On 15.10.2020, we appealed to the company Wind in light of its statement about incorporating a facial recognition technology in its crowd-shared electric scooters. The company claimed that this move was meant to prevent the use of electric scooters by minors and anybody without a driver’s license, through a biometric processing of a copy of the driver’s license and photo of the user, and a computerized comparison between the two.
In the appeal, Attorney Gil Gan-Mor, Director of the Social and Economic Rights Units at ACRI, listed a number of concerns regarding the use of an invasive biometric technology, including the fear of leaked sensitive information. We further argued that even with the consent of users, it is still the social responsibility of the company to avoid using technology for unnecessary commercial purposes, due to the possibility of a severe violation to the privacy and liberties of users. We called upon the company to retract its decision and find another solution to the issue.