Facial Recognition News: New York City To Use Technology With Little Oversight

The New York Police Department is reportedly in the process of acquiring state-of-the-art facial recognition technology that it will use to scan the faces of drivers commuting to and from New York City, according to the New York Daily News.

The acquisition will be handled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Once in place, the technology will be installed on the nine bridges and tunnels connecting New York City’s five boroughs and will be used to scan 800,000 cars per day.

Read: Facial Recognition Software Good For Only Six Years Of Aging

The program was announced by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo last October as part of a “plan to reimagine New York’s bridges and tunnels for the 21st century.”

The adoption of the technology was noted at the time to be a response to an increasing number of “threats to security” that New York City faces. “Advanced cameras and sensors will be installed to read license plates and test emerging facial recognition software and equipment,” the announcement read.

While the setup would allow law enforcement additional oversight of the city, what is still absent is oversight of that authority, according to Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology executive director Alvaro Bedoya and associate Claire Garvie.

In an op-ed for the New York Daily News, the two explain that a lack of legal framework to prevent abuses can lead to technology like facial recognition being misused.

“[Governor] Cuomo...should not impose real-time face scanning on New Yorkers unless appropriate regulations are in place to safeguard privacy and civil liberties,” they wrote. “New Yorkers also have a right to be informed about, and to weigh in on, how the technology will be used. After all, they’re the ones bearing the risks, and footing the bill.”

Facial recognition won’t be new in the city of New York; the NYPD has made use of forms of the technology since 2011. Roger Rodriguez, a former NYPD officer who helped launch the department’s first dedicated facial recognition unit, has claimed unit has conducted more than 8,500 facial recognition investigations, with over 3,000 possible matches and 2,000 arrests.

However its use may still be of concern to citizens and visitors of New York, who will essentially be submitting to a biometric scan every time they enter the city. Scans have misidentified people in the past, and an FBI test of its own system found it to be 86 percent accurate —leaving a fair amount of room for error.

The NYPD has not disclosed much information regarding its facial recognition system. The department has reportedly refused to provide information about the technology, even when prompted with requests filed under New York’s Freedom of Information law on the grounds the information is exempt from disclosure.