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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