WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Roy
Blunt (Mo.) and Brian Schatz (Hawaii), members of the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science, & Transportation, introduced the Commercial Facial
Recognition Privacy Act of 2019. The bipartisan legislation would strengthen
consumer protections by prohibiting commercial users of facial recognition
technology (FR) from collecting and re-sharing data for identifying or tracking
consumers without their consent.
“Consumers
are increasingly concerned about how their data is being collected and used,
including data collected through facial recognition technology,” said
Senator Blunt. “That’s why we need guardrails to ensure that, as this
technology continues to develop, it is implemented responsibly. This bill
increases transparency and consumer choice by requiring individuals to give
informed consent before commercial entities can collect and share data gathered
through FR. This legislation is an important step toward protecting privacy and
empowering consumers, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it.”
“Our
faces are our identities. They’re personal. So the responsibility is on
companies to ask people for their permission before they track and analyze
their faces,” said Senator Schatz, Ranking Member of the
Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the
Internet.
“Our bill makes sure that people are given the information and – more
importantly – the control over how their data is shared with companies
using facial recognition technology.”
“Facial
recognition technology creates many new benefits for society and should
continue to be developed,” said Brad Smith, President of Microsoft. “Its
use, however, needs to be regulated to protect against acts of bias and
discrimination, preserve consumer privacy, and uphold our basic democratic
freedoms. Senators Blunt and Schatz’s bill has started an important
conversation in Congress about the responsible use of this technology. We’re
encouraged by their efforts, applaud their leadership and look forward to
working with them to
develop balanced policy.”
“The
Commercial Facial Recognition Privacy Act recognizes that face recognition is a
powerful and invasive new technology,” said Chris Calabrese, Vice President
for Policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “We deserve clear
rules and limits on how our faces can be analyzed, identified, and tracked over
time. While face recognition is improving rapidly, we must ensure these
technologies are assessed for accuracy and bias. This bipartisan proposal will
help all Americans know more about how businesses are deploying and using face
recognition technologies.”
While
FR has been used for security and surveillance applications for decades, it is
now being developed at increasing rates for commercial applications. Many
consumers are unaware that FR technology exists in public places and can be
used to collect personally identifiable data, which can be shared with
undisclosed third parties. By regulating the use of FR in public places,
consumers will have transparency and choice in the collection of their physical
likeness and know that the data collected is not redistributed or repurposed.
Under
the bill, companies would be required to notify consumers when FR is being
used. It also requires third-party testing and human review of technologies
prior to their implementation, to address accuracy and bias issues in the
technology and avoid use cases that may result in harm to consumers. The bill
restricts redistributing or disseminating data to third-party entities without
express consent from the end user. It also clearly defines data
controllers and data processors in order to make requirements apparent for
entities that either develop or vend FR products or services, store facial
recognition data, or implement these technologies on a physical premise. It
would require FR providers to meet data security, minimization, and retention
standards as determined by the Federal Trade Commission and the National
Institute of Standards and Technology.
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