"A federal agent stops a car during a routine traffic stop amid the Trump administration's anti-immigrant crackdown. The driver rolls down the window, and before asking for any documents, the officer takes a picture of the person behind the wheel. Or perhaps, during an immigration raid, some neighbors try to prevent masked agents from entering a private residence without a warrant, and a confrontation ensues. The agents restrain a witness, and while the person is still struggling on the ground, they point a cell phone camera at them and take a picture."
"These aren't just photos for posterity. The pictures are immediately sent to a facial recognition database, supposedly to search for matches with known criminals. But since the implementation of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) directive last spring, they also end up in a government database about which little is known."
"Amid the budget negotiations over DHS funding which center on the implementation of limits and controls on the actions of federal agents carrying out President Trump's immigration policy the debate over the use of biometric identification systems has also entered Congress. A group of Democratic senators introduced legislation last week to prohibit the DHS and its immigration agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from using facial recognition technology. The project, dubbed the ICE Out of Our Faces Act, is spearheaded by Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, along with Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, both from Oregon, and Representative Pramila Jayapal from Washington State. The initiative seeks to halt what its proponents describe as a biometric surveillance apparatus without clear limits or democratic oversight."
DHS policies now result in images captured during routine traffic stops and immigration raids being uploaded into government facial recognition databases. The databases are used to search for matches with known criminals, yet the DHS database remains opaque. Critics cite alleged inaccuracies, technical glitches, and the potential for an unprecedented surge in state surveillance. Congressional budget negotiations over DHS funding have brought biometric identification systems into debate. A legislative effort titled the ICE Out of Our Faces Act would prohibit DHS, ICE, and CBP from using facial recognition technology. The initiative is led by Senators Markey, Merkley, Wyden, and Representative Jayapal to impose limits and democratic oversight.
Read at english.elpais.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]