The FBI is preparing to launch a facial recognition database this summer that includes photos of people without criminal records- and a court case in New York may expand the ability of the government to request data from Facebook to help.

The bureau’s database, called the Next Generation Identification system, or NGI, builds upon the government’s fingerprint database and is slated to be operational this summer, according to the FBI. This database will contain photos of anybody who sends images as part of an application for a job that requires fingerprinting or a background check – even if that person has no criminal record – according to research by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy advocacy organization. The FBI is slated to have 52 million face images by 2015, according to the EFF.

Facebook, by comparison, processes more than 350 million new images each day from its 1.28 billion monthly active users. The social network’s friends lists and group pages also make it easier for the company to narrow down possible results when helping customers tag photos using facial recognition.

Facebook’s DeepFace facial recognition system has a 97 percent level of efficiency, which any government surveillance network would envy. That’s even better than the FBI’s new system, which so far promises an 85 percent chance of identifying a suspect from a photo, according to the EFF.

The social network is appealing a court case from 2013 that might allow the FBI the chance to request some of the facial recognition information as it uses biometrics to follow targets.

Last year a New York judge ordered Facebook to turn over nearly all of the social network’s account data on 381 people, including pages they liked, their messages – and perhaps most dangerously – their photos. Facebook is arguing this broad use of warrants for data requests violates the Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable searches by the government. The warrants led to 62 charges in a disability fraud case but the government may keep the seized data indefinitely.

“Facebook says its face recognition system uses proprietary algorithms so it’s unlikely that the FBI would be able to use Facebook’s system to identify users,” says Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney with the EFF. “However, with a warrant, the FBI could get Facebook users’ photos, along with all other information about those users, and could then use its own face recognition system to try to identify other people in those photos.”

When asked for a comment on the case, Facebook’s press team pointed to a blog post by its Deputy General Counsel Chris Sonderby, which reiterates its efforts to push back against government data requests.

“We will continue our legal fight to retrieve data that has been seized and retained by the government,” Sonderby said. “We believe search warrants for digital information should be specific and narrow in scope, just like warrants for physical evidence. These restrictions are critical to preventing overreaching legal requests and protecting people’s information.”

The government forbid Facebook to speak about the case until recently. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has already criticized requests for the social network’s user data made by the National Security Agency.

Companies are interested in facial recognition also since such biometric tools could help tailor advertisements to people. The National Telecommunications & Information Administration is leading a process with companies and privacy groups to create a voluntary code of conduct for nongovernment use of face recognition. Despite this effort the FBI have not established any rules to protect privacy or to limit its own collection or retention of data, Lynch says.