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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: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 08 2019, @07:25PM (8 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 08 2019, @07:25PM (#864652) Journal

    You posted no "statistics". You posted something of a chart, which displays the fact that some states have a higher cost of living than other states. You posted no statistics in regard to the number of illegal aliens living in California in the 1970's, and the prevailing wages then, compared to the number of illegals today, and today's prevailing wages. Had you done so, then adjusted those 1970's dollars into current dollars, it would be more than obvious that increased illegals correlate with decreased wages.

    So, you've completely given up on rational discussion, and choose to spew your hatred instead. Racist hatred at that. Monkey? I'm quite certain that I've been hated on in the past for using that word, "monkey". DAS RACISS!!!

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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by ikanreed on Monday July 08 2019, @07:28PM (7 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 08 2019, @07:28PM (#864654) Journal

    You're not black, shut the fuck up.

    "You didn't post statistics, you just posted a pair of tables of organized structured data"

    Instead, I would like you to seriously consider eating a baker's dozen bullets.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 08 2019, @09:30PM (6 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 08 2019, @09:30PM (#864708) Journal

      Hate. Pure hatred. And, you presume to lecture me on racism and other silly shit. Whatever.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 08 2019, @11:48PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 08 2019, @11:48PM (#864764)

        It's OK, I still hate you, Runaway, you unreconstructed racist bastard! Why, you probably are not even a real American! Polack, brought over by your parents while still a child? Who then left you behind for reasons apparent to everybody. Never bothered to fill out the naturalization forms? Illegal Runaway! No wonder he runs away.

      • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday July 09 2019, @08:21PM (4 children)

        by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 09 2019, @08:21PM (#865133) Journal

        Yes, I do, because, as I've said, you are a fucking monster. Don't you fucking forget it.

        Don't you pretend that "Oh that guy he's just angry and lecturing me over nothing". The "hate" I have for you is the same "hate" I'd have for a convicted murderer. Except they usually repent.

        It's crucial, if you ever want to even pretend you're a decent person again, that right now, you acknowledge you're evil.

        In the calmest of mood, in the clearest of thought, I cannot fathom a world where you deserve anything but an eternity in hell.

        • (Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 09 2019, @11:44PM (3 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 09 2019, @11:44PM (#865205) Journal

          *yawn*

          You cannot fathom. That is your own personal shortcoming, and nothing to do with me. Thus, I have no need to pretend anything.

          • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday July 10 2019, @12:29AM (2 children)

            by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 10 2019, @12:29AM (#865233) Journal

            Yeah, like I said you'd file me in a box you've labeled "angry" so you don't have to confront your role in history as a villain.

            I can't control you or make you have a moment's introspection, but I can believe quite firmly that you'll die alone and unloved.

            • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 10 2019, @12:33AM (1 child)

              by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 10 2019, @12:33AM (#865236) Journal

              Funny you should mention history. Have you ever studied it? No - I'm not asking if you've passed your high school and junior college courses. The question is, "Have you studied history?"

              • (Score: 1) by Arik on Thursday July 11 2019, @07:25AM

                by Arik (4543) on Thursday July 11 2019, @07:25AM (#865722) Journal
                I'm never quite sure if he's ign'nt or willfully ignorant.
                --
                If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?