FBI, ICE find state driver’s license photos are a gold mine for facial-recognition searches

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

A cache of records shared with The Washington Post reveals that agents are scanning millions of Americans’ faces without their knowledge or consent.

A surveillance camera in San Francisco, which recently banned police from using facial-recognition software. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

By Drew Harwell
July 7 at 3:54 PM

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have turned state driver’s license databases into a facial-recognition gold mine, scanning through millions of Americans’ photos without their knowledge or consent, newly released documents show.

Thousands of facial-recognition requests, internal documents and emails over the past five years, obtained through public-records requests by Georgetown Law researchers and provided to The Washington Post, reveal that federal investigators have turned state Department of Motor Vehicles databases into the bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure.

Police have long had access to fingerprints, DNA and other “biometric data” taken from criminal suspects. But the DMV records contain the photos of a vast majority of a state’s residents, most of whom have never been charged with a crime.

Neither Congress nor state legislatures have authorized the development of such a system, and growing numbers of Democratic and Republican lawmakers are criticizing the technology as a dangerous, pervasive and error-prone surveillance tool.

“Law enforcement’s access of state databases,” particularly DMV databases, is “often done in the shadows with no consent,” House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) said in a statement to The Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...-recognition-searches/?utm_term=.45961f9e08e8
​

 

[protectionist]

I don't have problem with it AT ALL. If it will help to catch bad guys, and help keep us safe, it's a good thing. More power to ICE, and the FBI (once all the deep state Obama freaks are rooted out)

The combination of public area camera/recorders, new facial-recognition technology, and diligent work is very cool.

 

[william the wie]

As someone with a common name and cookie cutter face I only hope the cops get the memo on this stuff. As an exclusionary tool it is useful. as an investigative tool not so much.

 

[Third Party]

A cache of records shared with The Washington Post reveals that agents are scanning millions of Americans’ faces without their knowledge or consent.

A surveillance camera in San Francisco, which recently banned police from using facial-recognition software. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

By Drew Harwell
July 7 at 3:54 PM

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have turned state driver’s license databases into a facial-recognition gold mine, scanning through millions of Americans’ photos without their knowledge or consent, newly released documents show.

Thousands of facial-recognition requests, internal documents and emails over the past five years, obtained through public-records requests by Georgetown Law researchers and provided to The Washington Post, reveal that federal investigators have turned state Department of Motor Vehicles databases into the bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure.

Police have long had access to fingerprints, DNA and other “biometric data” taken from criminal suspects. But the DMV records contain the photos of a vast majority of a state’s residents, most of whom have never been charged with a crime.

Neither Congress nor state legislatures have authorized the development of such a system, and growing numbers of Democratic and Republican lawmakers are criticizing the technology as a dangerous, pervasive and error-prone surveillance tool.

“Law enforcement’s access of state databases,” particularly DMV databases, is “often done in the shadows with no consent,” House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) said in a statement to The Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...-recognition-searches/?utm_term=.45961f9e08e8
​

Good

 

[justoffal]

I don't have problem with it AT ALL. If it will help to catch bad guys, and help keep us safe, it's a good thing. More power to ICE, and the FBI (once all the deep state Obama freaks are rooted out)

The combination of public area camera/recorders, new facial-recognition technology, and diligent work is very cool.

Lol!

OMG... Give them all licenses! Lol!
Awesome!

Jo

 

[jknowgood]

I say heck yeah! Put them in California voting places in the presidential election. Keep count of the illegals trying to vote. Then prove that California has been cheating in elections.

 

[justoffal]

I say heck yeah! Put them in California voting places in the presidential election. Keep count of the illegals trying to vote. Then prove that California has been cheating in elections.

Wow this sure blew up in their faces
Now some liberal asshole Federal judge will try to write an injunction... Eventually they are going to have to start giving the 9th circuit the finger. The great part about this is not only does it give them the face it gives them the address. Wow what a Time saver!

Jo

 

[Darkwind]

Interesting.

Are drivers license public records? I honestly don't know. If not, then they'd need a warrant to do this.

 

[justoffal]

Interesting.

Are drivers license public records? I honestly don't know. If not, then they'd need a warrant to do this.

No they don't. The registries of motor vehicles are now a nationally unified
Data base. That's why you can get a ticket in California and lose your license in Massachusetts. The FBI has inherent domain.

 

[Darkwind]

Interesting.

Are drivers license public records? I honestly don't know. If not, then they'd need a warrant to do this.

No they don't. The registries of motor vehicles are now a nationally unified
Data base. That's why you can get a ticket in California and lose your license in Massachusetts. The FBI has inherent domain.

That doesn't make them a public record. A warrant to check for offenses during a traffic stop is one thing.

I'm never for allowing government power into the privacy of US citizens, under any circumstance. If this is legit, then it is. However, I ALWAYS question government action.

 

[justoffal]

Interesting.

Are drivers license public records? I honestly don't know. If not, then they'd need a warrant to do this.

No they don't. The registries of motor vehicles are now a nationally unified
Data base. That's why you can get a ticket in California and lose your license in Massachusetts. The FBI has inherent domain.

That doesn't make them a public record. A warrant to check for offenses during a traffic stop is one thing.

I'm never for allowing government power into the privacy of US citizens, under any circumstance. If this is legit, then it is. However, I ALWAYS question government action.

unfortunately it is the very action of our government that is making us unsafe in this instance through the court system which has been politicized to lean in favor of illegal immigration.

Any activity that encompasses more than one state is automatically categorized in the venue of FBI domain, is a warrant written for it somewhere probably in the chata of the FBI itself.

Is it a dangerous precedent yes it probably is but even more dangerous is the activism with the court system I'm trying to prevent law enforcement from keeping the public safe.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Interesting.

Are drivers license public records? I honestly don't know. If not, then they'd need a warrant to do this.

Not generally. In WA state driver's information is considered personal information

RCW 42.56.230
Personal information. (Effective until July 1, 2019.)
*** CHANGE IN 2019 *** (SEE 5955-S.SL) ***
*** CHANGE IN 2019 *** (SEE 6025.SL) ***
*** CHANGE IN 2019 *** (SEE 1302-S.SL) ***

The following personal information is exempt from public inspection and copying under this chapter:
[snipped]
(2)(a) Personal information:
[snipped]
(c) Any record pertaining to a vehicle license plate, driver's license, or identicard issued under RCW 46.08.066 that, alone or in combination with any other records, may reveal the identity of an individual, or reveal that an individual is or was, performing an undercover or covert law enforcement, confidential public health work, public assistance fraud, or child support investigative activity. This exemption does not prevent the release of the total number of vehicle license plates, drivers' licenses, or identicards that, under RCW 46.08.066, an agency or department has applied for, been issued, denied, returned, destroyed, lost, and reported for misuse.
​

I know WA state is serious about enforcing this law because I once provided a law enforcement agency with some documentation that included photocopies of a driver's license. I later submitted a public records request for one of the detective's case files and a copy of the driver license I provided them was provided back to me with the face redacted in spite of the fact that I was the party who provided them with the original unobscured license.