The FBI's Facial Recognition Database Combines Lo-Res Photos With Zero Civil Liberties Consideration

[unhappycamper]

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140414/16045126909/fbis-facial-recognition-database-combines-lo-res-photos-with-zero-civil-liberties-considerations.shtml

The FBI's Facial Recognition Database Combines Lo-Res Photos With Zero Civil Liberties Considerations
from the non-criminal-photos-mixed-in-just-for-fun! dept
Privacy
by Tim Cushing
Tue, Apr 15th 2014 12:40pm

Another FOIA lawsuit brought against the government by the EFF has resulted in the release of previously withheld documents. The papers cut loose this time detail the FBI's facial recognition database and other parts of its "Next Generation Identification" (NGI) program, one that aims to compile a collection of biometric data.

EPIC's FOIA lawsuit over similar information revealed last year that the FBI's facial recognition software (as of 2010) had an acceptable margin of error of 20%. With a 1-in-5 chance of "recognizing" the wrong person, the accuracy of the database had nowhere to go but up. But it appears the FBI prioritizes quantity over quality, as the first number to hit you from the "released" documents is a big one.

The records we received show that the face recognition component of NGI may include as many as 52 million face images by 2015. By 2012, NGI already contained 13.6 million images representing between 7 and 8 million individuals, and by the middle of 2013, the size of the database increased to 16 million images. The new records reveal that the database will be capable of processing 55,000 direct photo enrollments daily and of conducting tens of thousands of searches every day.

~snip~

This program has some very serious issues, and it's only going to get worse unless someone outside the FBI intervenes. It's obvious from its caveat emptor-esque "policy" ("not our fault if you arrest the wrong pixelated suspect&quot governing law enforcement's use of the intermingled good guy/bad guy database that it has no interest in policing itself.