that's not how technology works. You can't just ban some digital practice or software, you can only shift the center of development and commerce to some other country, reaping all of the negatives with none of the wealth or power associated with it. No government will successful ban facial recognition in any meaningful way because they don't have the power to enforce something like that

I'm generally in favour of "facial recognition bans" that are really bans on government use of facial recognition (with caveats for trivial uses like unlocking phones etc., although to be honest I'm really not sold on facial recognition as a phone unlocking mechanism). This is a necessary step to limit the power of the state (not that I really trust intelligence agencies etc. not to continue using this stuff covertly).

On the other hand, a broader ban on use/development by everyone is kinda scary and authoritarian. Reminds me of attempts to ban crypto etc.. I feel like there's frequently a tendency to view such bans as mostly affecting the big tech companies that don't deserve our sympathy, but as an individual who develops software for my own interest, as well as in an academic context, I'm sympathetic towards the harmless novelty applications for facial recognition, as well as serious lines of academic research, neither of which should be stamped out by the state.

Just forget about laws that protect us from misuse of technology. It's all about power and money. Facial recognition is going to get better and better and be used to commit crimes against humanity. If you don't like that you'll have to find ways to stop the technology. The law won't be able to do it the technology too much power.

There are way to balance things out. It's not a hopeless situation, we just need to realize what to focus on.