The University of California, Los Angeles, announced this week that they will not be moving forward with a plan to use facial recognition technology on campus. The decision comes ahead of a planned day of protests by students and advocacy groups that focus on privacy rights.
According to a report by VICE News, UCLA has abandoned plans to adopt facial recognition technology on campus. The university was set to move forward with its plans to install a facial recognition system onto its existing security cameras before students pushed back.
Student groups announced on February 11 that they would host a “National Day of Action” to bring attention to plans like the one considered by UCLA to bring facial recognition technology to campus.
“Momentum is growing, as thousands of students, faculty, and alumni have signed a petition to ban the technology, 400 concerned community members have emailed UCLA over the past week, and a facial recognition vendor removed their page marketing to college campuses when questioned by a reporter,” a press release read.
The university announced this week that they have abandoned their plans to adopt the technology. “We have determined that the potential benefits are limited and are vastly outweighed by the concerns of our campus community,” UCLA said in a statement to the press.
“Students should not have to trade their right to privacy for an education, and no one should be forced to unwittingly participate in a surveillance program which will likely include problematic elements of law enforcement,” Darragh said. “This automation of racial and political profiling threatens everyone, especially students, faculty, and campus guests of color. Students have an obligation to prevent this technology going mainstream, beginning with university campuses, where we have the most power and we know how to win.”
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.