Ah, but I do miss the innocence of my youth. Those were the days when
we thought our biggest fear was contacting a case of the Clap. How
little did we know.
Carl Jarvis
Subject: [EXTERNAL] FBI, ICE Using Facial Recognition To Bulk-Scan DMV
Photos In "Unprecedented Surveillance Infrastructure" | Zero Hedge
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-08/fbi-ice-bulk-scanning-dmv-photos-facial-recognition-unprecedented-surveillance
FBI, ICE Using Facial Recognition To Bulk-Scan DMV Photos In
"Unprecedented Surveillance Infrastructure"
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) along with Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been using state driver's license
databases to run photos
of millions of Americans through facial-recognition systems without
their knowledge or consent, according to the
Washington Post.
inline-images/racial%20rec
block quote
Thousands of facial-recognition requests, internal documents and
emails over the past five years, obtained through public-records
requests by Georgetown
Law researchers and provided to The Washington Post, reveal that
federal investigators have turned state departments 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 a vast
majority of a state’s residents, most of whom have never been charged
with a crime. -
Washington Post
block quote end
Disturbingly, neither Congress nor state legislatures have authorized
this type of system, and none of us agreed to it when we obtained
licenses.
"They’ve just given access to that to the FBI," said Rep. Jim Jordan,
ranking GOP member of the House Oversight Committee. "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 okay to turn
my information,
my photo, over to the FBI.’ No elected officials voted for that to happen."
"Law enforcement’s access of state databases," and in particular those
of the DMV, is "often done in the shadows with no consent," added
House Oversight
Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD).
And as has been reported for some time, law enforcement has been
relying on facial recognition technology as a routine investigative
tool for years - and
it's
going to get worse.
block quote
Since 2011, the FBI has logged more than 390,000 facial-recognition
searches of federal and local databases, including state DMV
databases, the Government
Accountability Office
said
last month, and the records show that federal investigators have
forged daily working relationships with DMV officials. In Utah, FBI
and ICE agents logged
more than 1,000 facial-recognition searches between 2015 and 2017, the
records show. Names and other details are hidden, though dozens of the
searches
are marked as having returned a “possible match.” -
Washington Post
block quote end
Also disturbing is the fact that law enforcement often uses facial
recognition to investigate low-level crime, with searches "often
executed with nothing
more formal than an email from a federal agent to a local contact,"
according to the Post.
"It’s really a surveillance-first, ask-permission-later system," says
Project on Government Oversight watchdog lawyer Jake Laperruque.
"People think this
is something coming way off in the future, but these
[facial-recognition] searches are happening very frequently today. The
FBI alone does 4,000 searches
every month, and a lot of them go through state DMVs."
Targeting illegals with licenses?
The Post also brings up the fact that undocumented residents who
obtain driver's licenses in states which allow this may be subject to
immigration enforcement due
to the facial recognition technology.
block quote
Though Utah, Vermont and Washington allow undocumented immigrants to
obtain full driver’s licenses or more-limited permits known as driving
privilege cards,
ICE agents have run facial-recognition searches on those DMV databases.
More than a dozen states, including New York, as well as the District
of Columbia, allow undocumented immigrants to drive legally with full
licenses or
driving privilege cards, as long as they submit proof of in-state
residency and pass the states’ driving-proficiency tests.
Lawmakers in Florida, Texas and other states have introduced bills
this year that would extend driving privileges to undocumented
immigrants. Some of those
states already allow the FBI to scan driver’s license photos, while
others, such as Florida and New York, are negotiating with the FBI
over access, according
to the GAO. -
Washington Post
block quote end
"The state has told [undocumented immigrants], has encouraged them, to
submit that information. To me, it’s an insane breach of trust to then
turn around
and allow ICE access to that," according to Georgetown Law Center on
Privacy and Technology senior associate Clare Garvie, who led the
research.
block quote
The FBI’s facial-recognition search has access to local, state and
federal databases containing more than 641 million face photos, a GAO
director
said
last month. But the agency provides little information about when the
searches are used, who is targeted and how often searches return false
matches. -
Washington Post
block quote end
When asked about the surveillance, the FBI told the Post to refer to
last month's congressional testimony from Deputy Assistant Director
Kimberly Del Grecco,
who said that facial recognition was necessary "to preserve our
nation’s freedoms, ensure our liberties are protected, and preserve
our security."
Racist technology?
Civil rights advocates have decried the use of facial recognition
technology due to the fact that it is far less accurate when trying to
identify people
of color. According to the report, "The software’s precision is highly
dependent on a number of factors, including the lighting of a
subject’s face and
the quality of the image, and research has shown that the technology
performs less accurately on people with darker skin."
Whatever the objection, we're now at the point where our ability to
drive a car or enjoy the out-of-doors is subject to constant
electronic surveillance
of varying accuracy.
