IOT: Police Drones
In 2016 the FBI requested that its Next Generation Identification (NGI) system (which uses iris scan, fingerprint, and facial recognition technology) be exempt from provisions of the Privacy Act.
Law enforcement drones have clear benefits: allowing police to more easily find missing persons, suspects, and accident victims, for example. They also allow police to investigate dangerous situations such as bomb threats and toxic spills. Yet without strict controls on their use, drones could present a very serious threat to citizens’ privacy.
Drones can already be programmed to recognise and track people. Such capabilities are worrying enough when used by ARGUS-IS, which can automatically track moving objects, but the concerns are more pronounced when you consider tracking software on smaller and more nimble drones. Because of the rapid nature of technological change, hummingbird drones programmed to identify protesters, gun owners, mosque congregations, or visitors to abortion clinics are reasonable concerns, not paranoid fantasies.
In 2012 testimony before a Senate judiciary subcommittee, Duke Law School professor Nita Farahany noted, "as a general matter, law enforcement use of [facial recognition technology] is not, in itself, a Fourth Amendment search, let alone an unreasonable one."
The Supreme Court must revisit the Fourth Amendment doctrine, to rule on whether citizens have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the face of police use of biometric software.