Heritage Expert Testifies to Congress on Facial Recognition Technology – Heritage.org

In recent testimony before theU.S.House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security,Heritage Foundation research fellow Kara Frederickwarned lawmakers thatfacialrecognitiontechnologyisvulnerable to misuseand portends a slippery slope to mass surveillance. She offered several recommendations tokeep the risk of misuse in America low.

Facialrecognitiontechnologyhas proven its worth in the field, Frederick noted, where some uses offacialrecognitioncomprise legitimate public safety imperatives.

Success stories [forfacial recognition software] include the detection of Marylands Capital Gazette shooter in 2018 and the detention of at least three individuals using false passports at Dulles International Airport... that same year.But, she added, the potential for abuse by agents of the state is high.

Risks are manifold,Frederick noted,including false positives generated by inaccurate algorithmsanddata security vulnerabilitiestohacks and leaks,whichopensavenues for the exploitation of immutable biometric data.

Frederick focused her testimony onthreespecificrisks: the circumscription of civil liberties and individual privacy, the outsourcing of surveillance to unaccountable private companies, and the potential integration of face recognition data with other personally identifiable information through the expansion of mass surveillance.

Frederick warned thatplans toexpand theoutsourcing ofdomestic digital surveillanceto private companies unencumbered by constitutional stricturesraises Fourth Amendment concerns.She citedthe FBIs use ofopen-sourcefacial recognition toolsto detain American citizensandlaw enforcements use ofsurveillance start upClearviewAIas examples.

In Fredericks assessment, such impulses to expand and outsource domestic surveillance can lead to more pervasive methods of monitoring by law enforcement.Shedescribeda mutually reinforcing digital surveillance ecosystemthatencompassesFRTand trends toward large-scale surveillance.As an example of these expanded surveillance practices,shecitedthe municipality ofPeachtree Corners, Georgia, which isusingAI-driven smartcameras to monitor social distancing and use of masks.And once these powers expand,she warned,they almost never contract.

Authoritarianabuse offacialrecognitiontechnologyabroadshould serve as a cautionary tale for American lawmakers, she said. Beijingusesfacial recognitionsystems tomonitoritsownpopulation, determine ethnicity, andimprisonUighurminoritiesinreeducation camps. Democratic protestors in Hong Konghid their facesandusedlasersto thwart such monitoring.Russianofficials have usedfacialrecognitiontechnologyto identify and throwdissidentsin jail as recently as this year.

To constrain abuse and bound expansion by government agencies, a secure and privacy-protecting framework for the use of digital data obtained byfacialrecognitiontechnologyis requisite, Fredericktestified.

Toprotect citizens privacy,Frederickrecommended thatCongress:

Establish a federal data protection framework with appropriate standards and oversightgoverning how U.S. agenciesfederal, state, and localmaycollect, store, and sharefacialrecognitiondata.

Ensure any U.S. identity management system used by government actors is secure and reliable, based on proper standards and measurements, and in accordance withNational Institute of Standards and Technologyguidelines.

Enforce data protection inspections and oversight among all parties.

Combined with near-historic low levels of public trust in the U.S. government to do what is right, Frederick cautioned that the the unfettered deployment of these technologies by governmententities will continue to strain the health of the body politic without immediate and genuine safeguards.

Fredericks full testimony, delivered during the July 13subcommitteehearing titled Facial Recognition Technology: Examining Its Use by Law Enforcement,can befound here.

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Heritage Expert Testifies to Congress on Facial Recognition Technology - Heritage.org