House Oversight Committee raises concerns over FBI facial recognition technology News
House Oversight Committee raises concerns over FBI facial recognition technology

Members of the US House Oversight Committee questioned FBI [official websites] officials Wednesday on facial recognition technology during a hearing [materials]. The criticism was based on a report [resources] that 117 million Americans can be found on the governmental facial recognition database. Members expressed concern over how the technology would be implemented to affect American lives. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) [official website] expressed concern about how the technology was less effective with African American faces and that, “If you are black, you’re more likely to be subjected to this technology.” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) [official website] believes that the current use of these technologies leaves the FBI on “very shaky legal grounds” and that they will be subject to judicial review in the future.

On Monday the Director of the FBI confirmed [JURIST report] that the FBI is investigating allegations of Russian interference with the 2016 US presidential election. The agency has raised concerns about surveillance in the recent past. In January an FBI request for Twitter accounts may have overstepped current legal guidelines [JURIST report] for acquiring certain Internet data. Also in January the FBI was notified that it would be investigated [JURIST report] for its handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server.