{"$schema":"https://policywindow.org/wiki/whether-to-govern.json","name":"Policy Window — whether-to-govern register (refusal / prohibition / moratorium / abolition)","description":"The prior question to 'how to govern': documented stances that an AI application should be PROHIBITED, PAUSED, BANNED, or ABOLISHED. Each is reported NEUTRALLY with a named proponent and a verified primary source — Policy Window documents the refusal frame, it does not adopt or endorse it (charter §7). Addresses the methodology §11 'whether-to-deploy' blind spot.","docs":"https://policywindow.org/wiki/whether-to-govern","posture":"Documentation, not advocacy. Every position names its proponent(s) and links a primary source; Policy Window neither endorses nor ranks them, and its 'how to govern' catalog analysis is unchanged.","stanceTypes":{"statutory_prohibition":"Statutory prohibition","moratorium":"Moratorium / pause","ban_campaign":"Ban campaign","abolition":"Abolition / refusal"},"summary":{"total":11,"byStance":[{"stance":"statutory_prohibition","count":5},{"stance":"moratorium","count":1},{"stance":"ban_campaign","count":3},{"stance":"abolition","count":2}],"distinctTargets":11,"inLaw":5},"positions":[{"id":"eu-ai-act-art5-social-scoring","target":"AI social scoring of natural persons","stanceType":"statutory_prohibition","title":"EU AI Act bans AI social scoring","proponents":["European Union (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)"],"summary":"Article 5(1)(c) of the EU AI Act prohibits AI systems that evaluate or classify persons over time by social behaviour or personal traits, where the resulting score causes detrimental treatment in unrelated contexts or disproportionate to the conduct.","sourceUrl":"https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/5/","sourceCitation":"Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Article 5(1)(c) — Prohibited AI Practices (artificialintelligenceact.eu, reproducing the Official Journal text)"},{"id":"eu-ai-act-art5-facial-scraping","target":"Untargeted scraping of facial images to build facial-recognition databases","stanceType":"statutory_prohibition","title":"EU AI Act bans untargeted facial-image scraping","proponents":["European Union (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)"],"summary":"Article 5(1)(e) of the EU AI Act prohibits placing on the market or using AI systems that create or expand facial-recognition databases through the untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage.","sourceUrl":"https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/5/","sourceCitation":"Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Article 5(1)(e) — Prohibited AI Practices (artificialintelligenceact.eu, reproducing the Official Journal text)"},{"id":"eu-ai-act-art5-emotion-recognition-work-edu","target":"AI emotion recognition in the workplace and education","stanceType":"statutory_prohibition","title":"EU AI Act bans workplace and school emotion recognition","proponents":["European Union (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)"],"summary":"Article 5(1)(f) of the EU AI Act prohibits placing on the market, putting into service, or using AI systems to infer emotions of a natural person in the areas of workplace and education institutions, except where intended for medical or safety reasons. The prohibition became applicable from 2 February 2025 (Article 113(a)); the associated penalty/governance regime applies from 2 August 2025.","sourceUrl":"https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/5/","sourceCitation":"Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Article 5(1)(f) — Prohibited AI Practices (artificialintelligenceact.eu, reproducing the Official Journal text)"},{"id":"eu-ai-act-art5-realtime-biometric-id","target":"Real-time remote biometric identification in public spaces by law enforcement","stanceType":"statutory_prohibition","title":"EU AI Act bans live public facial identification by police","proponents":["European Union (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)"],"summary":"Article 5(1)(h) of the EU AI Act prohibits real-time remote biometric identification in publicly accessible spaces for law enforcement, subject to narrow exceptions (e.g. specific serious threats) requiring prior authorisation and safeguards.","sourceUrl":"https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/5/","sourceCitation":"Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Article 5(1)(h) — Prohibited AI Practices (artificialintelligenceact.eu, reproducing the Official Journal text)"},{"id":"san-francisco-facial-recognition-ban-2019","target":"Government and police use of facial recognition technology","stanceType":"statutory_prohibition","title":"San Francisco bans government facial recognition","proponents":["San Francisco Board of Supervisors","Supervisor Aaron Peskin"],"summary":"In May 2019 San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed the Stop Secret Surveillance ordinance (8-1), the first major US city to bar city agencies, including police, from using facial-recognition technology.","sourceUrl":"https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/14/san-francisco-facial-recognition-ban/","sourceCitation":"TechCrunch, 'San Francisco passes city government ban on facial recognition tech' (14 May 2019)"},{"id":"fli-pause-giant-ai-experiments-2023","target":"Training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4","stanceType":"moratorium","title":"FLI open letter: pause giant AI experiments","proponents":["Future of Life Institute","Yoshua Bengio","Stuart Russell"],"summary":"The Future of Life Institute's March 2023 open letter called on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least six months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, citing societal-scale risks; it gathered tens of thousands of signatures.","sourceUrl":"https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/","sourceCitation":"Future of Life Institute, 'Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter' (22 March 2023)"},{"id":"stop-killer-robots-laws-ban","target":"Lethal autonomous weapons systems","stanceType":"ban_campaign","title":"Stop Killer Robots campaign to ban autonomous weapons","proponents":["Stop Killer Robots (coalition of 250+ NGOs)"],"summary":"Stop Killer Robots is a global civil-society coalition campaigning for a new legally binding instrument to prohibit autonomous weapons that select and attack targets without meaningful human control and to ensure human control over the use of force.","sourceUrl":"https://stopkillerrobots.org/the-story-so-far/","sourceCitation":"Stop Killer Robots, 'The story so far' (stopkillerrobots.org)"},{"id":"fight-for-the-future-ban-facial-recognition","target":"Facial recognition surveillance by government and law enforcement","stanceType":"ban_campaign","title":"Fight for the Future: ban facial recognition","proponents":["Fight for the Future"],"summary":"Fight for the Future's Ban Facial Recognition campaign calls for an outright ban on facial-recognition surveillance by government and law enforcement, arguing the technology's threat to civil liberties outweighs any benefit and that regulation is insufficient.","sourceUrl":"https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/","sourceCitation":"Fight for the Future, 'Ban Facial Recognition' campaign (banfacialrecognition.com)"},{"id":"edri-stop-scanning-me-chat-control","target":"Mandatory client-side scanning of private messages (EU 'Chat Control' CSA Regulation)","stanceType":"ban_campaign","title":"Stop Scanning Me: reject EU mass message scanning","proponents":["European Digital Rights (EDRi)","Stop Scanning Me coalition"],"summary":"EDRi and partners' Stop Scanning Me campaign calls on EU lawmakers to reject the CSA Regulation's mandatory scanning of private and encrypted communications ('Chat Control'), arguing mass surveillance and client-side scanning undermine encryption and rights.","sourceUrl":"https://stopscanningme.eu/en/","sourceCitation":"European Digital Rights (EDRi) and partners, 'Stop Scanning Me' campaign (stopscanningme.eu)"},{"id":"stop-lapd-spying-abolish-predictive-policing","target":"Predictive and data-driven policing systems","stanceType":"abolition","title":"Stop LAPD Spying: abolish predictive policing","proponents":["Stop LAPD Spying Coalition"],"summary":"The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition takes an abolitionist stance, organising to dismantle predictive and data-driven policing (e.g. PredPol, Operation LASER) rather than reform them, framing such systems as automating racial violence and banishment.","sourceUrl":"https://stoplapdspying.org/our-fights/data-driven-policing/","sourceCitation":"Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, 'Data-Driven Policing' (stoplapdspying.org)"},{"id":"aclu-clearview-bipa-faceprint-ban","target":"Clearview AI's faceprint database and mass face-surveillance product","stanceType":"abolition","title":"ACLU v. Clearview AI: court-enforced faceprint sales ban","proponents":["American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)"],"summary":"Under Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, the ACLU's lawsuit produced a 2022 settlement permanently banning Clearview AI from selling access to its faceprint database to private entities nationwide, plus added Illinois restrictions.","sourceUrl":"https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/big-win-settlement-ensures-clearview-ai-complies-with-groundbreaking-illinois","sourceCitation":"ACLU, 'In Big Win, Settlement Ensures Clearview AI Complies With Groundbreaking Illinois Biometric Privacy Law' (2022)"}],"relatedLimit":"https://policywindow.org/wiki/methodology#limits","license":"CC BY 4.0","attribution":"Policy Window — policywindow.org"}