http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/19/us/a-virtual-lineups-of-average-citizens-created-by-software.html 2016-10-18 21:00:19 Police Use Facial Recognition Tools With Little Oversight, Study Says Software comparing the faces of suspects to photos on driver’s licenses without a warrant threatens privacy and disproportionally affects African-Americans, a report said. === A new report by a think tank at While the agencies, like the F.B.I., have historically created fingerprint and DNA databases primarily from criminal investigations, many of the photos cataloged are of law-abiding Americans, according to the report released on Tuesday. The report found that 16 states allow law enforcement officials to compare the faces of people suspected of criminal acts to photos on driver’s licenses and other forms of identification without a warrant, “creating a virtual lineup of their state residents,” the report said. “This is unprecedented and highly problematic,” said the report, by the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown’s law school. Facial recognition technology, Because African-Americans are The authors of the report said the aim was not to stop the use of the software, which they acknowledged had been effective in investigations. Nor did they blame law enforcement officers, who they said “are simply using every tool available to protect the people that they are sworn to serve.” Rather, they called for Congress and state legislatures to pass laws creating stricter regulations over the technology. Researchers found, for instance, that just one agency — the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation — specifically prohibited using the software to track people engaging in political or religious speech. No state has a law regulating use of the software. “There is a real risk that police face recognition will be used to stifle free speech,” the report said. The F.B.I. did not immediately respond to an email on Tuesday seeking comment. The report also found that systems relying on police photos have a greater effect on African-Americans since they are arrested at higher rates. But the software may be less accurate with pictures of black people, and there is no independent testing for racially biased error rates, the report said. Among the steps the authors suggested taking: ■ Databases should rely on police photos, not driver’s licenses and photo ID’s. ■ Law enforcement should occasionally eliminate innocent people from any search. ■ Searches of driver’s license and identification photos should require a court order and be limited to serious crimes, with the exception of ■ An explicit ban should be enacted on tracking people on the basis of their political or religious beliefs, or their race or ethnicity. The report raised concerns about the increasing use of facial-recognition software on live video, allowing the police to constantly scan the faces of people on surveillance cameras. Several large police departments have looked into or have begun using the technology, the report said. “If deployed pervasively on surveillance video or police-worn body cameras, real-time face recognition will redefine the nature of public spaces,” the report warned.