FBIs Facial Recognition is Coming to a State Near YouJennifer Lynch The documents, which the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) obtained from a recent meeting of the FBIs Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Advisory Policy Board,1 shed new light on the FBIs plans for NGIthe Bureaus massive biometrics database that combines fingerprints, iris scans, palm prints, facial recognition and extensive biographical data collected from over 100 million Americans. The Advisory Board documents show that FBIs database of facial images will provide search results automatically (the system wont need to rely on a human to check the results before forwarding them to the state or local agency) and that the FBI is developing Universal Face Workstation software to allow states that dont have their own Face/Photo search capabilities to search through the FBIs images. After we read through the Advisory Board documents, we quickly sent Open Records requests to several of the states involved in the pilot program. The Advisory Board documents contain other concerning information. For example, one document discusses the FBIs plans to combine civil and criminal biometrics records by giving them a single searchable master name or unique identifying number. As weve noted, criminal and civil records have always been kept separate in the past. While this may be a function of the differences in how each type of print is collected and stored, it has effectively meant that civil printscollected for employment verification, for background checks, for federal jobs, and even to become a lawyer in Californiahave not been automatically searched every time criminal prints are checked against the database. That will all change once FBI implements its unique identity system. Although FBI states that the criminal and civil files will remain logically separated . . . [to] ensure that retained civil submissions remain untainted by criminal submissions its hard to see how this is functionally true, given that civil files will be searched at the same time as criminal files. Another document discusses the federal governments extensive biometrics sharing relationships with other countries. It notes that the FBIs Global Initiatives Unit has already collected over 990,000 records from foreign partners, with over 600,000 of those coming from Afghanistan. The FBI already has information sharing relationships with 77 countries, (p.2), but CJIS is now trying to partner with Visa Waiver Program countries like Ireland, Spain and Australia to allow automatic access to each others biometric databases on a hit/no hit basis. This kind of access has already been set up to connect the German and U.S. biometric databases.2 And finally, as NDLON has discussed in greater detail, the documents show just how far the FBI and DHS partnership has progressed to maximize datasharing as part of the Secure Communities program. For example, NDLON notes that FBI has mobile devices that permit searches of the entire IDENT database in the field. These mobile devices may subject individuals to immigration background checks without ever being arrested or booked. The FBI has not updated the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for its photo database since 2008well before signing MOUs with the states to share face recognition data and before the development and deployment of NGIs facial recognition capabilities. As EFF recently testifiedduring a Senate Subcommittee hearing on facial recognition, Americans should be very concerned about the governments plans to build up its facial recognition capabilities: Facial recognition takes the risks inherent in other biometrics to a new level . . . [it] allows for covert, remote, and mass capture and identification of images, and the photos that may end up in a database include not just a persons face but also what she is wearing, what she might be carrying, and who she is associated with. Without an updated PIA, it is impossible to tell exactly how the FBI plans to acquire and use facial recognition data now and in the future. However, given the information in these new documents and the FBIs broad goals for face recognition data, the time is right for laws that limit face recognition data collection. To see all the documents, go to our landing page for NGI and click on Documents in the middle toolbar. 1.The FBIs CJIS Division manages the FBIs biometrics databases, including its legacy fingerprint database (IAFIS) and NGI. CJISs Advisory Policy Board is charged with reviewing the policy, technical, and operational issues related to CJIS Division programs and makes recommendations to the FBIs director. The Advisory Board is made up of 34 representatives from state, local, and tribal criminal justice agencies, and includes representatives from national security, and prosecutorial, judicial, and correctional sectors of the criminal justice system. It meets twice a yeargenerally in open meetings announced in the Federal Registerthough it appears the materials from those meetings are generally only distributed to attendees and through an online system only available to persons duly employed by a law enforcement, criminal justice, or public safety agency/department, and whose position requires secure communication with other agencies. Please visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation to learn the latest in privacy and defending your rights in the digital world. You can support this information by voting on Reddit HERE 