编者按：在中国，人脸识别技术迅速发展，并被广泛地应用于商业、侦查等各领域。但作为人脸识别技术诞生地的旧金山却在5月14日通过了一项禁止人脸识别技术的立法。5月16日，外媒对此作了报道，中英对照版内容如下。

In China, facial-recognition technology works in tandem with security cameras to “track and control” a Muslim minority group. In the U.K., newscasters used Amazon’s Rekognition to identify guests at the royal wedding. But in San Francisco, the birthplace of facial-recognition tech, lawmakers are taking proactive steps to curtail its influence; on Tuesday, the city became the first in the country to vote to ban its use by law-enforcement. The technology, A.C.L.U. lawyer Matt Cagle told The New York Times, gives government “unprecedented power to track people going about their daily lives.” That, he argued, is “incompatible with a healthy democracy.”

在中国，人脸识别技术与安保摄像头结合得以发挥作用。在英国，新闻评论广播员使用亚马逊的Rekognition以在皇室婚礼中识别宾客。然而在人脸识别技术的诞生地旧金山，立法者却积极采取措施以降低该技术的影响力——本周二，旧金山成为美国第一个通过投票立法来禁止使用人脸识别技术的城市。美国公民自由联盟（A.C.L.U）律师Matt Cagle告诉纽约时报，该技术“史无前例地追踪人们日常生活的方方面面”，他认为这“与健康的民主格格不入”。

Facial-recognition technology, which has improved in recent years, has become ubiquitous—you may even use it to unlock your phone. It’s used by police departments in cities like Chicago, New York, and Arapaho County, Colorado, where it helped to solve a pickpocketing case in 2018. Proponents say it’s a valuable tool for public safety. “It is ridiculous to deny the value of this technology in securing airports and border installations,” Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University, told the Times.

近年来，不断发展的人脸识别技术已变得无处不在——你甚至可以用它来解锁手机。2018年，在芝加哥、纽约以及科罗拉多州的阿拉帕霍县，警方用它来帮助侦破扒窃案。支持者认为，该技术对公共安全十分有益。乔治华盛顿法学的宪法专家Jonathan Turley告诉纽约时报，“否定该技术在机场安检以及边境设施防护方面的价值是荒唐的”。

To civil-liberties groups and San Francisco lawmakers, however, it’s ripe for government abuse. The measure to ban its use by police passed the city’s board of supervisors 8-1. “I think part of San Francisco being the real and perceived headquarters for all things tech also comes with a responsibility for its local legislators,” said Aaron Peskin, the city supervisor who sponsored the bill. “We have an outsize responsibility to regulate the excesses of technology precisely because they are headquartered here.”

然而，对于民主自由团体和旧金山的立法者而言，这是对政府权力的滥用。这项禁止使用人脸识别技术的措施在市议会（board of supervisors）中以8:1通过。“我认为，旧金山作为所有科技产品的真实和可感知（real and perceived ）的总部，其部分原因还在于，它对当地立法者负有责任”，提交该法案的市议员（supervisor）Aaron Peskin说，“我们恰恰有巨大的责任来规制技术的过分使用，因为科技公司的总部就在这里。”

Even as it becomes more commonplace, significant flaws have emerged in facial-recognition tech. As S.A. Applin noted in an illuminating Fast Company piece last week, the software isn’t as accurate in identifying non-white, non-cisgender people, which could result in data being “misinterpreted and misapplied.” Advocates say the field is “still evolving.” The fear is that, as with social-media platforms like Facebook, the software itself will be developed and implemented faster than regulations can protect people’s privacy. As such, other cities like Oakland, California, and Somerville, Massachusetts, are considering their own legislative bans. “When you have the ability to track people in physical space,” Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told the Times, “in effect everybody becomes subject to the surveillance of the government.”

虽是老生常谈，但不得不说，人脸识别技术已经开始暴露出巨大的缺陷。正如S.A. Applin上周在《快速公司》(Fast Company)一篇富有启发性的文章中指出的那样，该软件在识别非白人、非顺性者（non-cisgender，个人的生理性别与其行为或其扮演的角色不能完全匹配的人）上并不准确，这会导致数据上的“错误解释和错误适用”。支持者则说，该领域“仍在发展”。而令人担忧的是，类似于脸书等社交平台，软件自身的发展和适用速度很快，规则往往不能及时与之同步而保护人们的隐私。同样的，其他城市，例如加州的奥克兰市以及马萨诸塞州的萨默维尔市也在考虑他们自己的立法禁止（legislative bans）。电子隐私信息中心（EPIC）的执行总监Marc Rotenberg告诉纽约时报，“当你有能力在物理空间追踪人们时，实际上每个人都成为了政府监控的主体。”

新闻源自《名利场》杂志，点击“阅读原文”查看原文                                

责任编辑：余远芳