Facial Recognition Ban on Body Cameras Act

Bill: 118-hr-9954
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Beyer, Donald S. [D-VA-8]
Introduced: 2024-10-11
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Latest action: action_date: 2024-10-11
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 9954 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 11, 2024 Mr. Beyer (for himself and Mr. Lieu ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To prohibit use of remote biometric surveillance technology on any data acquired by body-worn cameras of law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Facial Recognition Ban on Body Cameras Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Facial recognition and other remote biometric surveillance technologies pose unique and significant threats to the civil rights and civil liberties of Americans. (2) The use of facial recognition and other remote biometric surveillance is the functional equivalent of requiring every person to show a personal photo identification card at all times in violation of recognized constitutional rights. This technology also allows people to be tracked without consent. (3) It would also generate massive databases about law-abiding Americans, and may chill the exercise of free speech in public places. (4) Facial recognition and other remote biometric surveillance technology has been repeatedly demonstrated to misidentify women, young people, people with disabilities, transgender people, and people of color and to create an elevated risk of harmful false positive identifications. (5) Facial and other remote biometric surveillance would corrupt the core purpose of officer-worn body-worn cameras by transforming those devices from transparency and accountability tools into roving surveillance systems. (6) The use of facial recognition and other remote biometric surveillance would disproportionately impact the civil rights and civil liberties of persons who live in highly policed communities. (7) Its use would also diminish effective policing and public safety by discouraging people in these communities, including victims of crime, undocumented persons, people with unpaid fines and fees, and those with prior criminal history from seeking police assistance or from assisting the police. 3. Prohibiting use of facial recognition technology and other remote biometric surveillance systems (a) Federal Financial Assistance Beginning on the first day of the first fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act, a State or unit of local government is ineligible to receive Federal financial assistance under the Byrne grant program under subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 unless the State or unit of local government is complying with a law or policy that is substantially similar to the prohibition set forth in section 4. (b) Rule of Construction Nothing in this section may be construed to preempt or supersede any Federal, State, or local law that imposes a more stringent limitation than the prohibition set forth in section 4. 4. Federal prohibition A Federal law enforcement agency may not use facial recognition technology or other remote biometric surveillance systems on any image, video, or audio acquired by body-worn cameras of law enforcement officers. 5. Definitions In this Act: (1) Biometic surveillance system The term biometric surveillance system means any computer software or application that performs facial recognition or other remote biometric surveillance. (2) Body-worn camera The term body-worn camera — (A) means an officer camera or similar device that records or transmits images or sound and is attached to the body or clothing of, or carried by, a law enforcement officer, including mobile phones; and (B) includes smart glasses and similar devices that include cameras attached to the frame of a piece of eyewear. (3) Facial recognition The term facial recognition means an automated or semi-automated process that assists in identifying an individual, capturing information about an individual, or otherwise generating or assisting in generating surveillance information about an individual based on the physical characteristics of the individual’s face. (4) Other remote biometric surveillance The term other remote biometric recognition — (A) means an automated or semi-automated process that— (i) assists in identifying an individual, capturing information about an individual, or otherwise generating or assisting in generating surveillance information about an individual based on the characteristics of the individual’s gait, iris, fingerprint, or other characteristic ascertained from a distance; (ii) uses voice recognition technology; or (iii) logs such characteristics to infer emotion, associations, activities, or the location of an individual; and (B) does not include identification based on fingerprints or palm prints when such information is collected onsite via traditional physical means (as opposed to fingerprint recognition systems that identify an individual based on a photo on which their finger is visible). (5) Use The term use — (A) means— (i) the direct use of a biometric surveillance system by a law enforcement officer or a law enforcement agency; or (ii) a request or agreement by a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency that another law enforcement agency or other third party use a biometric surveillance system on behalf of the requesting officer or agency; (B) includes— (i) running a biometric surveillance system in real time on images, video, or audio collected by a body-worn camera; and (ii) running a biometric surveillance system on images, video, or audio collected by a body-worn camera after the data has been collected, such as while reviewing footage during the course of an investigation; and (C) does not include— (i) using a biometric surveillance system on images, video, or audio collected by a body-worn camera if the sole purpose of using such a system is to aid with deidentifying individuals, such as blurring faces; and (ii) using a biometric surveillance system to identify the law enforcement officer employing the body-worn camera, such as an officer using facial recognition system to unlock their mobile phone.