Growing Concerns on Increased Use of Facial Recognition Technology by U.S. Government

(Animated illustration: CJ Ostrosky / POGO)

In the waning days of the Trump Administration, the leadership of U.S. Customs and Border Protection seems intent on going ahead with a plan to massively increase the use of facial recognition technology at airports and other ports of entry. Under the proposed rule change, nearly all aliens entering or exiting the country would have their “faceprint” collected and stored in a government database for up to 75 years.

This database would then be made available for use by federal and state law enforcement for comparison purposes, and potentially even for use by foreign governments. In calling these plans a “civil liberties disaster in the making,” the ACLU points out consent issues with the collection of “faceprints” and describes the potential risk for “a unique and unprecedented form of persistent surveillance, one that allows the government to identify and track people without their knowledge.”

In short, it would be another step toward making us more like the People’s Republic of China.

This is an issue that PPSA is tracking closely and we will continue to do so as the transition to the incoming Biden Administration unfolds.