A civil rights group has filed suit against the New York Corrections Department for not turning over records on how it uses facial recognition technology on visitors at state lockups, new Court papers show.

The New York Civil Liberties Union says it requested records from the Department of Correction & Communities Supervision on Sept. 23, saying the public has the “right to know basic facts” about how the “notoriously inaccurate & prone to error technology is being used at lockups, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit filed Wednesday.

But on Jan. 29, the NYCLU’s request — made under New York’s Freedom of Information Law — was denied by the DOCCS for a generic series of exemptions for FOIL requests, the suit claims. The NYCLU’s appeal of that decision was also denied on March 1.

In the suit, the advocacy group warned about drawbacks of facial recognition technology, saying it “inevitably will misidentify visitors as unwelcome & deny visitation.” It added that “the consequences may be more dire” if the facial recognition system misidentifies someone as having an outstanding warrant or other justice system involvement & wrongfully detains them as a result.

The group says they’ve heard from people who were turned away “based on utilization of face recognition technology to screen visitors,” the suit claims.

But there is nothing in the DOCCS directives, handbook or on the visitor webpage that mentions the use of facial recognition technology & the possibility of being denied visitation because of it, the suit says.

“The extent of facial recognition surveillance in prisons & jails in New York & beyond is largely unknown & alarming,” NYCLU lawyer Beth Haroules said in a statement. “Facial recognition software is notoriously inaccurate & particularly bad at recognizing Black people, other people of color, women & young people.”

“They appear to have failed to create a public policy, establish privacy guidelines for visitors’ sensitive biometric information, disclose how the agency is retaining or sharing footage, or address the grave risk of misidentification for visitors & loved ones,” Haroules continued. “They owe the public answers.”

The NYCLU is asking a judge to force the agency to turn over the records.

A spokesman with the DOCCS said “The Department does not comment on pending litigation.” 

Source Link

Picture Source :