WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County), Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Congressman Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Congressman Glenn Ivey (D-MD), and Congressman Marc Veasey (D-TX) introduced the Facial Recognition Act, a bill to place strong limits on law enforcement use of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT). FRT is a powerful surveillance tool used by law enforcement agencies to fight crime, but a lack of transparency and reasonable limits on its use threatens Americans’ civil liberties.
Law enforcement has deployed the invasive and sometimes flawed technology to identify peaceful protesters, investigate minor crimes, and arrest people based solely on a single FRT match. The technology’s algorithms suffer from discriminatory bias and as a result, individuals have been misidentified through the use of FRT, especially people of color.
The Members’ legislation places strong limits on law enforcement use of FRT, provides transparency, and requires annual assessments and reporting on the deployment of the technology to protect individuals’ rights. Specifically, the bill requires that a warrant be obtained that shows probable cause an individual committed a serious violent felony before FRT is deployed.
“I’m pleased to work with Ranking Member Jackson Lee and Representatives Clarke, Gomez, Ivey and Veasey to re-introduce this bill to rein in law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology,” said Congressman Lieu. “Our bill puts forth sensible guardrails that will protect the privacy of Americans against a flawed, unregulated and at-times discriminatory technology. I’m glad our approach has received broad support from civil liberties groups and former law enforcement officers.”
“This legislation is a critical step in forging a way towards the protection of civil liberties through transparency, restraint, and accountability in the use of this technology that is growing at an explosive rate,” said Congresswoman Jackson Lee. “I am pleased to join Representatives Ted Lieu, Yvette Clarke, Jimmy Gomez, Glenn Ivey, and Marc Veasey in re-introducing the Facial Recognition Act. Facial recognition technology offers both great promise and peril, and if unrestrained, can be misused as a tool of invasive, intrusive surveillance that enacts racial profiling, infringes on personal privacy, and persecutes people exercising their Constitutionally protected rights. By establishing safeguards on when and how this technology can be used by law enforcement, and establishing requirements for transparency and accountability when the technology is used, our legislation will provide the framework for use of this tool in a way that harnesses its power while protecting people from harms that could result from its limitations and flaws.”
“There’s no doubt that facial recognition technology is known to have flaws, and its ability to misidentify women and people of color can have real-world consequences,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “I sincerely appreciate my colleagues for this critical legislation. It’s far past time we work to ensure our technologies of the future work for everyone and not just the few.”
“Biases in facial recognition technology exist and they cannot go unchecked—that’s why the Facial Recognition Act is crucial for our future and our safety,” said Congressman Gomez. “Back in 2019, FRT falsely identified me and 27 of my colleagues as people who had been arrested for crimes. This technology is being used every day, with mixed results, in neighborhoods across the country and any false readout can be deadly, especially for communities of color. The Facial Recognition Act works to put safeguards on the use of FRT to protect people and their civil liberties, and I’m proud to reintroduce it with my colleagues today.”
“As a former federal prosecutor and elected state’s attorney, I understand the usefulness of gathering evidence for criminal cases but only if it is gathered lawfully and under adherence to the protections of the constitution,” said Congressman Ivey. “In fact, as a defense attorney, I was able to defend a client’s right to protest in Lafayette Square during the mass arrests in Washington DC a couple of years ago where Facial Recognition Technology was used to apprehend and charge individuals. So, I know both sides of the coin. I support Congressman Ted Lieu’s bill and urge my colleagues to help pass this into law to ensure inherent biases and abuses are prevented from being readily employed while using advancing technologies.”
“Far too many communities of color are disproportionately affected by facial recognition and other surveillance technologies. Without a federal privacy standard, it is critical that we hold law enforcement agencies utilizing this advanced technology accountable. And ensure that these technologies are cleared of racially charged biases to the greatest extent possible. That is why I am proud to join Congressman Lieu in reintroducing the Facial Recognition Act,” said Congressman Veasey. “In order to tackle these challenges, we must step up to protect all of our communities from faulty algorithms that unfairly or inaccurately profile certain citizens in our community.”
Read the full text of the bill here
Read a one-pager on the bill here
The Facial Recognition Act has the support of:
Jake Laperruque, Deputy Director of the Security and Surveillance Project, Center for Democracy & Technology
“The Center For Democracy & Technology is proud to support the Facial Recognition Act, which provides a broad and bold set of safeguards. Facial recognition is dangerous when it doesn’t work well, and dangerous in a different way when it does; this bill takes on both risks, and provides thoughtful, effective remedies. Right now, facial recognition is a Wild West: in most of the country there are no rules to prevent abuse or sloppy practices. The Facial Recognition Act bill can build consensus on this issue, and establish strong safeguards nationwide.”
Sarah E. Turberville, Director of the Constitution Project at the Project on Government Oversight
“POGO is thrilled to see Rep. Lieu introduce legislation to place vital limits on the use of facial recognition. This tech can misidentify people and without safeguards, can result in pervasive surveillance not unlike that seen by authoritarian regimes around the globe. If law enforcement wants to use this powerful tool, practical and useful limits must be in place. We’re grateful to Rep. Lieu for his efforts to put those limits in place.”
Emily Tucker, Executive Director, Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law
“The Facial Recognition Act of 2023 takes a powerful stand against the spread of surveillance policing in the United States. As the movement to ban facial recognition builds across the country, Congressman Lieu’s bill would set a solid federal floor to limit the harms of this corrupt technology in our communities. With a clear non-preemption statement, a private right of action, strong limits against integrating facial recognition with other surveillance databases and a prohibition on using facial recognition on protestors or for immigration enforcement, this legislation would make it more possible for people harmed by facial recognition to organize against it.”
Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability
“By tracking our faces, government can follow where we go, who we meet with, where we worship and what we do. PPSA commends Rep. Ted Lieu for grappling with the frequent use of facial recognition software to target Americans for investigation or arrest by government officials. This is an important bill – one that addresses critical privacy interests of all Americans and for that reason deserves strong support in Congress.”
Lt. Diane Goldstein (Ret.), Executive Director, Law Enforcement Action Partnership
“As we develop better capabilities to use technology to apprehend criminals, we need to ensure that there are robust protections in place to safeguard an individual’s right to privacy and make sure no one’s Fourth Amendment rights are violated. We are proud to endorse this legislation that addresses a real nexus issue – the interconnectedness of today’s world, people’s right to privacy, and people’s right to safety. By putting forth a framework that establishes, among other things, a warrant rule, due process rights, and disclosure requirements, this legislation will ensure that good police work is being done with the aid of technological advances and within the parameters of the constitution.”
Katie Kinsey, Chief of Staff, Policing Project at NYU School of Law
“Law enforcement agencies all across the country are using facial recognition technology without oversight. This unrestricted use has perpetuated racial inequity, led to false arrests, and violates Americans’ privacy. Rep. Lieu’s bill is an important step toward ending the unregulated use of this invasive technology.”
Kimberly Wehle, Visiting Professor, American University College of Law, and ABC News Legal Contributor
“The privacy threats posed by modern technology have long outpaced the law. Facial recognition technology — or FRT — is especially concerning, as it allows the government and private industry to identify and track people based only on a snapshot of a face. The bill sponsored by Rep. Lieu is a vital step towards protecting the public from the dangers of facial tracking by imposing common-sense procedural requirements and accountability measures. There’s not a single American who won’t benefit from its protections.”
Kami Chavis, Haynes Professor of Law and Director of the William & Mary Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Reform and Former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
“Law enforcement agencies are increasingly relying on technological advances designed to promote public safety, however the use of these tools must be implemented with transparency and appropriate limitations. Facial recognition technology has been a valuable tool to identify those who have committed serious crimes, yet, nationwide, there have been multiple instances where it has contributed to the wrongful detention of innocent individuals. Representative Lieu’s bill represents a comprehensive balanced approach to the use and implementation of facial recognition technologies and provides clear guidance to law enforcement agencies regarding the responsible use of this technology.”
Maurice R. Dyson, Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School and Commissioner on the Massachusetts Facial Recognition Commission
“I have reviewed Rep. Lieu’s bill and find it to be the best proposal of legislation to be put forth in Congress yet which follows key recommendations that came out of our work on the Massachusetts Facial Recognition Commission. I applaud the aim to take the Commission’s general approach to the federal level and push forward a viable, robust regulatory path on facial recognition that has a warrant rule, serious crime limit, due process rights, notice requirements, a ban on untargeted face surveillance, a private right to enforce and reporting requirements.”
Erik G. Learned-Miller, Professor of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Commissioner on the Massachusetts Facial Recognition Commission
“I am pleased to endorse the Facial Recognition Act of 2023. This bill strikes an excellent balance between meeting the needs of our law enforcement officers and protecting the rights of individuals. I am eager to see this bill move forward and provide guidance and oversight for this important and ubiquitous technology.”
Woodrow Hartzog, Author of Privacy’s Blueprint: The Battle to Control the Design of New Technologies, Professor of Law, Boston University, and Commissioner on the Massachusetts Facial Recognition Commission
“The Facial Recognition Act of 2022 is a vital response the exceptional dangers of face surveillance. This bill provides substantive, bright-line rules to prevent misuse of these tools by law enforcement. Such clear and non-negotiable limits are necessary because the incentives to abuse facial recognition technologies are simply too great. This bill also provides meaningful enforcement provisions and remedies for those harmed by facial recognition systems without preempting more stringent limitations elsewhere. Rules like these are critical to avoid the inevitable harms of facial recognition.”
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