U.S. Government Request for Information 10/8/2021
Facial Recognition Technology Standards & Ethical Usage

Notice of Request for Information (RFI) on Public and Private Sector Uses of Biometric Technologies

DC UPDATE: Stakeholders and advocates are chiming in with responses to a U.S. government request for information on public and private sector uses of biometrics, providing a snapshot of a social dialogue straining against the inertia of misunderstanding and self-interest.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) posted the RFI in October to gather information on “past deployments, proposals, pilots, or trials, and current use of biometric technologies” for identity verification, identification, and attribute inferencing.

When comments closed over the weekend, submissions had been made by various stakeholder groups. A somewhat optimistic review might conclude that opinion is converging at least around the need for clear definitions, the value being provided by NIST’s efforts and the need for more federal government action.

Oosto has shared its ‘Scale of Sensitivity’ for six common facial recognition applications with the White House. The use cases and their associated risks were set out by the company late last year as part of a proposal on AI ethics compliance.

“It is critical that government leaders recognize the power of visual AI to save and sustain lives,” states Golan. “Visual AI today is often misunderstood or misrepresented. As a world-leading firm in this space, we encourage regulators to conduct thoughtful due diligence in order to provide meaningful guidance and an appropriate legal framework regulating the use of biometrics in context-specific scenarios. Moreover, we need a cohesive national policy for the ethical use of facial recognition vs. a patchwork quilt of differing state-level regulations which make commercial compliance challenging.”

Civil Society:

A group of legal experts and civil society advocates are calling for a comprehensive government response to biometric technologies in the form of moratoriums on mandatory participation in biometric systems, legislation targeting disparate impacts, and a broad review of human rights impacts from biometrics.

The New York Civil Liberties Union writes to express concerns about facial recognition in school setting and law enforcement, making reference to the Lockport fiasco and Clearview AI, respectively.

Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center (ND TEC) focus on the use cases and potential harms of biometric technology. Their letter therefore presents a litany of potential problems related to bias, bad science, and data privacy risks, though the authors note that they “are encouraged by the OSTP’s efforts to consider policies that can equitably harness the benefits of these technologies while providing effective and iterative safeguards against their anticipated abuses and harms.”

Software industry:

Federal privacy legislation and clear definitions are the necessary starting point for good biometrics policy, a Washington-based software industry group says.

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has commended OSTP’s efforts to create a Bill of Rights for an Automated Society, or ‘AI Bill of Rights,’ and recommends that the body support current efforts to develop guidelines for responsible and ethical use for biometrics and other AI technologies. That means supporting the work of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

SIIA also recommends a distinction between private and public sector uses of biometrics, and expresses concern that including “derived data” in the definition of biometric technologies could unnecessarily muddy the waters.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) is calling for OSTP to focus on leveraging existing standards and frameworks to regulate high-risk applications of biometrics.

The group further echoes Oosto on the need to distinguish between use cases, and the SIIA on the need to differentiate between public and private sector applications. Likewise, ITIC agrees with the SIIA on the need to support NIST, specifically its work on an AI Risk Management Framework. biometricupdate.com

Editor's Note: Looks like the U.SD. government may be close on making decisions on AI biometrics and specifically facial recognition. And if this article is in fact a representation of the data submitted to the OSTP and the White House then facial recognition is about to see industry expansion and usage. With one caveat, hold congressional floor debate after the mid-term elections and hopefully muffle Sen. Warren, Sen. Sanders, and obviously AOC. No need muffling Biden. Just my opinion -Gus Downing