San Francisco, Oakland, and other cities have enacted moratoriums on government use of the tech. New York looks like a harder sell. CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY PUSHED FOR BANS ON POLICE USE OF facial recognition in cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Somerville, Massachusetts. Now, a coalition led by Amnesty International is setting its sights on the nation’s biggest city—New York—as part of a drive for a global moratorium on government use of the technology.