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Ten agencies are also working on research and development in this area, including the ministries of justice, defense, national security and state. Agencies varied in purpose, but some reported research on well-documented bias in many face recognition systems. For example, the Department of Justice has studied the relationship between skin tone and the number of false matches in facial recognition algorithms. Others have explored how to make such systems more accurate, even when scanning masked people.

The report also showed extensive interagency coordination and exchange of facial recognition systems and information. Many federal agencies have reported that they have purchased their facial recognition systems from state and local governments. The Department of Homeland Security revealed that its information network “contains a mechanism for requesting third-party facial recognition searches through listed state and local organizations such as merger centers.”

A spokesman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group, said: “This important GAO report demonstrates the growing dependence of the federal government on face tracking technology. Most worrisome is its use by law enforcement agencies. However, face tracking is so disruptive to privacy, is so discriminatory against people of color, and is so likely to cause false arrests that the government should not use face tracking at all. “

In June, the GAO released a report on the facial recognition capabilities of 42 federal agencies employing law enforcement officials. He testified that several law enforcement agencies used facial recognition following last summer’s racial justice protests and the January attack on the US Capitol. The report also found that 13 out of 42 agencies do not fully understand how they are using the technology. A post from BuzzFeed News reveals that the GAO report was likely incomplete, and five federal agencies said they did not use the Clearview AI system when they did.

Technology adoption is growing at all levels of government. In March of this year, Clearview AI reported that 3,100 of 18,000 US federal, state, district and municipal law enforcement agencies – about 17% – were using its software.

In the United States, there is no federal regulation on the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies, although legislation is expected to be passed. In many states and cities, the use of software by law enforcement agencies and the government is prohibited, although local bans do not prevent its use at the federal level.