AG: No abuse of facial recognition, use suspended for now скачать в хорошем качестве

AG: No abuse of facial recognition, use suspended for now

COLUMBUS (WKRC) - Ohio’s state facial recognition system has not been abused by law enforcement, but access to it will be suspended to local police until they go through new training and receive updated credentials, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Wednesday. Yost launched a review of the state’s system, which is part of the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway, or OHLEG, in July following a report in the Washington Post. The Post story aired concerns that federal agencies may have been using the databases and BMV photos improperly. Yost said direct access to the system in OHLEG by federal agencies ceased in 2014. "The bottom line is: There were no dragnets, there was no mass surveillance,” Yost said. "Everything is being done well. I want it to be done better." A 16-page report detailed the review of the system from 2017 through 2019. The report states 4 percent of the searches in 2019 were requested by federal agencies. The top search requester was the U.S. Border Patrol Sandusky post. According to the report, more than 4,500 local law enforcement officials in Ohio have direct access to the database. However, Yost said he would suspend that access until new training courses were designed on the technology, which is not foolproof. "It's only a starting place; it's lead. It's a clue in criminal investigation. It's the place we start, not the place we end,” Yost said. Yost said he became aware of information related to false identifications after he started researching the issue. For instance, misidentifications are more prevalent in African Americans and women versus Caucasians and men. The Ohio database includes 24 million BMV photos, something privacy advocates have criticized. Yost said he disagreed with that criticism since driver’s license photos are routinely used by law enforcement for identification. "The logic that's being proposed here is that an ID photo, taken for identification purposes, shouldn't be used for identification without consent; you see, it's a nonsequitur,” Yost said. During the press conference Wednesday, Yost said the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office uses the state’s facial recognition system more than any other agency in the state. He said there were a number of reasons, including its use in the booking process at the jail to help identify people. Yost said sometimes the users become impatient while a request is being processed and resubmit the same request a short time later. The Sheriff’s Office has had its own county-wide facial recognition system since 2017 and uses only mugshots or other crime-related photos, not driver’s license photos. However, Records Supervisor Ed Zieverink said the OHLEG system is used as a complement to the county system. "We were all trained by the FBI on how to utilize facial recognition to its highest potential,” Zieverink said. The Attorney General will create a panel of civil libertarians, privacy experts and law enforcement to give input on new training. Once law enforcement officers complete the new training and are given new credentials, they will be able to access the state system again. A spokesperson for the ACLU of Ohio questioned the use of facial recognition technology at all. “With ongoing concerns about Ohio’s use of facial recognition and numerous problems with the technology itself, the ACLU of Ohio believes we must do more than better train law enforcement on its use,” said Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the ACLU of Ohio. “It is time to debate whether Ohio should be using it at all. Privacy concerns, persistent inaccuracies, and its potential for abuse all weigh against continuing the use of this risky technology.”