"Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have turned state driver’s-license databases into a facial-recognition gold mine, scanning through millions of Americans’ photos without their knowledge or consent," Drew Harwell reports for The Washington Post. "Police have long had access to fingerprints, DNA and other 'biometric data' taken from criminal suspects. But the DMV records contain the photos of a vast majority of a state’s residents, most of whom have never been charged with a crime."
According to documents obtained by the Georgetown University law school's Center on Privacy and Technology, state motor-vehicle databases have become "the bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure," which both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have criticized as "dangerous, pervasive and error-prone," Harwell reports. "Neither Congress nor state legislatures have authorized the development of such a system." In 21 states and D.C., federal agencies are allowed to scan driver's license photos, but the scans must be relevant to a criminal investigation.
"Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), the House Oversight Committee’s ranking Republican, seemed particularly incensed during a hearing into the technology last month at the use of driver’s license photos in federal facial-recognition searches without the approval of state legislators or individual license holders," Harwell reports. Jordan said, "They’ve just given access to that to the FBI. No individual signed off on that when they renewed their driver’s license, got their driver’s licenses. They didn’t sign any waiver saying, 'Oh, it’s okay to turn my information, my photo, over to the FBI.' No elected officials voted for that to happen."
Modern policing routinely uses facial recognition to track down low-level suspects, with database searches often authorized by emails between a federal agent and a local official, records show. Some communities have banned their law enforcement officials from using facial-recognition software because they believe it's government overreach and breaches the public's trust, Harwell reports.
Officials from the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and the Secret Service will testify Wednesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security about their agencies' use of the technology.
According to documents obtained by the Georgetown University law school's Center on Privacy and Technology, state motor-vehicle databases have become "the bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure," which both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have criticized as "dangerous, pervasive and error-prone," Harwell reports. "Neither Congress nor state legislatures have authorized the development of such a system." In 21 states and D.C., federal agencies are allowed to scan driver's license photos, but the scans must be relevant to a criminal investigation.
"Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), the House Oversight Committee’s ranking Republican, seemed particularly incensed during a hearing into the technology last month at the use of driver’s license photos in federal facial-recognition searches without the approval of state legislators or individual license holders," Harwell reports. Jordan said, "They’ve just given access to that to the FBI. No individual signed off on that when they renewed their driver’s license, got their driver’s licenses. They didn’t sign any waiver saying, 'Oh, it’s okay to turn my information, my photo, over to the FBI.' No elected officials voted for that to happen."
Modern policing routinely uses facial recognition to track down low-level suspects, with database searches often authorized by emails between a federal agent and a local official, records show. Some communities have banned their law enforcement officials from using facial-recognition software because they believe it's government overreach and breaches the public's trust, Harwell reports.
Officials from the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and the Secret Service will testify Wednesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security about their agencies' use of the technology.
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