Under then-Attorney General Mike DeWine in 2016, Ohio granted the FBI access to Ohio's database of driver's license photos from 2011 amid objections from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and others.

Ohioans who were driving in 2011 likely have unwittingly had their driver's license photos run through facial-recognition software by the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the mining of Bureau of Motor Vehicle databases nationwide — never authorized by Congress or state legislatures — has occurred for years without the knowledge or consent of millions of drivers, the vast majority of whom never have committed a crime.

In Ohio, the BMV provided the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, under then-Attorney General Mike DeWine, with millions of driver's license photos in 2011 to populate the agency's fledgling facial-recognition software program to help identify criminal suspects beginning in 2013.

DeWine and BCI then granted the FBI access to the Ohio database in 2016 amid objections from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and others. The Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who may be seeking to identify undocumented immigrants, and also apparently can search through Ohioans' years-old driver license photos.

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The office of Attorney General Dave Yost did not answer questions about the federal access and use of BCI's facial-recognition system Monday, only responding it does not manage the BMV's photo database.

Department of Public Safety Director Thomas Stickrath, who oversees the Ohio BMV and was BCI director under now-Gov. DeWine, said the motor vehicle agency has not turned over any other driver's license photos for use in the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway computer system since 2011.

Due to the cost and logistics involved, the BMV decided after providing the initial millions of photos to not participate further in the facial recognition program, Stickrath said.

He "doubts" that Ohio drivers were informed in 2011, or earlier, that their photos would end up in an online database that can be searched by thousands of federal and local law enforcement officers in hopes of identifying criminals on the loose — or identifying unknown bodies.

Although he served as BCI director when the FBI entered an agreement with Ohio over access to its database, Stickrath said he was unfamiliar with the details.

Citing privacy concerns and sketchy technology, Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the ACLU of Ohio, urged DeWine in August 2016 not to grant federal access to Ohioans' photos. The system also contains mug shots of state prisoners.

“The FBI has a history of employing secret mass surveillance, and documented problems with management of facial recognition technology. We question why Ohio would consider giving the FBI even more ability to access personal information, with minimum security and oversight, and with no opportunity for public input," he said.

The Post reported that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, 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.

“They’ve just given access to that to the FBI,” Jordan said. “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 OK to turn my information, my photo, over to the FBI.’ No elected officials voted for that to happen.”

rludlow@dispatch.com

@RandyLudlow