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U.S. Biometric Surveillance Restrictions
Coverage from Biometric Update, Senator Edward J. Markey, and others
U.
S. lawmakers have proposed restrictions on how federal agencies use facial recognition, voice recognition, gait recognition, and other biometric systems. The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act would broadly halt federal biometric surveillance while creating safeguards, enforcement rights, and incentives for state and local limits. Related legislation, including the ICE Out of Our Faces Act, focuses on immigration agencies and the collection and deletion of biometric records. Supporters point to privacy, misidentification, and disproportionate impacts on communities of color and immigrants.
If you read one thing
It provides the clearest overview of the broader federal moratorium, including its scope, enforcement mechanisms, and proposed grant conditions.
Best explainer
It adds the distinct immigration-enforcement proposal, including its focus on ICE and CBP, data deletion, and private enforcement.
The evidence
It adds cited research on facial-recognition coverage and misidentification disparities as supporting evidence for the proposed limits.
Biometric surveillance limits remain proposals
Federal proposals would restrict agencies’ use of biometric surveillance, with one broad bill also using grant conditions to encourage state and local limits and providing enforcement mechanisms. Related proposals target immigration enforcement, but the measures remain at the proposal stage and their practical effect is uncertain.
nearly half
U.S. adults’ faces stored in facial-recognition databases
“The announcement said research finds nearly half of U.S. adults’ faces are stored in facial recognition databases and that Black, Brown, and Asian people can be up to 100 times more likely than white men to be misidentified by a facial recognition algorithm.”
up to 100 times
relative likelihood of facial-recognition misidentification compared with white men
“The announcement said research finds nearly half of U.S. adults’ faces are stored in facial recognition databases and that Black, Brown, and Asian people can be up to 100 times more likely than white men to be misidentified by a facial recognition algorithm.”
No new articles were added since the prior state, so there is no new evidence of a material change in the proposed biometric-surveillance restrictions.
Previously
US lawmakers have introduced proposals to restrict federal agencies’ use of facial recognition and other biometric systems, including measures specifically targeting immigration enforcement. The proposals vary in scope but include restrictions on use, deletion of previously collected data, and enforcement mechanisms; one broader bill would also link some federal grants to state and local policies. Their practical effect remains uncertain because the measures are proposals, not enacted law.