A group of House Democrats has introduced a new bill that aims to put limits on the use of facial recognition technologies by law enforcement agencies in the United States.
La Facial Recognition Law is the bill that would require law enforcement to obtain a court order before using facial recognition. By adding the warrant requirement, law enforcement would first have to prove to a court that they have probable cause that a person has committed a serious crime, rather than allow unrestricted use of facial recognition under the legal regime. existing.
The bill also places other limits on what facial recognition can be used by law enforcement, such as immigration enforcement or peaceful protests, or the use of a facial recognition match as the sole basis for establishing probable cause for someone's arrest.
If approved, The bill would also require law enforcement to annually test and audit their facial recognition systems and provide detailed reports of how facial recognition systems are used in court proceedings. It would also require police departments and agencies to delete photo databases of children who were subsequently released without charge, whose charges were dismissed or acquitted.
Facial recognition largely refers to a variety of technologies that allow law enforcement, federal agencies, and private and commercial customers to track people using a snapshot or photo of their faces.
So far, the bill has received strong support from privacy advocates, rights groups, and law enforcement-adjacent groups and organizations. Woodrow Hartzog, a law professor at Boston University, praised the bill for strengthening basic rules and protections in the US. "without preempting stricter limitations elsewhere."
