EPIC: Spotlight on Surveillance

Image source: http://www.identix.com/

EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) publishes this month, a report about Facial Recognition Systems Have an Ugly Effect on Personal Privacy.

"The federal government is spending an increasing amount of money on surveillance technology and programs at the expense of other projects. EPIC's "Spotlight on Surveillance" project scrutinizes these surveillance programs. For more information, see previous Spotlights on Surveillance.1

This month, Spotlight focuses upon the government’s use of facial recognition systems.2 The Departments of State, Energy, Justice and Defense have spent at least $47 million on such systems.3 In Fiscal Year 2006, the federal government plans to add facial recognition checks to all visa applications, which already include fingerprint biometrics.4 This is despite the Government Accountability Office’s estimate that incorporating biometric systems into visas would cost from $1.3 billion to $2.9 billion for startup, and $700 million to $1.5 billion for annual operating costs.5 Federal funds have been used by cities and states to buy facial recognition devices for motor vehicle and police departments.6 New U.S. passports and national identification cards created under the REAL ID Act of 2005 will both include digital photographs that can be linked to facial recognition systems.7 However, several tests, including those conducted by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Defense, show that facial recognition systems can be easily befuddled by uncooperative subjects and changes in the environment, such as positioning or lighting.8 Such facial recognition systems create significant privacy risks because the technique is surreptitious, the prospects for extensive profiling are clear, and there are no laws that currently regulate these systems to prevent abuse. "

Full report at Epic.org