Civil Rights Commission Releases Report on the Federal Government’s Use of Facial Recognition Technology

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released the report The Civil Rights Implications of the Federal Use of Facial Recognition this week. The report detailed some of the risks of the federal government’s unfettered use of facial recognition technology, including the privacy risks created by “FRT’s potential for surveillance and covert use, paired with the widespread availability of personal information that can be associated with a facial image.” The report also discussed the civil rights risks and the accuracy and bias issues with facial recognition. The Commission recommended that Congress task NIST with developing a testing protocol to assess facial recognition in real-world circumstances, require the adoption of national training standards by entities seeking federal funding for facial recognition, and create a statutory process for legal redress for people harmed by facial recognition. EPIC previously submitted comments to the Commission describing the issues with federal law enforcement use of facial recognition technology and explained how the use of facial recognition for identity verification will lead to ubiquitous use of the technology that law enforcement will use for expanded surveillance.

Earlier this year, EPIC submitted comments in response to DOJ and DHS’ Request for Written Submissions on Sec. 13e of Executive Order 14074 urging DOJ and DHS to center vulnerable communities in its crafting of new guidance on the use of facial recognition, predictive policing technologies, social media surveillance tools, and DNA analysis tools. EPIC argued, as it did in it comments to the Commission, that the best and safest thing to do is prohibit federal law enforcement agencies from using facial recognition technology.