of this legislation. As a reminder, several municipalities across the country—and in neighboring Somerville—have passed similar protections, and my Office has worked closely with the ACLU to bring forward not only this amendment but the underlying Surveillance Ordinance. To reiterate testimony that my Office delivered on my behalf at a committee hearing on December 3, 2019: the unregulated and intrusive use of facial recognition technology is so onerous to the idea of a free republic, so intrusive to our daily lives and expectations of due process, and has been shown by other governments to be so menacing and intimidating to our cherished notion of free assembly, free speech, and freedom of thought that the Council is right to erect the further barrier that we seek with the amendment before you today. Before some future Council wishes to authorize this most intrusive of surveillance technologies, they will have to [hold numerous Committee hearings], hear the public, and consider changes through a lengthy amendment process. I ask for this Council’s support in ordaining the amendments to the Surveillance Ordinance by banning the municipal use of facial recognition technology in Cambridge. Best Regards,