A handful of United States Senators have written a letter to the acting ICE Director regarding agency use of a facial recognition app.

Senators Edward J. Markey, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley sent a letter Thursday to Acting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons urging the agency to stop using “Mobile Fortify,” a smartphone app that uses biometric identification, including facial recognition. The lawmakers said facial recognition remains unreliable and warned that real-time surveillance could have a chilling effect on constitutionally protected activities.

"As studies have shown, when individuals believe they are being surveilled, they are less likely to engage in First Amendment-protected activities, such as protests or rallies — undermining the very core of our democracy,” the senators wrote.

They requested answers from the agency by October 2 as to who built the app, when it was deployed, whether ICE tested its accuracy, the legal basis for its use and current agency policies governing the tool’s use. They also asked whether ICE would commit to ending the use of Mobile Fortify, and to explain why if they would not. The letter was also signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Chris Van Holle, Tina Smith, Bernie Sanders and Adam Schiff.

  • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
    171·
    17 hours ago

    Earlier this summer The Washington Post reported that the New Orleans police were secretly using facial recognition on a private camera network of over 200 live feeds. This went on for two years despite city ordinances requiring the technology only be used to search for specific suspects of violent crimes, and that the use be documented and reported to the city council.

    Facial recognition technology remains controversial, though a plurality of Americans support its use in both law enforcement and the workplace, with limitations.

    I really wish people would stop blending facial recognition tech with live facial recognition tech. I know it’s unintentional, but this is also a talking point people use to spread disinformation about what the government is actually doing with live facial recognition tech.

    Most people just assume that if you’re opposed to the systems being created, you’re arguing the tech never be used for anything, or that it not be used to solve crimes in any way, rather than arguing you don’t want a dystopian network of cameras constantly tracking your location in real time and storing your data. I very much doubt a majority of Americans would support live facial recognition surveillance networks if they understood the difference.