It is time for Congressional leaders to look closely at policing tools that facilitate invasive and discriminatory policing – including facial recognition technology. 

That’s why Congress needs to pass the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act to stop government use of biometric technology, including facial recognition tools.

Studies have shown that facial recognition technology is more prone to misidentify people of color than white people. A Black man, Robert Williams was arrested and held for more than a day on charges of larceny based on a false facial recognition technology match with an old driver's license photo.

Beyond its discriminatory impact, face recognition technology is overly invasive, forcing us all into a perpetual lineup. Our faces are caught on camera without our consent and fed into algorithms. In the U.S., this kind of technology has already been used to identify people protesting police brutality, worker’s rights, and climate change. Globally, it has been deployed to systematically control religious minority groups, suppress democratic movements, and facilitate other oppressive practices.

Among other reforms, this bill would:

• Place a prohibition on the use of facial recognition technology by federal entities, which can only be lifted with an act of Congress;
• Place a prohibition on the use of other biometric technologies, including voice recognition, gate recognition, and recognition of other immutable physical characteristics, by federal entities, which can only be lifted with an act of Congress;
• Condition federal grant funding to state and local entities, including law enforcement, on those entities enacting their own moratoria on the use of facial recognition and biometric technology;
• Prohibit the use of federal dollars for biometric surveillance systems;
• Prohibit the use of information collected via biometric technology in violation of the Act in any judicial proceedings;
• Provide a private right of action for individuals whose biometric data is used in violation of the Act and allow for enforcement by state Attorneys General; and
• Allow states and localities to enact their own laws regarding the use of facial recognition and biometric technologies.

Tell your Representatives & Senators in Congress to sign on as co-sponsors & pass the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act now!