You're probably correct on his intent, thanks. Disagree, though. I would be in favor of outright banning public use of the technology until we flesh out more thoughtful legislation. Sadly, I'm afraid that'll be quite awhile from now, because this is a country that juuuuuust finally decided to ban robocalls, and America largely hasn't mulled over facial recognition tech yet. We're too busy destroying each other to have a conversation, possibly setting the stage for Chinese Skynet (literally!) to swoop in and pull the rug out from under us. <--- Another super 2020 sentence. Would there be a black market of facial recognition software? Yeah, 'specially because there probably already is, and once something's online, it's online forever. Rogue actors and small organizations would be using the tech for nefarious purposes, but it would be easily prosecutable, one thing we need to make sure is always possible. For now, a flat out public usage ban would prevent a lot of companies (and the gov't contracting them) from doing some rotten things. "What about application of the software to photos taken in public places previous to the law's passage?", asks the reptilian, Zuckerburg, after Mickey Mouse whispers to him. Well, Mark and Mickey, we're glad you asked. Imagine the costs you could cut with this shit! Imagine the datasets! Now take those hopes and dreams, and shove them up your asses. Thanks guys, I hope that covers it. We have enough creepy tech companies. I don't want "SPiED ya!" or whatever having a $50 trillion IPO, bankrolled by Peter Thiel II, will.i.am, and a beautiful Russian woman who insists her name is Not Putin. I don't want an iPhone 69Xfourtwenty with face unlock either, but it was somewhat heartening to see Tim Cook stand up to Bill Barr recently (sidenote: the FBI might be starting to stand up to Bill Barr too). It could be that Barr is actually most interested in accessing Apple's database of faces, for a new backdoor into potentially anything switching over to facial authentication. wasoxygen I don't want law enforcement using this either. I believe that some amount of privacy is a civil liberty we should work to preserve via policy, even though I understand you probably disagree (edit: you probably expect that the free market will somehow produce privacy, as a commodity? I'm not sure it even could, but I'm against that, on principle. I'm afraid that privacy requires law, and law requires government). License plate scanners, ehhh, I'm a little iffy on, because it's almost like keeping tabs on a deadly weapon (your car), but I'd say I'm still overall against them. But there are civilians driving around with license plate scanners, and then selling the data to police departments for cash. Nah, man. Not OK.