UCLA backtracks on plan for campus facial recognition tech

After expressing interest in processing campus security camera footage with facial recognition software, UCLA is backing down.

In a letter to Evan Greer of Fight for the Future, a digital privacy advocacy group, UCLA Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck announced the institution would abandon its plans in the face of a backlash from its student body.

“We have determined that the potential benefits are limited and are vastly outweighed by the concerns of the campus community,” Beck wrote.

The decision, deemed a “major victory” for privacy advocates, came as students partnered with Fight for the Future to plan a national day of protest on March 2. UCLA’s interest in facial recognition was a controversial departure from many elite universities that confirmed they have no intention to implement the surveillance technology, including MIT, Brown, and New York University.

UCLA student newspaper the Daily Bruin reported on the school’s interest in facial recognition tech last month, as the university proposed the addition of facial recognition software in a revision of its security camera policy. According to the Daily Bruin, the technology would have been used to screen individuals from restricted campus areas and to identify anyone flagged with a “stay-away order” prohibiting them from being on university grounds. The proposal faced criticism in a January town hall meeting on campus with 200 attendees and momentum against the surveillance technology built from there.

“We hope other universities see that they will not get away with these policies,” Matthew William Richard, UCLA student and vice chair of UCLA’s Campus Safety Alliance, said of the decision. “… Together we can demilitarize and democratize our campuses.”