Facial recognition technology has proliferated over the past decade, and so have its critics. Since 2019, several U.S. cities have banned its use by police or local governments. Supporters of the bans say facial recognition systems come with built-in biases and privacy threats. Others hope proper regulation will allow governments to use the technology for good while easing fears of a dystopian surveillance state.

For this feature story, I talked to attorneys, police, researchers and privacy advocates about facial recognition technology and the growing movement to curtail its use by law enforcement and government. While the proposed Denver ban failed to make the 2020 ballot, the trend has continued since I wrote this article. In addition to statewide bans in Vermont and Virginia, a half dozen more municipalities, including Portland, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and New Orleans, have placed prohibitions on the technology.