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County That’s Home to Microsoft and Amazon Votes to Ban Government Use of Facial Recognition

The measure, the first of its kind to pass at a county level, would prohibit the government from purchasing and using facial recognition.

Washington’s King County Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ban government purchasing and use of facial recognition software. The bill now heads to the desk of County Executive Dow Constantine, who is expected to sign it. If signed into law, the measure would be the first county-level ban on facial recognition technology, prohibiting the King County sheriff from using the technology, though a spokesman said the department does not currently make use of it. King County is home to two of the country’s largest makers of facial recognition software, Microsoft and Amazon. Other similar measures have passed at the city level. City or state government entities within King County would still be allowed to buy and use facial recognition under the measure. Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles told The Seattle Times of her reasoning for the bill, “I think that the technology raises huge concerns, primarily on the inaccuracy of the technology, demographic biases and encroachment on civil liberties and privacy for everybody.”