pArcane laws banning people from wearing masks in public are now being used to target people who wear face coverings while peacefully protesting Israel’s war in Gaza. That’s a big problem./p pIn the 1940s and 50s, many U.S. states passed anti-mask laws as a response to the Ku Klux Klan, whose members often hid their identities as they terrorized their victims. These laws were not enacted to protect those victims, but because political leaders wanted to defend segregation as part of a “modern South” and felt that the Klan’s violent racism was making them look bad./p pNow these laws are being used across the country to try and clamp down on disfavored groups and movements, raising questions about selective prosecution. Just this month, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost a href=https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-05-08/masked-student-protesters-could-face-felony-charges-under-anti-kkk-law-ohio-attorney-general-warnssent a letter/a to the state’s 14 public universities alerting them that protesters could be charged with a felony under the state’s little-used anti-mask law, which carries penalties of between six to 18 months in prison. An Ohio legal expert, Rob Barnhart, observed that he’d a href=https://www.wosu.org/politics-government/2024-05-07/protesters-could-face-felony-charge-if-arrested-while-wearing-a-mask-under-obscure-ohio-lawnever heard/a of the state’s law being applied previously, even to bank robbers wearing masks. While Yost framed his letter as “proactive guidance,” Barnhart countered that “I find it really hard to believe that this is some public service announcement to students to be aware of a 70-year-old law that nobody uses.”/p div class=mp-md wp-link div class=wp-link__img-wrapper a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/americas-mask-bans-in-the-age-of-face-recognition-surveillance target=_blank tabindex=-1 img width=1200 height=628 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5b813d014d9877b39c43e882a1782bed.jpg class=attachment-4x3_full size-4x3_full alt= decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5b813d014d9877b39c43e882a1782bed.jpg 1200w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5b813d014d9877b39c43e882a1782bed-768x402.jpg 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5b813d014d9877b39c43e882a1782bed-400x209.jpg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5b813d014d9877b39c43e882a1782bed-600x314.jpg 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5b813d014d9877b39c43e882a1782bed-800x419.jpg 800w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5b813d014d9877b39c43e882a1782bed-1000x523.jpg 1000w sizes=(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px / /a /div div class=wp-link__title a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/americas-mask-bans-in-the-age-of-face-recognition-surveillance target=_blank America's Mask Bans in the Age of Face Recognition Surveillance /a /div div class=wp-link__description a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/americas-mask-bans-in-the-age-of-face-recognition-surveillance target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7-mobile is-size-6-tabletAmerican laws should allow people the freedom to cover up their faces in protests or anywhere else./p /a /div div class=wp-link__source p-4 px-6-tablet a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/americas-mask-bans-in-the-age-of-face-recognition-surveillance target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7Source: American Civil Liberties Union/p /a /div /div pOhio officials aren’t the only ones who seem to be selectively enforcing anti-mask laws against student protestors. Administrators at the University of North Carolina a href=https://chapelboro.com/news/unc/unc-asks-pro-palestine-protesters-to-stop-wearing-masks-citing-1953-anti-kkk-lawhave warned/a protesters that wearing masks violates the state’s anti-mask law and “runs counter to our campus norms and is a violation of UNC policy.” Students arrested during a protest at the University of Florida were a href=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2024/04/29/police-make-first-arrests-in-florida-of-pro-palestinian-protesters-at-two-university-campuses/charged with/a, among other things, wearing masks in public. At the University of Texas at Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott and university officials called in state troopers to a href=https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/29/university-texas-pro-palestinian-protest-arrest/violently/a break up pro-Palestinian protests after the school a href=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/ut-austin-police-protest-arrests-19422645.phprescinded permission/a for a rally on the grounds that protesters had a “declared intent to violate our policies and rules.” One of the rules the administrators cited was a university ban on wearing face masks “to obstruct law enforcement.”/p pAt a time when both public and private actors are increasingly turning to invasive surveillance technologies to identify protesters, mask-wearing is an important way for us to safeguard our right to speak out on issues of public concern. While the ACLU has raised concerns about how anti-mask laws have been wielded for decades, we are especially worried about the risk they pose to our constitutional freedoms in the digital age./p pIn particular, the emergence of face recognition technology has changed what it means to appear in public. Increasingly omnipresent cameras and corrosive technology products such as a href=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/18/magazine/facial-recognition-clearview-ai.htmlClearview AI/a allow police to easily identify people. So, too, can private parties. The push to normalize face recognition by security agencies threatens to turn our faces into the functional equivalent of license plates. Anti-mask laws are in effect a requirement to display those “plates” anytime one is in public. Humans are not cars./p pOf course, mask-wearing is not just about privacy — it can also be an expressive act, a religious practice, a political statement, or a public-health measure. The ACLU has chronicled the a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/americas-mask-bans-in-the-age-of-face-recognition-surveillancemask-wearing debate/a for years. As recently as 2019, anti-mask laws were used against a href=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/nypd-arresting-wall-street-protesters-wearing-masks/337706/Occupy Wall Street/a protesters,a href=https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional/white-nationalist-richard-spencer-riles-auburn-campus-three-arrested/5HeaD0TCfvfNI7DuXDUciJ/ anti-racism/aa href=https://wtvr.com/2017/09/19/mask-in-public-court-hearing/ protesters/a, anda href=https://wbhm.org/feature/2019/experts-alabamas-mask-law-is-outdated/ police violence/a protesters. The coronavirus temporarily scrambled the mask-wearing debate and made a mask both a protective and a a href=https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-health-7dce310db6e85b31d735e81d0af6769cpolitical/a act./p pToday, one question that remains is whether and how the authorities distinguish between those who are wearing a mask to protect their identities and those who are wearing one to protect themselves against disease. That ambiguity opens up even more space for discretionary and selective enforcement. In North Carolina, the state Senate is currently considering an anti-protest bill that would remove the exception for wearing a mask for health purposes altogether, and would add a sentencing enhancement for committing a crime while wearing a mask./p pFor those speaking out in support of the Palestinian people, being recognized in a crowd can have extreme consequences for their personal and professional security. During the Gaza protests, pro-Israel activists and organizations have posted the faces and personal information of pro-Palestine activists to intimidate them, get them fired, or otherwise shame them for their views. These doxing attempts have intensified, with viral videos showing counterprotesters demanding that pro-Palestinian protesters remove their masks at rallies. Professionally, employers have a href=https://www.thecut.com/2023/10/israel-hamas-war-job-loss-social-media.htmlterminated workers/a for their comments about Israel and Palestine, and CEOs have a href=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-ackman-wants-harvard-name-104621975.htmldemanded/a universities give them the names of protesters in order to blacklist them from jobs./p pWhile wearing a mask can make it harder to identify a person, it#8217;s important for protesters to know that it’s not always effective. Masks haven’t stopped the a href=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/business/china-protests-surveillance.htmlChinese government/a or a href=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/google-workers-fired-after-protesting-israeli-contract-file-complaint-labor-regulators/Google/a, for example, from identifying protesters and taking action against them. Technologies that can be used to identify masked protesters range froma href=https://www.notus.org/technology/war-zone-surveillance-border-us Bluetooth and WiFi signals/a, to historical cell phone location data, to constitutionally dubious devices calleda href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/police-citing-terrorism-buy-stingrays-used-only IMSI Catchers/a, which pretend to be a cell tower and ping nearby phones, prompting phones to reply with an identifying ping of their own. We may also see the development of a href=https://www.aclu.org/publications/dawn-robot-surveillancevideo analytics/a technologies that use gait recognition or body-proportion measurements. During Covid, face recognition also got a href=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56517033much/aa href=https://www.zdnet.com/article/facial-recognition-now-algorithms-can-see-through-face-masks/ better/a at identifying people wearing partial face masks./p pProtecting people’s freedom to wear masks can have consequences. It can make it harder to identify people who commit crimes, whether they are bank robbers, muggers, or the members of the “a href=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-07/a-ucla-timeline-from-peaceful-encampment-to-violent-attacks-aftermathviolent mob/a” that attacked a peaceful protest encampment at UCLA. Like all freedoms, the freedom to wear a mask can be abused. But that does not justify taking that freedom away from those protesting peacefully, especially in today’s surveillance environment./p pAnti-mask laws, undoubtedly, have a significant chilling effect on some protesters#8217; willingness to show up for causes they believe in. The bravery of those who do show up to support a highly-controversial cause in the current surveillance landscape is admirable, but Americans shouldn’t have to be brave to exercise their right to protest. Until privacy protections catch up with technology, officials and policymakers should do all they can to make it possible for less-brave people to show up and protest. That includes refusing to use anti-mask laws to target peaceful protestors./p

pAmerican communities are being confronted by a lot of new police technology these days, a lot of which involves surveillance or otherwise raises the question: “Are we as a community comfortable with our police deploying this new technology?” A critical question when addressing such concerns is: “Does it even work, and if so, how well?” It’s hard for communities, their political leaders, and their police departments to know what to buy if they don’t know what works and to what degree./p pOne thing I’ve learned from following new law enforcement technology for over 20 years is that there is an awful lot of snake oil out there. When a new capability arrives on the scene—whether it’s a href=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/drawing_blank.pdfface recognition/a, a href=https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/experts-say-emotion-recognition-lacks-scientific/emotion recognition/a, a href=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/061819-robot_surveillance.pdfvideo analytics/a, or “a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/chicago-police-heat-list-renews-old-fears-aboutbig data/a” pattern analysis—some companies will rush to promote the technology long before it is good enough for deployment, which sometimes a href=https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/experts-say-emotion-recognition-lacks-scientific/never happens/a. That may be even more true today in the age of artificial intelligence. “AI” is a term that often amounts to no more than trendy marketing jargon./p div class=mp-md wp-link div class=wp-link__img-wrapper a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/six-questions-to-ask-before-accepting-a-surveillance-technology target=_blank tabindex=-1 img width=1200 height=628 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/a573aa109804db74bfef11f8a6f475e7.jpg class=attachment-original size-original alt= decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/a573aa109804db74bfef11f8a6f475e7.jpg 1200w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/a573aa109804db74bfef11f8a6f475e7-768x402.jpg 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/a573aa109804db74bfef11f8a6f475e7-400x209.jpg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/a573aa109804db74bfef11f8a6f475e7-600x314.jpg 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/a573aa109804db74bfef11f8a6f475e7-800x419.jpg 800w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/a573aa109804db74bfef11f8a6f475e7-1000x523.jpg 1000w sizes=(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px / /a /div div class=wp-link__title a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/six-questions-to-ask-before-accepting-a-surveillance-technology target=_blank Six Questions to Ask Before Accepting a Surveillance Technology /a /div div class=wp-link__description a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/six-questions-to-ask-before-accepting-a-surveillance-technology target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7-mobile is-size-6-tabletCommunity members, policymakers, and political leaders can make better decisions about new technology by asking these questions./p /a /div div class=wp-link__source p-4 px-6-tablet a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/six-questions-to-ask-before-accepting-a-surveillance-technology target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7Source: American Civil Liberties Union/p /a /div /div pGiven all this, communities and city councils should not adopt new technology that has not been subject to testing and evaluation by an independent, disinterested party. That’s true for all types of technology, but doubly so for technologies that have the potential to change the balance of power between the government and the governed, like surveillance equipment. After all, there’s no reason to get a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/six-questions-to-ask-before-accepting-a-surveillance-technologywrapped up in big debates/a about privacy, security, and government power if the tech doesn’t even work./p pOne example of a company refusing to allow independent review of its product is the license plate recognition company Flock, which is pushing those surveillance devices into many American communities and tying them into a centralized national network. (We wrote more about this company in a 2022 a href=https://www.aclu.org/publications/fast-growing-company-flock-building-new-ai-driven-mass-surveillance-systemwhite paper/a.) Flock has steadfastly refused to allow the a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/are-gun-detectors-the-answer-to-mass-shootingsindependent/a security technology reporting and testing outlet a href=https://ipvm.com/IPVM/a to obtain one of its license plate readers for testing, though IPVM has tested all of Flock’s major competitors. That doesn’t stop Flock from a href=https://ipvm.com/reports/flock-lpr-city-sued?code=lfgsdfasd543453boasting/a that “Flock Safety technology is best-in-class, consistently performing above other vendors.” Claims like these are puzzling and laughable when the company doesn’t appear to have enough confidence in its product to let IPVM test it./p div class=mp-md wp-link div class=wp-link__img-wrapper a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/experts-say-emotion-recognition-lacks-scientific target=_blank tabindex=-1 img width=1160 height=768 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/f0cab632e1da8a25e9a54ba8019ef74e.jpg class=attachment-original size-original alt= decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/f0cab632e1da8a25e9a54ba8019ef74e.jpg 1160w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/f0cab632e1da8a25e9a54ba8019ef74e-768x508.jpg 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/f0cab632e1da8a25e9a54ba8019ef74e-400x265.jpg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/f0cab632e1da8a25e9a54ba8019ef74e-600x397.jpg 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/f0cab632e1da8a25e9a54ba8019ef74e-800x530.jpg 800w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/f0cab632e1da8a25e9a54ba8019ef74e-1000x662.jpg 1000w sizes=(max-width: 1160px) 100vw, 1160px / /a /div div class=wp-link__title a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/experts-say-emotion-recognition-lacks-scientific target=_blank Experts Say 'Emotion Recognition' Lacks Scientific Foundation /a /div div class=wp-link__description a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/experts-say-emotion-recognition-lacks-scientific target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7-mobile is-size-6-tablet/p /a /div div class=wp-link__source p-4 px-6-tablet a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/experts-say-emotion-recognition-lacks-scientific target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7Source: American Civil Liberties Union/p /a /div /div pCommunities considering installing Flock cameras should take note. That is especially the case when errors by Flock and other companies’ license plate readers can lead to innocent drivers finding themselves with their a href=https://ipvm.com/reports/flock-lpr-city-sued?code=lfgsdfasd543453hands behind their heads/a, facing jittery police pointing guns at them. Such errors can also expose police departments and cities to lawsuits./p pEven worse is when a company pretends that its product has been subject to independent review when it hasn’t. The metal detector company Evolv, which sells — wait for it — emAI/em metal detectors, submitted its technology to testing by a supposedly independent lab operated by the University of Southern Mississippi, and publicly touted the results of the tests. But a href=https://ipvm.com/reports/bbc-evolvIPVM/a and the a href=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63476769BBC/a reported that the lab, the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (a href=https://ncs4.usm.edu/NCS4/a), had colluded with Evolv to manipulate the report and hide negative findings about the effectiveness of the company’s product. Like Flock, Evolv refuses to allow IPVM to obtain one of its units for testing. (We wrote about Evolv and its product a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/are-gun-detectors-the-answer-to-mass-shootingshere/a.)/p pOne of the reasons these companies can prevent a tough, independent reviewer such as IPVM from obtaining their equipment is their subscription and/or cloud-based architecture. “Most companies in the industry still operate on the more traditional model of having open systems,” IPVM Government Research Director Conor Healy told me. “But there’s a rise in demand for cloud-based surveillance, where people can store things in cloud, access them on their phone, see the cameras. Cloud-based surveillance by definition involves central control by the company that’s providing the cloud services.” Cloud-based architectures can a href=https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/major-hack-of-camera-company-offers-four-key-lessons-on-surveillanceworsen the privacy risks/a created by a surveillance system. Another consequence of their centralized control is increasing the ability of a company to control who can carry out an independent review./p pWe’re living in an era where a lot of new technology is emerging, with many companies trying to be the first to put them on the market. As Healy told me, “We see a lot of claims of AI, all the time. At this point, almost every product I see out there that gets launched has some component of AI.” But like other technologies before them, these products often come in highly immature, premature, inaccurate, or outright deceptive forms, relying little more than on the use of “AI” as a buzzword./p pIt’s vital for independent reviewers to contribute to our ongoing local and national conversations about new surveillance and other police technologies. It’s unclear why a company that has faith in its product would attempt to block independent review, which is all the more reason why buyers should know this about those companies./p