Updated 11:12 am ET, Thursday, February 2
It’s not just Google’s new privacy policy that has members of the U.S. House of Representatives on edge: Facial recognition technology — such as that used by Facebook to provide photo-tagging suggestions — is coming under increased scrutiny in Washington.
Lawmakers said as much in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday afternoon, calling upon the agency to “look further” into the technology.
“Currently, there are a number of companies that have implemented both facial recognition and facial detection technologies for the stated purpose of enhancing the user experience,” wrote Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) and six other members of the House, in a letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, “We are deeply concerned about how the use of these technologies impact the level of protection for consumer’s [sic] personal information.”
As such, the lawmakers applauded the FTC’s previous efforts to examine the topic, including a December 8, 2011 forum on the technology and subsequent request for public comment on the technology.
And yet, the lawmakers “urge the FTC to look further into how these technologies are used.”
The lawmakers, who aside from Barton, include Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA), Blake Farenthold (R-TX), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Michael Burress (R-TX), are all members of the House’s Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, a group started to “to educate Members of Congress and their staff on matter of individual privacy, to provide a forum for the discussion of these issues, and to serve as a legislative advocate for personal privacy matters.”
Several — including Barton, Markey and Speier — have also led the charge in Washington over Google’s new privacy policy, sending a letter to Google’s CEO and releasing statements requesting briefings form the company before the policy goes into effect March 1.
The letter sent Tuesday to the FTC doesn’t single-out any specific companies by name, but both Facebook and Google (as well as numerous other companies) have employed the technology in various products, not to mention the efforts by law-enforcement bodies, such as the FBI, to use the technology to track criminals.
Previously, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) in October 2011 sent a letter to the FTC asking them to investigate facial recognition technology. It is unclear at this time if the agency is formally investigating any specific companies, and if so, which ones. We’ve reached out to the FTC and will update when we receive a response.
Late update: An FTC spokesperson confirmed that the agency had received the letter but could not provide further detail on whether the agency was looking into any specific companies regarding facial recognition technology.
Carl Franzen
Carl Franzen is TPM Idea Lab's tech reporter. He used to work for The Daily, AOL and The Atlantic Wire (though not simultaneously, thankfully). He's never met a button that didn't need to be pressed. He can be reached at carl@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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