Senators Call For DOJ Investigation Into Facial Recognition Tech Over Civil Rights Concerns

A group of 18 senators sent the Department of Justice (DOJ) a letter raising concerns about the agency’s funding and oversight of what they called “frequently inaccurate” facial recognition software.

The group highlighted that law enforcement has widely used facial recognition and other biometric technologies.

However, they stated that these technologies can be unreliable and inaccurate, especially concerning race and ethnicity.

The senators, led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin and Sen. Raphael Warnock, suggested that the DOJ funding for the deployment of the technology is potentially a problem.

They also asked how the agency ensures it is used appropriately.

Race And Facial Recognition

Facial recognition has become a concern for many people over the years.

In 2023, Rite Aid was banned from using AI-powered facial recognition technology for five years as it disproportionately impacted people of color from 2012 to 2020.

A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint stated that although 80% of Rite Aid stores are in white areas, about 60% of the stores that used facial recognition technology were in non-white areas.

As a result, store patrons in Black, Asian, and Latino areas were more likely to be subjected to and surveilled by the technology.

In the UK, a coalition of 65 UK politicians and 31 leading race equality and human rights organizations called for an immediate stop to live facial recognition (LFR) surveillance.

The most recent letter to the DOJ by the group of senators additionally pointed out the wrongful identification of Randal Quaran Reid, who spent almost a week in jail on suspicion of theft.

Reid, however, had never set foot in Louisiana, where the suspected theft occurred.

The Senators’ Concerns

Durbin and the other senators have asked whether the DOJ has analyzed whether federal grant recipients using facial recognition technology comply with the Civil Rights Act.

They also want to know what policies the agency has established to track the deployment of the technologies to understand better whether they break civil rights laws.

“We are concerned that the use of certain forms of biometric technology, such as facial recognition technology, may potentially violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits “discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” based on “race, color, or national origin,” the letter wrote.

“Title VI thus restricts the ability of grant recipients funded by agencies like DOJ to deploy programs or technologies that may result in discrimination.”