Democratic senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to discontinue its use of facial recognition and other surveillance technologies capable of infringing on personal privacy rights.
The lawmakers referenced a report that ICE has used facial recognition and other technologies, and purchased information from data brokers, to construct a “dragnet surveillance system” that helps ICE carry out deportation proceedings. According to them, this surveillance network has exploited privacy-protection gaps and has “enormous civil rights implications.”
Much of this effort, which has enabled ICE to obtain detailed information about the vast majority of people living in the United States, has been shrouded in secrecy, they stated.
Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal that ICE’s partnership with one data broker provides the agency access to location data from approximately 250 million mobile devices, with more than 15 billion location points per day.
The use of facial recognition and other surveillance technologies capable of infringing on personal privacy rights is a complex issue. The emphasis is on balancing the need for safety with the need for privacy.
The most common use of this technology is in law enforcement, where it is used to identify and track criminals. However, there are some concerns about the accuracy of this technology when it comes to identifying people who are actually criminals. There is also concern about how this information is stored and accessed by law enforcement agencies.
