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posted by martyb on Monday July 08 2019, @01:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the Big-Brother-keeps-getting-bigger dept.

ICE Used Facial Recognition to Mine State Driver's License Databases

WASHINGTON — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have mined state driver's license databases using facial recognition technology, analyzing millions of motorists' photos without their knowledge.

In at least three states that offer driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, ICE officials have requested to comb through state repositories of license photos, according to newly released documents. At least two of those states, Utah and Vermont, complied, searching their photos for matches, those records show.

In the third state, Washington, agents authorized administrative subpoenas of the Department of Licensing to conduct a facial recognition scan of all photos of license applicants, though it was unclear whether the state carried out the searches. In Vermont, agents only had to file a paper request that was later approved by Department of Motor Vehicles employees.

The documents, obtained through public records requests by Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology and first reported on by The Washington Post, mark the first known instance of ICE using facial recognition technology to scan state driver's license databases, including photos of legal residents and citizens.

Privacy experts like Harrison Rudolph, an associate at the center, which released the documents to The New York Times, said the records painted a new picture of a practice that should be shut down.

[...] He continued: "These states have never told undocumented people that when they apply for a driver's license they are also turning over their face to ICE. That is a huge bait and switch."

The use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement is far from new or rare. Over two dozen states allow law enforcement officials to request such searches against their databases of driver's licenses, a practice that has drawn criticism from lawmakers and advocates who say that running facial recognition searches against millions of photos of unwitting, law-abiding citizens is a major privacy violation.

The F.B.I., for example, has tapped state law enforcement's troves of photos — primarily those for driver's licenses and visa applications — for nearly a decade, according to a Government Accountability Office report. The bureau has run over 390,000 searches through databases that collectively hold over 640 million photos, F.B.I. officials said.

[...] The Seattle Times reported last year that Washington State's Department of Licensing turned over undocumented immigrants' driver's license applications to ICE officials, a practice its governor, Jay Inslee, pledged to stop. And a lawsuit in Vermont filed by an activist group cited documents obtained under public records law that showed that the state Department of Motor Vehicles forwarded names, photos, car registrations and other information on migrant workers to ICE, Vermont Public Radio reported this year.

The relationship between Washington's Department of Licensing and ICE officials may prove to be particularly interesting to privacy experts because of a law the State Legislature passed in 2012 stipulating that the department could use a facial recognition matching system for driver's licenses only when authorized by a court order, something ICE did not provide.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Monday July 08 2019, @06:04PM (2 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Monday July 08 2019, @06:04PM (#864607) Journal
    That's a very hard line to take on status offenses, and I suspect one you'd think was absurd and crazy if it were applied to you.

    You've never forgotten to renew your registration, or your drivers license? You've never gone walking and wound up somewhere you weren't supposed to be? You would want to be cuffed and booked for such a thing?

    A nation of laws is one thing, but let's not be a nation that worships the letter and forgets the spirit.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 08 2019, @06:16PM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 08 2019, @06:16PM (#864614) Journal

    Actually, it's the same sort of hard line that the typical officer takes when he pulls you over. He sees an expired tag on your car, he stops you, asks for your license, registration, and insurance, gets on his computer, and searches nationwide for warrants, arrests, convictions, etc ad nauseum. That is, he spots someone breaking a law, however minor, then actively searches for any other possible offenses he can cite.

    I'm saying, in regards to immigration, that we know Juan has broken at least one law, and that we really need to investigate him to see if he has broken other laws. He is deserving of deportation already - if he's broken other laws, then he needs to be punished before he is deported.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Monday July 08 2019, @06:25PM

      by Arik (4543) on Monday July 08 2019, @06:25PM (#864620) Journal
      "He sees an expired tag on your car, he stops you, asks for your license, registration, and insurance, gets on his computer, and searches nationwide for warrants, arrests, convictions, etc ad nauseum."

      And when he finds nothing else amiss, he returns your papers, reminds you to get that taken care of, and gets back on the road, perhaps still hoping to catch an actual criminal today.

      You were quite right in another comment on this point I thought - the immigration system is broken and it needs to be fixed. I don't know why you would blame the non-criminal would-be immigrant for that, it's not their fault, they aren't Congress.
      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?