Ban governments from using AI to conduct mass surveillance of citizens

For (37)

• 

  Meredith Whittaker

  Signal President; AI policy advocate

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  votes For and says:

  We have seen abuse of surveillance powers throughout history, but we have never seen surveillance powers that are as pervasive as what large tech companies have today. [...] Scanning private messages for criminal behaviour could begin to extend into ... more AI Verified source (2026)

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  Ron Wyden

  U.S. Senator from Oregon, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee; longtime advocate for healthcare and technology policy

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  votes For and says:

  The Defense Department is throwing a fit over Anthropic asking for the bare minimum ethical guardrails on how DOD uses its product. That's serious cause for alarm, given AI's ability to turn disparate pieces of public or commercial data into highly r... more AI Verified source (2026)

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• 

  Elissa Slotkin

  U.S. Senator from Michigan; former CIA analyst and Pentagon official; member of the Senate Armed Services Committee

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  votes For and says:

  My bill ensures a human is involved when deadly autonomous weapons are fired, AI cannot be used to spy on the American people, and that a human is on the switch to launch nuclear weapons. AI Verified source (2026)

  added 23d ago

  

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  Greg Casar

  U.S. Representative from Texas; Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus

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  votes For and says:

  This is a flashing red siren for anyone who cares about keeping America safe and free. The Trump administration wants to use A.I. to spy on Americans without a warrant and to give A.I. power to make life and death decisions without humans involved. T... more AI Verified source (2026)

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  Cory Doctorow

  Author and digital rights activist

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  votes For and says:

  I, too, worry about technologies controlled by corporations that have grown so powerful that they defy regulation. I worry about how those technologies are used against us, and about how the corporations that make them are fusing with authoritarian s... more AI Verified source (2026)

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  Caitlin Kalinowski

  Former head of robotics at OpenAI; previously led Meta's Orion AR glasses and Oculus VR hardware

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  votes For and says:

  surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got. Unverified source (2026)

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  Max Tegmark

  Physicist, AI Researcher

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  votes For and says:

  Fully autonomous weapons systems and Orwellian AI-enabled domestic mass surveillance are affronts to our dignity and liberty. [...] Domestic mass surveillance of US citizens is a red line that should never be crossed. [...] Our safety and basic right... more AI Verified source (2026)

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  Sam Altman

  CEO at OpenAI

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  votes For and says:

  Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, ... more AI Verified source (2026)

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  Dario Amodei

  CEO at Anthropic

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  votes For and says:

  We support the use of AI for lawful foreign intelligence and counterintelligence missions. But using these systems for mass domestic surveillance is incompatible with democratic values. AI-driven mass surveillance presents serious, novel risks to our... more AI Verified source (2026)

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  Marc Rotenberg

  Founder and Executive Director, Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP); former president of EPIC

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  votes For and says:

  The key risk is not only "runaway" AI, but the quiet normalization of systems that undermine human dignity, due process, and equal protection because no one is clearly accountable when things go wrong. [...] The central question will be whether gover... more AI Unverifiable source (2026)

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  Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

  UK Green life peer

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  votes For and says:

  In my view, this technology has absolutely no place in the policing of democratic dissent. Unverified source (2026)

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  Shockat Adam

  UK Member of Parliament

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  votes For and says:

  New clause 21 calls for a ban on live facial recognition because it is not safe, lacks legal legitimacy [...] Unverified source (2025)

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  Christopher Vines

  EFF staff writer

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  votes For and says:

  EFF supports strict restrictions on face recognition use by private companies, and total bans on government use of the technology. Unverified source (2024)

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  David Davis

  UK Conservative Member of Parliament

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  votes For and says:

  Live facial recognition has never been given explicit approval by parliament, [...] It is a suspicionless mass surveillance tool that has no place in Britain. Unverified source (2024)

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  Albert Fox Cahn

  S.T.O.P. executive director

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  votes For and says:

  [...] we’ve called for years for a ban on police use of the technology, only to be stalled by City Council bureaucracy. Unverified source (2023)

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  Volker Türk

  UN human rights chief

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  votes For and says:

  OHCHR strongly supports efforts at strictly limiting, or prohibiting as appropriate, [...] highly intrusive surveillance practices Unverified source (2023)

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  Queensland Council for Civil Liberties

  Queensland civil liberties advocacy organisation

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  votes For and says:

  In our view that use of live facial technology in public places should be banned. Unverified source (2023)

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  Silkie Carlo

  Director, Big Brother Watch

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  votes For and says:

  This is an Orwellian mass surveillance tool rarely seen outside of Russia and China and has absolutely no place in Britain. Unverified source (2023)

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  Anna Bacciarelli

  Human Rights Watch senior researcher

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  votes For and says:

  Facial recognition surveillance technology [...] amounts to mass surveillance. We urgently need governments to step up and ban facial recognition surveillance in these spaces [...] Unverified source (2023)

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  Rashida Tlaib

  U.S. Representative, Michigan

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  votes For and says:

  Facial recognition [...] invade privacy, surveil, and criminalize [...] I am fighting for a ban on the use of facial recognition technology Unverified source (2023)

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  Ayanna Pressley

  U.S. Representative, Massachusetts

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  votes For and says:

  By passing this bill, we can prevent government agencies from using this faulty technology [...] our government has no business spying on its civilians. Unverified source (2023)

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  India McKinney

  EFF Director of Federal Affairs

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  votes For and says:

  Face surveillance technology is so harmful to our safety and privacy, and so discriminatory, that government must not use it at all, Unverified source (2021)

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  Ylva Johansson

  EU Commissioner for Home Affairs

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  votes For and says:

  there is no room for mass surveillance in our society. Our proposal bans mass social scoring [...] Unverified source (2021)

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  Evan Greer

  Fight for the Future director

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  votes For and says:

  Facial recognition exponentially amplifies the brutality and injustice of policing in the United States. This is a technology that is fundamentally incompatible with basic liberty and human rights. It’s more like nuclear weapons than alcohol or cigar... more Unverified source (2021)

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  Arisha Hatch

  Color Of Change vice president

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  votes For and says:

  Law enforcement’s use of biometric surveillance exacerbates racial biases in our justice system and inflicts harm on Black people,[...] For too long, mass surveillance and the infringement of civil rights have been used to destabilize and exploit B... more Unverified source (2021)

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  Edward J. Markey

  U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

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  votes For and says:

  This legislation is about rooting out systemic racism and stopping invasive technologies from becoming irreversibly imbedded in our society. We simply cannot ignore the technologies that perpetuate injustice, and that means that law enforcement shoul... more Unverified source (2021)

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  Dragoș Tudorache

  EU MEP; AI Act co-rapporteur

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  votes For and says:

  allow authorities to use technology for mass surveillance, mass social scoring or any type of government control over citizens. Unverified source (2021)

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  Kim van Sparrentak

  Dutch Member of European Parliament

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  votes For and says:

  without knowing, we are all being tracked, followed and identified on the streets by facial recognition cameras [...] let’s ban biometric surveillance in public spaces. Unverified source (2021)

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  Marcel Kolaja

  Czech digital rights activist; former MEP

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  votes For and says:

  this report calls for a ban on facial recognition systems in public space. That’s an important step in fighting against mass surveillance. Unverified source (2021)

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  Richard Stallman

  Free software movement founder

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  votes For and says:

  I therefore urge you to prohibit the installation of systems that systematically collect Americans' images, [...] as they move around the US. Unverified source (2020)

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  Bernie Sanders

  U.S. Senator from Vermont

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  votes For and says:

  We need to ban the use of facial recognition technology by the police. Unverified source (2020)

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  Patrick Breyer

  Member of European Parliament, Pirate Party

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  votes For and says:

  Now is the time for the Commission to live up to its promises on ethical AI and propose a ban on biometric mass surveillance! Unverified source (2020)

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  Amnesty International

  Human rights NGO

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  votes For and says:

  Amnesty calls for a ban on the use [...] of facial recognition technology for mass surveillance purposes by the police and other state agencies. Unverified source (2020)

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  Andrew G. Ferguson

  Law professor, University of D.C.

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  votes For and says:

  Federal legislation should be drafted to ban generalized face surveillance for all ordinary law enforcement purposes. Unverified source (2019)

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  Mike Duggan

  Former mayor of Detroit

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  votes For and says:

  DPD is not permitted to use facial recognition software for surveillance and I will never support them doing so. Unverified source (2019)

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  American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

  US civil liberties advocacy organization

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  votes For and says:

  The ACLU is calling on U.S. policymakers to contend with the technology’s enormous power, prohibit its use for mass surveillance, [...] Unverified source (2019)

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  ARTICLE 19

  Free expression and human rights organisation

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  votes For and says:

  States should ban the indiscriminate and untargeted use of biometric technologies to process biometric data in public and publicly-accessible spaces. Unverified source

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Abstain (0)

Against (8)

• 

  Alex Ayala

  Milwaukee Police Association president

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  votes Against and says:

  It causes a lot of cases to get solved. It’s another tool we’re now not going to have. That facial recognition can potentially solve homicides, [...] Unverified source (2026)

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  David Maclean, Baron Blencathra

  UK Conservative life peer

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  votes Against and says:

  the right response is to legislate proportionate limits and accountability, not to pre-emptively ban a narrowly targeted operational capability at protests Unverified source (2026)

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  Chris Philp

  UK policing minister (at time)

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  votes Against and says:

  In an afternoon they made seven arrests for serious offences including rape. I would like to see police across the country adopting this technology to identify and arrest serious wanted criminals, especially sex offenders, violent criminals and drug ... more Unverified source (2023)

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  Kathy Parker

  West Lafayette City Council member

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  votes Against and says:

  Rather than an outright ban, which I think is dangerous because it can prevent law enforcement from catching criminals, I would rather not ban it but maybe place limits on it,[...] I feel that if anything, though imperfect, it’s better than bad eyes... more Unverified source (2021)

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  Daniel Therrien

  Privacy Commissioner of Canada (2014–2022)

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  votes Against and says:

  The use of facial recognition in public places is a sensitive matter, but I wouldn't say it should be banned altogether. Unverified source (2021)

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  Don Erickson

  CEO, Security Industry Association

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  votes Against and says:

  We believe that eliminating the potential benefits to Bostonians by completely banning its use is premature. Unverified source (2020)

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  Michael Punke

  AWS vice president, global public policy

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  votes Against and says:

  New technology should not be banned or condemned because of its potential misuse, Unverified source (2020)

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  Daniel Castro

  Director, Center for Data Innovation

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  votes Against and says:

  a blanket ban on facial recognition technology does nothing to address those [...] and only makes it more difficult for police to investigate crimes AI Verified source (2019)

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