News broke over the weekend that the FBI and immigration officials access images — often without obtaining a search warrant or court order — in order to identify criminal suspects but also witnesses, victims and innocent bystanders. In some cases agents would simply email the state department of motor vehicles for assistance. But Congress nor state lawmakers ever authorized the access or the searches. Documents obtained by a public records request and seen by both The Washington Post and The New York Times reveal the scope of the privacy infraction. Utah alone saw close to 2, facial recognition searches from law enforcement agencies in the two years between and Earlier this year documents revealed 9, ICE agents have access to a massive license plate database , containing six billion vehicle detections.
ICE, FBI scan driver's license photos for facial recognition searches
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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. 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. Rudolph said.
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It's all been happening without license holders' knowledge or consent, according to The Washington Post. State databases of driver's licenses have reportedly become a treasure trove for facial recognition searches by the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Millions of Americans' license photos have been scanned without their knowledge or consent , The Washington Post reported Sunday. The Post based its article on five years of documents provided by Georgetown Law researchers. In a related report released last month, the Government Accountability Office noted that the FBI has logged over , facial recognition searches of federal and local databases since , including states' motor vehicles department databases.