Mobile Police mum on facial recognition contract, citing operational security
The Mobile Police Department is declining to disclose details of a facial recognition contract, stating operational security as the reason for withholding the information.
Why this matters: A police department using facial recognition and refusing to say who built it, what it costs, or how it works is not a security posture. It is a wall against accountability. Facial recognition makes mistakes, and those mistakes tend to land hardest on Black residents. The public has a real interest in knowing what technology is being used to identify them. Operational security is a legitimate shield in narrow circumstances. It is not a blanket reason to hide a vendor contract from the people paying for it.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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