UCLA cancels facial recognition amid backlash over privacy likening use to George Orwell’s ‘1984’

UCLA cancelled a plan to use facial recognition technology on campus after students protested over privacy concerns, including one critique that likened use of the digital surveillance to George Orwell’s book, ‘1984.’ 

The school issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that its plan for using facial recognition was scrapped due to the privacy concerns that were expressed.

‘UCLA will not pursue the use of this technology,’ wrote UCLA administrative vice chancellor Michael Beck in a statement released on Wednesday.

UCLA cancelled a plan to use facial recognition technology on campus after students protested over privacy concerns

One critique of UCLA's decision to use facial recognition, before scrapping the plan, likened use of the digital surveillance to the dystopian novel, '1984', by George Orwell (pictured)

One critique of UCLA’s decision to use facial recognition, before scrapping the plan, likened use of the digital surveillance to the dystopian novel, ‘1984’, by George Orwell (pictured)

‘We have determined that the potential benefits are limited and vastly outweighed by the concerns of our campus community,’ he explained in the statement, obtained by MailOnline.com.

The Los-Angeles-based public university wanted to use facial recognition to raise an alarm if someone who was banned from campus suddenly showed up at the school.

UCLA also had wanted to use the technology to recognize and authorize individuals seeking access into restricted areas. 

However the school wasn’t prepared for backlash from students, as well as a national movement against such surveillance measures. 

The editorial board of the school’s newspaper, ‘The Daily Bruin’, published a story last month that opens with, ‘2020 is looking more and more like ‘1984.’ That is, UCLA is watching you’, in a reference to Orwell’s dystopian novel. 

The editorial board of 'The Daily Bruin,' in a story responding to UCLA's plan to use facial recognition, rapped the school for not heeding student concerns

The editorial board of ‘The Daily Bruin,’ in a story responding to UCLA’s plan to use facial recognition, rapped the school for not heeding student concerns

The book published in 1949 describes an imagined, future society ruled by an oppressive, totalitarian ‘Big Brother’, who employs government surveillance measures on every aspect of a citizen’s life.

The newspaper points out that UCLA had not learned its lesson after it had also scrapped a 2018 plan to centralize on-campus surveillance cameras and give campus police access to footage during emergencies, after students had also complained. 

‘Rather than learning from students’ reactions to campus surveillance, UCLA seems to have jumped off the deep end by taking a page out of Big Brother’s playbook,’ the editorial board wrote. 

‘The implementation of facial recognition technology would present a major breach of students’ privacy and make students feel unsafe on a campus they are supposed to call home,’ explains the editorial board. 

‘It is one thing to monitor campus activity with security cameras, but it’s another entirely to automatically identify individuals and track their every move on campus.’

Fight for the Future, an advocacy group, issued a letter on Thursday in support of student protests against facial recognition across the country.

'Fight for the Future,' an advocacy group, issued a public letter on Thursday in support of students against campus surveillance across the US. It website links to a landing page, banfacialrecognition.com, which describes how the technology (pictured) is used

‘Fight for the Future,’ an advocacy group, issued a public letter on Thursday in support of students against campus surveillance across the US. It website links to a landing page, banfacialrecognition.com, which describes how the technology (pictured) is used

Images showing how facial recognition works are included at banfacialrecognition.com

Images showing how facial recognition works are included at banfacialrecognition.com

The group’s website includes links to the landing page, banfacialrecognition.com, which includes an interactive map of schools and other institutions that have chosen to pass on facial recognition, or which are considering its use. 

The site also points out schools in the states of Washington, Colorado and Texas that were using facial recognition. 

University of Colorado was cited by advocacy group Fight for the Future for using facial recognition

University of Colorado was cited by advocacy group Fight for the Future for using facial recognition

The University of Texas uses facial recognition at its Memorial Stadium, according to advocacy group Fight for the Future's landing page, banfacialrecognition.com

The University of Texas uses facial recognition at its Memorial Stadium, according to advocacy group Fight for the Future’s landing page, banfacialrecognition.com

They include the University of Texas, which uses the technology at its Memorial Stadium, and University of Colorado, which is currently experimenting with facial recognition under a project funded by US military and intelligence agencies.

The St. Therese Catholic Academy and University Child Development School, both in Seattle, Washington, are also using facial recognition, according to the website.

Fight for Life says it is in the process of testing Amazon’s Rekognition algorithm on UCLA atheletes and faculty, complaining that the technology incorrectly had placed the faces of black people on to other people’s mug shots. 

The findings expanded on previous concerns that the technology has a higher error rate for black people and women.  

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk