A report on the FBI's face-recognition system has said the agency needs to better ensure that face recognition capabilities are accurate enough and that they are being used in accordance with privacy protection laws and policy requirements protection. The report by the Government Accountability Office, entitled “FBI Should Better Ensure Privacy and Accuracy”, said that greater transparency needs to be shown by the FBI in its use of face recognition technology.”Without conducting audits to determine whether users are conducting face image searches in accordance with CJIS [Criminal Justice Information Services Division] policy requirements, FBI officials cannot be sure they are implementing face recognition capabilities in a manner that protects individuals' privacy”. The GAO also said the FBI is required to test the accuracy of its technology systems, including NGI-IPS. “By conducting tests to verify that NGI-IPS [Next Generation Interstate Identification Photo System] is accurate for all allowable candidate list sizes-including ensuring that the detection and false positive rates are identified”.GAO said that this way, the FBI would have more reasonable assurance that NGI-IPS provides leads that “enhance rather than hinder or overly burden criminal investigation work”. The GAO report also noted that the FBI has entered into agreements with state and federal partners to conduct face recognition searches using over 380 million photos. “Without actual assessments of the results from its state and federal partners, the FBI is making decisions to enter into agreements based on assumptions that the search results may provide valuable investigative leads,” complained the body. “By relying on its external partners' face recognition systems, the FBI is using these systems as a component of its routine operations and is therefore responsible for ensuring the systems will help meet FBI's mission, goals and objectives. “We continue to believe that taking steps to determine whether external face recognition systems are sufficiently accurate would provide FBI with better assurance that the systems they use are appropriate for its use and would increase the odds of identifying suspects for active investigations while protecting privacy”.In June, privacy groups complained over efforts by the FBI to exempt the NGI from a new privacy act, saying it could damage national security. The Justice Department Agency plans to propose that the Next Generation Identification System (NGI) be free from certain provisions of the Privacy Act.
FBI urged to improve privacy and accuracy in face-recognition system
