FBI, ICE Are Running Facial Recognition Searches Against State Drivers' Databases

from the access-all-areas dept

Biometric databases have a hunger for data. And they're getting fed. Government agencies are shoving every face they can find into facial recognition databases. Expanding the dataset means adding people who've never committed a crime and, importantly, who've never given their explicit consent to have their personal details handed over to federal agencies.

Thanks to unprecedented levels of cooperation across all levels of government, FBI and ICE are matching faces using data collected from millions of non-criminals. The agencies are apparently hoping this will all work out OK, rather than create a new national nightmare of shattered privacy and violated rights. Or maybe they just don't care.

Thousands of facial-recognition requests, internal documents, and e-mails over the past five years, obtained through public-records requests by Georgetown University researchers and provided to The Washington Post, reveal that federal investigators have turned state Department of Motor Vehicles databases into the bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure. Police have long had access to fingerprints, DNA, and other ‘‘biometric data’’ taken from criminal suspects. But the DMV records contain the photos of the majority of a state’s residents, most of whom have never been charged with a crime.

This is nothing new for the FBI, which has long had access to facial recognition databases loaded with low-res photos and millions of innocent peoples' faces. ICE's access to these databases may be a bit newer, but it has been increasing its surveillance power for years.

The thing about the access to state DMV databases is it may not be strictly legal. There's been no Congressional authorization of federal agency access to state databases. This hasn't been approved via statute at state level either. Members of the House Oversight Committee are now asking questions about FBI and ICE's access, but this concern arrives several years after the fact.

ICE's access to these databases promises to work out well for the agency. A number of states have extended driving privileges to undocumented immigrants and more state legislatures are looking to add that option. This feeds even more faces and personal info into databases ICE can access, allowing the agency to streamline its immigration enforcement operations.

So far, neither of the agencies are willing to comment on the issue. ICE refused to comment on its DMV database access, claiming any further details would hurt its enforcement efforts. The FBI was forced to comment during recent oversight hearings, but the statement it delivered is nothing more than jingoistic jargon.

Asked to comment, the FBI cited congressional testimony last month of Deputy Assistant Director Kimberly Del Greco, who said facial-recognition technology was critical ‘‘to preserve our nation’s freedoms, ensure our liberties are protected, and preserve our security.’’

As it stands now, the FBI has access to more than 641 million face photos, according to the Government Accountability Office. The GAO also noted the FBI's facial recognition software was inaccurate, its databases were loaded with non-criminals, and the DOJ had expressed zero interest in scaling back access or improving the quality of its data haystacks. How this is edging the nation closer to the misty-eyed ideal the Deputy Assistant Director trotted out before Congress last month is anyone's guess.

All the talk about preserving liberties and protecting liberties doesn't mean much when most of the nation's drivers are unwilling participants in the federal government's facial recognition experiments.

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Filed Under: data sharing, drivers' licenses, facial recognition, fbi, ice