Can Facial Recognition Technology Be Used to Fight the New War Against Terrorism?: Examining the Constitutionality of Facial Recognition Surveillance Systems
| Jurisdiction | United States,Federal |
| Citation | Vol. 3 No. 2001 |
| Publication year | 2001 |
I. Introduction
The images of the September 11, 2001 tragedy are still vivid for most Americans. In light of these events, many citizens want to know how to prevent terrorist acts from happening again. Most agree that the American way of life will forever be changed. An expectation to travel around the country at a moment's notice is no longer reasonable, nor are Americans as likely to demand living our lives with little or no interference from the government. While most Americans seemingly expect and are willing to sacrifice some freedoms for assurance that we can live our lives in safety, many wonder just how much we will have to sacrifice for such assurances.
Because Americans live in one of the most technologically advanced societies, our lives have already been monitored and our freedoms constrained by highly intrusive means. Employers can legally monitor their employees' e-mails, and automobile drivers can be issued traffic tickets with the use of video cameras attached to stoplights. This comment will focus on one of the most intrusive means that recent technological advancements will now allow to be imposed upon us in the name of combating crime and ensuring safety: facial recognition.
Facial recognition is part of a larger category of technologies called biometrics that uses biological information, such as iris scans and handprints, to confirm identity.1 The use of facial recognition software in conjunction with public video surveillance ("facial recognition surveillance") is quickly emerging as a means of tracking down criminals and other wanted individuals. In light of the September 11th tragedy, inquiries into how this technology can be used to prevent future attacks of this kind are now being explored with great urgency. Countering these inquiries are concerns that this form of electronic surveillance may be so intrusive that it violates our constitutional rights.
This Comment sets out to explore the constitutionality of facial recognition surveillance in the context of the Fourth Amendment. The evolution of this type of electronic surveillance will be examined in Part II of this article. Part III of this article will concentrate on how this technology works and will focus on its use in the first United States city to implement such surveillance. Part IV will discuss this type of surveillance and possible Fourth Amendment implications. The use of facial recognition technology in response to a national security interest, such as that created by the September 11th tragedy, will also be discussed in Part IV. Part V will conclude the Comment with a discussion of possible safeguards that should be put in place for this technology to operate effectively, whether use of the technology is in fact constitutional or only warrants use in certain situations.
II. Evolution of Facial Recognition Technology in the United States
In the early 1960s, public video surveillance was introduced into the private sector and utilized primarily by banks.2 By the next decade, use of this surveillance was widespread and found in places such as hospitals and convenience stores.3 However, use of this technology was limited because remote active monitoring of video was relatively unavailable, and the quality of film and cameras often resulted in blurry images.4 Starting in the mid-1980s, improvements began to be made with video technology and these problems were minimized.5 These new advancements included things such as zoom lenses and digital technology.6 This allowed video cameras to collect distinct, vivid images without much lighting.7 With the expansion of video capabilities came experimentation with this form of technology and biometrics. Practical applications merging biometrics technology, particularly facial recognition, with video technology were first sought after by the United States government as a possible means of ensuring national security.8
The United States Department of Defense has funded university scientists' work on facial recognition technology for over a decade.9 Department of Defense officials have been focused on perfecting this technology to better spot criminals at our country's borders.10 Likewise, private companies determined that this technology could combat crime within the country's borders and began marketing use of this technology in the mid-1990s.11
A few companies have developed facial recognition software to be used in conjunction with video surveillance cameras; the most well-known of these is Visionics Corporation of Jersey City, New Jersey. In addition to marketing its product as a high-tech, identity recognition device that can be used to combat crime, Visionics Corp. also describes its facial recognition system as an efficient means to verify employee and student identity.12 In order to understand the vast capabilities of facial recognition surveillance, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of how this technology works.
III. How Facial Recognition Technology Works and Its Use in the United States
A. How Facial Recognition Technology Works
The use of facial recognition software with video surveillance is a complex technological process. In marketing its software Facelt, Visionics Corp. has offered a layperson's description of how its product works. Video cameras are used to scan an area.13 Faces within a 35-degree angle of the camera can be extracted from the people in the monitored area.14 It takes only a split second for the camera to identify a face from among the other images it is monitoring.15 The software then measures between fourteen and twenty-two of the approximately eighty nodal points that make up an individual's face.16 Nodal points are those facial features that make each face unique.17 Nodal points include such characteristics as depth of eye sockets, distance between eyes, and width of nose.18
Once these points have been identified, the nodal point measurements are turned into a comprehensive numerical code, which is called a faceprint.19 Millions of faceprints can be compared to the database of stored faceprints in a minute.20 Comparisons are ranked by the software using a scale of one to ten, and a match is declared based on that rank.21 Some systems have been programmed to alert a match if the comparison rates at least an "eight," while others have been programmed to alert a match only if the comparison rates a "ten."22 To ensure accuracy, a human operator monitoring the facial recognition surveillance system compares the face that has been captured by camera to the photograph in the database that has been declared its match.23 Facial recognition systems marketed by other companies use slightly different methods, but achieve similar results.24
B. Use of Facial Recognition Technology in the United States
Widespread implementation of facial recognition technology has yet to be realized in the United States. Even though use is not prevalent here, the capacities in which this software is used in conjunction with video surveillance vary. Facial recognition technology uses include identifying cheaters at casinos and confirming identities of driver's license applicants.25 The technology has also been used at banks' automated teller machines to protect customers from having fraudulent transactions conducted in their names.26 Federal, state and local officials may also eventually model their use of facial recognition technology after the way other countries use this technology. In Mexico, for example, facial recognition has been used to prevent voter fraud by ensuring that no person votes more than once.27
While facial recognition systems have proven successful in these different applications, companies distributing the product emphasize the way that this technology can be used on streets and in other major public areas to identify criminals at large.28 In order to increase the use of facial recognition systems for this particular purpose, companies have agreed to let selected city law enforcement agencies test their products for free.29
Tampa, Florida has benefited from these companies' generous offers of free trial software. It was the first city in the United States to experiment with facial recognition surveillance.30 The city has utilized facial recognition systems by two different companies.31
The system first used by Tampa law enforcement was provided by Graphco Technologies for the Super Bowl.32 The system was installed in an attempt to comb through the Super Bowl crowd for felons and terrorists.33 Graphco's software, FaceTrac, operates in much the same way as the FaceIt software manufactured by Visionics Corp.34 Cameras were installed both around Raymond James Stadium (the Super Bowl site) and in Tampa's entertainment district, Ybor City.35 However, such surveillance focused on Super Bowl-related events taking place in and around the stadium. Nineteen individuals with outstanding warrants were identified at the stadium through the facial recognition system, but no arrests were made.36
Tampa's city council and law enforcement officials decided to continue using this type of surveillance, but the focus is now on Ybor City rather than on the stadium. In addition to changing its focus, the city has also chosen to switch facial recognition systems. Visionics Corp. has allowed the city to monitor its Ybor City district with its product for one year at no cost.37 An estimated 125,000 people frequent Ybor City every Friday, and the likelihood that a criminal could be lurking in this crowd is high.38 Thirty-six video cameras have been installed in this area.39
The facial images recorded by the cameras are compared to photographs in three separate databases, which include individuals who are wanted felons, sexual predators, and missing children.40 The database currently consists of a few hundred photographs which come from existing local law enforcement files, but FaceIt manufacturers plan to expand the database to include 30,000...
To continue reading
Request your trial