Law Enforcement's Use of Facial Recognition Technology Is Racially Biased and Threatens Our First Amendment Rights

[Commentary] Recently, a broad coalition of civil rights, civil liberties, privacy and immigrant-rights groups met with representatives from the FBI and Justice Department to demand more transparency around the use of an increasingly popular law enforcement tool: facial recognition technology. The meeting was in response to a recent report from the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology that found that law enforcement agencies across the country are adding this technology to their arsenal of investigatory tools.

While the report found that the practice affects over 117 million people, agencies across the board have failed to put in place safeguards to protect our privacy. Worse yet, while the technology potentially threatens the rights of everyone in America, the report uncovered damning racial biases within the systems.