New Hampshire Considers New Facial Recognition Regulations 

New Hampshire House of Representatives currently considers a bill that would regulate government and law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology.

Two versions of the bill are under consideration. In one version, there would be limited circumstances where the state could engage in ongoing surveillance using facial recognition. For example, law enforcement would be allowed to use facial recognition to run individual photos or surveil an area for less than three days but to use it for a longer period, they would have to get a court order. In an alternative version, the law enforcement could only use facial recognition if they got a search warrant supported by probable cause. The law would also make any information derived from the illegal use of facial recognition technology inadmissible in court. The DMV would also not be permitted to allow access to its photo database for use by facial recognition technology.

Privacy advocates have long been signaling concerns about unregulated use of facial recognition in the United States. According to the Georgetown University study, law enforcement face recognition networks include every other adult in the country. At least 1 out of 4 state or local police departments has an option to run face recognition searches through their or another agency’s system.  As many as 30 states allow law enforcement to run or request searches against their database of driver’s license and ID photos.  One of the major issues with the technology is that it has been shown to be less accurate on people of color, women, and other minority groups.

The New Hampshire bill illustrates a notable change in the emerging approach to the use of facial recognition by law enforcement in the United States: away from the notion that the technology should be completely banned to various degrees of regulation.

A number of the U.S. municipalities, including Boston, San Francisco, and Oakland, as well as Springfield, Somerville, Brookline, Northampton, and Cambridge in Massachusetts have banned the use of facial recognition software by law enforcement.

However, in March of 2020, the State of Washington passed the first public sector facial recognition regulation in the country.

In October of 2020, Vermont enacted a statute which prohibits state law enforcement from using facial recognition technology or information acquired through the use of facial recognition technology without a future express consent of the legislature.  The law enforcement, however, is permitted to use facial recognition in connection with data collection by law enforcement drones but only with respect to the specific target of the surveillance.

Massachusetts has recently passed a police reform bill that would require police to first must get a judge’s permission before running a facial recognition search, and then have someone from the state police, the F.B.I. or the Registry of Motor Vehicles perform the search. The law also creates a commission to study facial recognition policies and make recommendation.

Take a tour of Clarip’s patented data privacy technology and learn how Clarip can help your enterprise comply with emerging state level data subject rights regulations. Call Clarip today at 1-888-252-5653 or schedule a Demo Online!