Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 01:51:12 -0400 To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com> From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com> Subject: Law Enforcement Alliance of America's Opposition to Face Recognition Software Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"On 3 July 2001, U.S. Newswire published the following statement from The Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA):
The Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA) today called for the immediate removal of computer enhanced surveillance cameras installed in the city of Tampa, Fla. The cameras, which capture an image of every face the camera sees and compares the faces to a database of people wanted by police, represent a violation of every American's 4th amendment right to privacy. Further, Tampa's use of this Big Brother type surveillance system is in violation of the camera makers' own privacy policy.
In explaining why these cameras are such a concern to a law enforcement organization like LEAA, Executive Director Jim Fotis said, "law enforcement officers depend on the trust and support of the community they protect. When police are perceived as being part of the big brother scheme that these cameras represent, their relationship with the law abiding citizens of the community is damaged."
LEAA Spokesperson Kevin H. Watson recently told a national audience on Fox News how the Tampa cameras violate the privacy policy of the company that makes them. "The company's own trade association has a privacy policy that clearly states that there needs to be strict legal standards developed that carefully define and limit the conditions under which law enforcement can use these systems."
The camera manufacturer, Visionics Corp. [ http://www.visionics.com/home.html ] is a member of the International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA) [http://www.ibia.org/ ]. The IBIA's official Privacy Principles state "clear legal standards should be developed to carefully define and limit the conditions under which agencies of national security and law enforcement may acquire, access, store and use biometric data."
Yet Visionics, working with Tampa authorities, have allowed law enforcement to use these biometric cameras without such legal standards being written into law, in a blatant violation of what they admit is the proper use of their technology.
LEAA Executive Director Jim Fotis cautioned the authorities who installed these cameras saying, "They need to be removed immediately, in compliance with the manufacturers' own privacy policy. If not, we'll introduce legislation at the state and federal level to ban the use of these systems altogether."
With more than 65,000 members and supporters, the Law Enforcement Alliance of America is the nation's largest coalition of law enforcement professionals, crime victims, and concerned citizens dedicated to making America safer.
[Copyright 2001, U.S. Newswire.]
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. ---
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