Slashdot: ACLU Sues FBI, DOJ Over Facial-Recognition Technology, Criticizing 'Unprecedented' Surveillance and Secrecy

ACLU Sues FBI, DOJ Over Facial-Recognition Technology, Criticizing 'Unprecedented' Surveillance and Secrecy
Published on October 31, 2019 at 10:20PM
The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday sued the Justice Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI for records detailing their use of facial-recognition software, arguing that the agencies have secretly implemented a nationwide surveillance technology that threatens Americans' privacy and civil rights. From a report: ACLU attorneys asked a federal court in Massachusetts to order the agencies to release documents about how the government uses and audits the software, how officials have communicated with companies that provide the software, and what internal guidelines and safeguards regulate its use. "These technologies have the potential to enable undetectable, persistent, and suspicion-less surveillance on an unprecedented scale," the attorneys wrote. "Such surveillance would permit the government to pervasively track people's movements and associations in ways that threaten core constitutional values."

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