Senator Markey Introduces Bill to Stop the Government’s Use of Face Surveillance and Other Biometric Surveillance Tech

Senators Markey and Merkley along with Reps. Jaypal, Pressley, and Tlaib introduced legislation to stop the government’s use of biometric surveillance, including facial recognition tools. The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2026 prohibits the use of facial recognition and other biometric technologies by federal agencies, including ICE. “Facial recognition poses a significant threat to our privacy and our democracy,” said Jeramie D. Scott, Director of EPIC’s Surveillance Oversight Program. “The technology has been shown to be biased, inaccurate, and disproportionally harmful to people of color. Even 100% accurate facial recognition poses considerable threats to our privacy and civil liberties. The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act takes the right approach on this urgent issue, effectively banning its current use and ensuring Congress will give careful consideration to if and how the technology can be used in the future. EPIC is proud to support it.”

EPIC recently filed a lawsuit against DHS challenging the agency’s unlawful collection and misuse of records describing the First Amendment activity of legal observers and protesters. In particular, the lawsuit challenges DHS’s use facial recognition to capture sensitive personal identifying information of protesters. Earlier this year, EPIC endorsed a bill to ban ICE and CBP from using facial recognition technology. Last year, EPIC organized a coalition letter calling on ICE to end its use of facial recognition in the field.