Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act
STATUS
Senate: S.4084 introduced and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee
House of Representatives: H.R. 73456 introduced and referred to Judiciary and Oversight and Reform Committees
Analysis
Would prohibit biometric surveillance by the Federal Government without explicit statutory authorization and withhold certain Federal public safety grants from State and local governments that engage in biometric surveillance.
Would
place a prohibition on the use of facial recognition technology by federal entities, which can only be lifted with an act of Congress;
place a prohibition on the use of other biometric technologies, including voice recognition, gate recognition, and recognition of other immutable physical characteristics, by federal entities, which can only be lifted with an act of Congress;
condition federal grant funding to state and local entities, including law enforcement, on those entities enacting their own moratoria on the use of facial recognition and biometric technology;
prohibit the use of federal dollars for biometric surveillance systems;
prohibit the use of information collected via biometric technology in violation of the Act in any judicial proceedings;
include a private right of action for individuals whose biometric data is used in violation of the Act and allows for enforcement by state Attorneys General; and
allow states and localities to enact their own laws regarding the use of facial recognition and biometric technologies.
Which human? Whose security?
All people, as all medical or strategic addresses of COVID-19 come with threats to civil liberties.
Fact reports
A growing body of research points to systematic inaccuracy and bias issues in biometric technologies, which pose disproportionate risks to non-white individuals. A recent report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology on facial recognition tools found that Black, Brown, and Asian individuals were up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white male faces.
“In a one-to-one search, a false negative might be merely an inconvenience — you can’t get into your phone, but the issue can usually be remediated by a second attempt, but a false positive in a one-to-many search puts an incorrect match on a list of candidates that warrant further scrutiny”
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT
House of Representatives
INTRODUCED BY:
Rep. Pramila Jayapal [D-WA-7]
CO-SPONSORS:
Reps Pressley (D-MA), Tlaib (D-MI), Clarke (D-NY) and Eshoo (D-CA)
ENDORSEMENTS:
Color of Change, ACLU, Jewish Voice for Peace, MPower Change, Open Technology Institute, Project on Government Oversight, Georgetown University Law Center’s Center on Privacy & Technology
Senate
INTRODUCED BY:
Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA)
CO-SPONSOR:
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
