Congress moves toward facial recognition regulation

A bipartisan group in Congress is working on legislation that could regulate the use of facial recognition by the private sector, federal government, and law enforcement. “We have a responsibility to not only encourage innovation, but to protect the privacy and safety of Americans consumers,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D — NY) said today, while acknowledging a need to educate others in Congress and explore consumer privacy and data security protections currently in place. The House Oversight and Reform Committee held its third hearing in less than a year today about facial recognition, this time to explore its use in the private sector. Facial recognition is already being used in job interviews, by Delta Airlines in airports, to replace time clocks in some workplaces, to unlock doors in a housing complex, and to unlock smartphones like Apple’s iPhone X and Google’s Pixel 4. Facial recognition was found to be one of the biggest areas of investment in 2019 among AI startups and businesses, according to the 2019 AI Index report. “There should be something in our civil rights law and our justice system that does not allow a person to be persecuted based on the fact that we know this data is not adequate and it has biases,” said Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (D — MI), who said the majority of her constituents are people of color. Last year she introduced a bill in support of the development of ethical AI.