5:44
- ABC News
- December 20, 2019
Most facial recognition tech has race bias: Study
The study found higher rates of false-positive matches for people of color.
5:44
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, said the report shows the technology is \"more unreliable and racially biased than we feared\" as the government ramps up its use.
\"In recent years, the Department of Homeland Security has significantly increased its use of facial recognition technology on Americans and visitors alike, despite serious privacy and civil liberties concerns,\" Thompson said in a statement Thursday.
\"This report not only confirms these concerns, but shows facial recognition systems are even more unreliable and racially biased than we feared,\" he added.
Thompson called on the Trump administration to \"reassess its plans for facial recognition technology in light of these shocking results.\"
In a series of tweets reacting to the new study, the American Civil Liberties Union, which fought against the use of this technology in court, said government agencies \"must immediately halt the use of this dystopian technology.\"
Government agencies — including @FBI, @CBP, and local law enforcement — must immediately halt the use of this dystopian technology.
— ACLU (@ACLU) December 19, 2019
Face recognition technology, accurate or not, can enable undetectable, suspicionless surveillance on an unprecedented scale.
\"One false match can lead to missed flights, long interrogations, tense police encounters, false arrests, or worse,\" the group tweeted. \"Even government scientists are now confirming this surveillance technology is flawed and biased.\"
Privacy advocates have raised the alarm on facial recognition pitfalls for months.
In July, a U.K.-based report found that 80% of facial recognition suspects flagged by London’s Metropolitan Police were innocent.
Some governments have responded: San Francisco became the first U.S. city to block the use of facial recognition technology by all police and city agencies in May. The towns of Somerville and Brookline in Massachusetts also banned municipal use of the technology.
Makers of the technology argue it has a slew of positive applications, despite the controversy.
Amazon Rekognition says on its website that the tech can be used to help \"humanitarian groups to identify and rescue human trafficking victims\" and published a list of common misconceptions about it online.
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