RMV Use Of Facial Recognition Starts New Debate Over Privacy And Safety

22:14

July 10, 2019

A man watches as a visitor tries out a facial recognition display at a booth for Chinese tech firm Ping'an Technology at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing on April 26, 2018. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

If you have a driver's license in Massachusetts, you are — knowingly or not — part of a massive facial recognition database used regularly by law enforcement.

The RMV says local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies routinely ask it to run images against its millions of license photos, looking for matches. In 2015, there were 258 such requests.

The Washington Post reports that the FBI and ICE run similar searches with state driver's license databases across the country.

What's the right balance between privacy and safety?

Guests

Cynthia Creem, Massachusetts Senate majority leader. She tweets @cindycreem.

Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program for the ACLU of Massachusetts. Crockford tweets @onekade.

Kelly Nee, chief of police for Boston University and former deputy superintendent for the Boston Police Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Analysis. Nee tweets @ChiefNee.

This segment aired on July 10, 2019.