EPIC Scrutinizes FBI's Massive Biometric Database
In comments to the FBI, EPIC criticized the Bureau’s proposal to remove Privacy Act safeguards from a database containing biometric data on millions of citizens, much of it unrelated to law enforcement. Through a FOIA lawsuit, EPIC obtained documents about the “Next Generation Identification” database that revealed an error rate up to 20% for face recognition searches. EPIC warned the FBI of the privacy and civil liberties risks as well as the potential for data breaches. EPIC urged the FBI to limit the scope of data collection, reduce the retention of data, and maintain the protections of the Privacy Act.