Baltimore Bans Private Use Of Facial Recognition Technology

Baltimore has joined Portland, OR, and New York City in passing its own local ordinance regulating the use of certain biometric technology. Baltimore's new ordinance was signed into law August 9th and will be effective as of September 8, 2021. The ordinance includes provisions restricting the City of Baltimore itself from buying any "face surveillance system" or hiring a contractor to deploy such a system on its behalf. Far more noteworthy, though, is the new prohibition on any "person" (individual, entity, or otherwise) "obtain[ing], retain[ing], or us[ing] in Baltimore City ... any face surveillance system; or ... any information obtained from a face surveillance system."

For purposes of the law, "face surveillance" means any "automated or semi-automated process that assists in identifying or verifying an individual based on the physical characteristics of an individual's face." A "face surveillance system" is any hardware or software that performs face