Lawmakers Introduce Bicameral Bill to Ban Government Facial Recognition
A group of Democratic lawmakers introduces legislation to prohibit federal government use of facial recognition and other biometric technologies due to systemic racial bias and privacy concerns.
A coalition of lawmakers introduces the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act to stop government use of facial recognition and other biometric tools. The bicameral legislation responds to the unregulated proliferation of this technology across local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as research indicating that roughly half of U.S. adults already appear in facial recognition databases.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and her colleagues highlight that facial recognition technology is deeply flawed and systemically biased. Studies from the National Institute of Standards and Technology show that Black, Brown, and Asian individuals are up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white men, a disparity that has already led to the wrongful arrests of three Black men.
The proposed bill places a strict prohibition on the use of facial recognition technology by federal entities, a restriction that can only be lifted by an act of Congress. By banning this discriminatory technology, the lawmakers aim to end the over-surveillance of Black and brown communities and affirm the civil liberties of every person in the country.