AOC is sounding the alarm about the rise of facial recognition: 'This is some real life Black Mirror stuff'

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voiced concerns about the rise of facial recognition during a House hearing Wednesday.
• "This is some real life Black Mirror stuff that we're seeing here," Ocasio-Cortez said.
• Her remarks came during a House Oversight Committee hearing on private sector use of facial recognition.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is raising concerns about the spread of facial recognition, arguing that the technology will quickly become dystopic without regulation.

The New York Democrat even likened some of the potential abuses of facial recognition to something fit for an episode of "Black Mirror," the science-fiction television show that explores the dangerous side of our fascination with technology.

"This is some real life Black Mirror stuff that we're seeing here," Ocasio-Cortez said during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on facial recognition technology.

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Facial recognition is being developed by dozens of tech companies, including Microsoft and Amazon. When implemented, the artificial intelligence-driven software makes it easy for corporations or governments to identify people and track their movements.

But, as many critics in addition to Ocasio-Cortez have long pointed out, the potential for the technology to be abused is huge.

Wednesday's hearing included testimony from privacy advocates and industry representatives. Ocasio-Cortez brought up issues from privacy to discrimination, and cited studies that have shown facial recognition has a racial bias problem.

Ocasio-Cortez also highlighted that corporations can sell people's face data gathered from apps.

"People think I'm going to put on a cute filter and have puppy dog ears and not realize that that data's being collected by a corporation or the state, depending on what country you're in, in order to surveil you potentially for the rest of your life," she said.

Watch Ocasio-Cortez's full remarks below:

.@repAOC @AOC on facial recognition technology: "This is some real like Black Mirror stuff that we're seeing here."

Full video here: https://t.co/FBdcS09m1D pic.twitter.com/skGiiQbdjp

- CSPAN (@cspan) January 15, 2020