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<em><strong><a href="https://Ban-Facial-Recognition.EU" target="_blank">Ban Facial Recognition Europe</a> campaign updates and a new chance to make it legal.</strong></em> Press Release, 20th March 2021.
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For the campaign <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=BanFacialRecognitionEU" target="_blank">#BanFacialRecognitionEU</a>, activist <a href="https://paolocirio.net/" target="_blank">Paolo Cirio</a> is delivering <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VG7eKwz-TrMhWRJR07tldT7YQIAf-peJ" target="_blank">a package to various European institutions containing a legal complaint</a>
with evidence of violations and a petition with over 50000 signatures
supporting the ban on Facial Recognition technology in Europe. All about
the campaign:<br>
<a href="https://Ban-Facial-Recognition.EU" target="_blank">https://Ban-Facial-Recognition.EU </a><br><br>
<a href="https://Ban-Facial-Recognition.EU" target="_blank"><img src="https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/pre-images/FR-Pics-package-complaint-1-ww.jpg" width="95%"></a><br><br>
This campaign was initiated by the activist <a href="https://paolocirio.net/" target="_blank">Paolo Cirio</a> in cooperation with <a href="https://www.laquadrature.net/en/" target="_blank">La Quadrature du Net</a>, <a href="https://www.wesign.it/" target="_blank">We Sign It</a>, and thanks to the research from the <a href="https://edri.org/" target="_blank">European Digital Rights advocacy group (EDRi)</a>. <br><br>
Thank you for all of your support and your signatures! <a href="https://ban-facial-recognition.wesign.it/droitshumains/ban-facial-recognition-europe" target="_blank">This petition collected over 52000 signatures and was translated into 5 languages</a>.
This is an astonishing achievement and we want to make your voice
count. We are taking this fight against Facial Recognition to the next
level. <br><br>
<a href="https://paolocirio.net/" target="_blank">Paolo Cirio </a>assembled a legal complaint and delivered it to EU institutions. <a href="https://ban-facial-recognition.eu/FR-Petition-Ban Facial Recognition Europe-2021-CLAIMS.pdf" target="_blank">Read
the legal claims of the complaint against using Facial Recognition
technology for identification and profiling of European citizens.</a><br><br>
This symbolic <a href="https://ban-facial-recognition.eu/#6" target="_blank">legal complaint</a> is based on actual <a href="https://ban-facial-recognition.eu/#4">violations</a> of the <a href="https://ban-facial-recognition.eu/FR-Petition-Ban-Facial-Recognition-Europe-EU.pdf" target="_blank">usage of Facial Recognition technology</a>.
The implementation of Facial Recognition in Europe has resulted in
serious abuses of fundamental rights, a lack of accountability, as well
as the misspending of public funds for several years. European
institutions are responsible for not enacting a clear legal framework
concerning Facial Recognition technology and not enforcing actions for
violations of existing regulations. <a href="https://ban-facial-recognition.eu/FR-Petition-Ban-Facial-Recognition-Europe-EU-CASES.pdf" target="_blank">Read the cases of violation here</a>:<br><a href="https://ban-facial-recognition.eu/FR-Petition-Ban-Facial-Recognition-Europe-EU-CASES.pdf">https://ban-facial-recognition.eu/FR-Petition-Ban-Facial-Recognition-Europe-EU-CASES.pdf</a><br>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGWME1umZqY" target="_blank"><br>
Watch the video statement by Paolo Cirio</a> about Facial Recognition and download material from <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VG7eKwz-TrMhWRJR07tldT7YQIAf-peJ" target="_blank">the press kit about the symbolic action of the delivery of the package with the legal complaint</a>
to the European Commission at the departments CONNECT and JUST, to the
Council of Europe at the Ad hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence,
and to the European Data Protection Supervisor. <br>
<br>
<a href="https://RECLAIMYOURFACE.EU"><img src="https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/pre-images/logo-reclaimyourface-full_color.png" width="95%"></a><br>
<br>
<a href="https://Ban-Facial-Recognition.EU" target="_blank">#BanFacialRecognitionEU</a>
is one of 50 groups and organizations across Europe taking the fight to
the next level: seeking legal recognition of our demands by the EU. You
can do this by formally signing <a href="https://RECLAIMYOURFACE.EU" target="_blank">the new ECI petition by Reclaim Your Face</a>:<br>
<a href="https://RECLAIMYOURFACE.EU" target="_blank">https://RECLAIMYOURFACE.EU</a><br>
This new challenge is fundamental in bringing your voice directly to the
European Commission with the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to ban
biometric mass surveillance practices. This is a legally-recognized
democratic action which calls on the EU for a new law to protect us from
facial recognition, which is why it is so important to sign it even if
you have already signed to <a href="https://Ban-Facial-Recognition.EU" target="_blank">#BanFacialRecognitionEU</a>.
Because it is an official action, the ECI petition also asks you to
enter personal data so that the European authorities can verify your
support. The<a href="https://RECLAIMYOURFACE.EU" target="_blank"> Reclaim Your Face</a>
campaign aims to ban not only Facial Recognition but all biometric
technology (for example, the recognition of you using the way that you
walk) which enables mass surveillance and discrimination. Your signature
on this official petition is about the future of democracy in Europe
which is put in danger by this invasive technology – so join us to make
it legal and <a href="https://RECLAIMYOURFACE.EU" target="_blank">#ReclaimYourFace</a>! <br><br>
<a href="https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/" target="_blank"><img src="https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/pre-images/capture-banner.jpg" width="95%"></a><br><br>
<a href="https://paolocirio.net/" target="_blank">Paolo Cirio</a>
initially promoted the Ban of Facial Recognition in Europe through the
staging of a radical action in France. In this art project titled <em><a href="https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/" target="_blank">Capture</a></em>,
Cirio used Facial Recognition for simulating the identification of
over 4000 French police officers in order to demonstrate the danger of
this technology and the lack of accountability of the French police
officers mis-using it. <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ELbsEY-bc2NDbWrvGAEEGR2XApVNhNOt" target="_blank">This
provocation triggered the reactions of the Interior Minister of France
and the police unions, which then forced censorship of the artwork,
despite it being celebrated by French citizens and the international
press.</a> Read more about the <em><a href="https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/" target="_blank">Capture</a></em> saga here:<br><a href="https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/">https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/</a><br><br>
As activist <a href="https://paolocirio.net/">Paolo Cirio</a> runs other campaigns on the regulation of technology: for the Right to Be Forgotten in the United States with the <em><a href="https://right2remove.us/" target="_blank">Right to Remove</a></em> and in <em><a href="https://sociality.today/" target="_blank">Socially</a></em>
he promoted oversight over the patenting of technology that enables
social manipulation. At the time these campaigns seemed impossible
challenges, and yet Content Moderation in the US is finally now largely
accepted and even Targeting Advertising has been reduced dramatically.
Thus, banning Facial Recognition in Europe and worldwide is also
possible, if not inevitable. <br>
<br>
Ultimately, <a href="https://paolocirio.net/">Paolo Cirio</a> has created a new artwork called <em><a href="https://paolocirio.net/work/bodily/" target="_blank">Bodily</a></em>
that addresses biometric technology and body scanners. With a thermal
camera and faulty artificial intelligence, this video installation
ironically diagnoses the health and mental conditions of the viewers. <em><a href="https://paolocirio.net/work/bodily/" target="_blank">Bodily</a></em>
raises awareness on the lack of regulation of the subsequent expansion
of biometric technology during the current Covid pandemic. <br><br>
<img src="https://paolocirio.net/work/capture/pre-images/FR-Pics-package-complaint-2-w.jpg" width="95%"><br>
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