Huge FBI facial recognition database flawed: GAO audit
The FBI's facial recognition database of 411 million photos includes some 30 million criminal mugshots, drivers' license pictures from 16 US states, 140 million images from visa applications by foreign nationals and 6.7 million photos of individuals detained by US forces abroad, but lacks adequate safeguards for accuracy and privacy protection, a congressional audit shows. Alvaro Bedoya, who heads the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown University's law school, called the report “startling,” saying it revealed that facial recognition is being used on a much larger scale than had been disclosed.