ACLU is suing documents on borderline facial recognition
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit for information regarding the Trump administration’s controversial facial recognition programs. The suit of the ACLU demands more details on how border inspectors scan the faces of travelers at the US border and plans to expand facial recognition capabilities, enabling “widespread undetectable and sustained government surveillance”.
The ACLU has filed public filing requests with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), all part of the Department of Homeland Security. It is looking for communication around the Traveler Verification Service, a system that compares photos of travelers’ faces with a database of images.
The request also addresses a wide range of concerns about facial recognition. It includes agreements with private companies such as airlines, as well as formal and informal policies about who can access and store data. It wants details on some vague future plans to expand facial recognition capabilities, making it difficult for U.S. citizens to enter or leave the country without their faces scanned and registered. And it wants information about the pitfalls these biometric systems face, including potential bias that make them less accurate in identifying certain faces.
Border control agencies tested facial recognition systems under the Obama administration, but quickly expanded under President Donald Trump. So far, American citizens can sign out of the process, but CBP suggested making them mandatory last year backwards amid criticism of the plan.
“The public is missing essential information about CBP’s reversal of the intended regulation,” ACLU writes in its complaint. “It also lacks essential information about CBP and TSA’s plans to expand facial recognition technology at airports and the border; how CBP or TSA-acquired photos or face prints can be accessed by airports, airlines and commercial suppliers, as well as federal, state and local authorities; and how ineffective, discriminatory and costly this facial recognition technology can be. “
Facial recognition – by both governments and companies – is a growing concern among privacy lawyers. San Francisco and two other cities have banned government use of the technology, and the European Union has considered a temporary ban in public places, with preliminary support from Google.