IP: Proliferation of Surveillance Devices Threatens Privacy

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Proliferation of Surveillance Devices Threatens Privacy
>
> Joint Statement of House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-TX,
> And The American Civil Liberties Union
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> Wednesday, July 11, 2001
>
>
> WASHINGTON -- Over the past several days, a troubling expansion in the way 
> technology is being used in the surveillance of ordinary Americans has 
> come to light. In response, we are today joining together to call on all 
> state and local governments to stop using these dangerous technologies now 
> before privacy in America is so diminished that it becomes nothing more 
> than a fond memory.
>
> Majority Leader Armey will ask the General Accounting Office to study the 
> extent to which the federal government is funding facial-recognition 
> technologies. In addition, he will ask the relevant House Committees to 
> hold hearings on law enforcement use of surveillance technology. The ACLU 
> supports these requests.
>
> Tampa, Florida drew attention to the importance of these issues with its 
> highly publicized use of facial recognition technology during this year's 
> "snooperbowl." The city recently took the next step by using the software 
> to scan individuals in an entertainment district. Virginia Beach announced 
> this week that it will seek state funding to install similar 
> facial-recognition cameras in its oceanfront areas.
>
> In Colorado, the Department of Motor Vehicles is moving ahead with a plan 
> approved by the Legislature to create a database containing computerized 
> three-dimensional facial maps of all those applying for driver's licenses.
>
> There is an alarming potential for misuse of all of these systems. Used in 
> conjunction with facial-recognition software, for example, the Colorado 
> database could allow the public movements of every citizen in the state to 
> be identified, tracked, recorded and stored.
>
> These surveillance systems are ineffective and will lead the police to 
> stop people who have done nothing wrong. According to the Los Angeles 
> Times, a recent study by the National Institute of Standards and 
> Technology found that digital comparisons of posed photos of the same 
> person taken 18 months apart triggered false rejection by computers 43 
> percent of the time. Police relying on this technology will be led too 
> often to stop and question the innocent instead of the suspect.
>
> These cameras do not generate suspicion adequate to trigger a law 
> enforcement stop. Instead, they may lead to high-tech "racial profiling" 
> should surveillance cameras be placed in areas populated primarily by 
> members of ethnic and racial minority groups.
>
> We are extremely troubled by this unprecedented expansion in high-tech 
> surveillance in the United States. We believe that technology should not 
> be used to create a "virtual line up" of Americans who are not suspected 
> of having done anything wrong.
>
> The threats to privacy in America are all too real. We believe the privacy 
> risk outweighs any benefits that these devices may offer. It's time to 
> take notice of what has happened to privacy in America today.
>
> The ACLU of Florida has asked Tampa city officials for additional 
> information about what its facial recognition program. For more 
> information, see:
>
> http://www.aclu.org/news/2001/n070601a.html
>
> Copyright 2001, The American Civil Liberties Union



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