Behind the Commercial Facial Recognition (FR) Digital Curtain: Privacy & Consumer Protection Safeguards Required as NTIA Stakeholders Address FR

Beginning a more informed discussion on the privacy and consumer protection implications of Facial Recognition Technology: NTIA Privacy Multi-stakeholder Process:

The NTIA’s present inquiry must be based on a solid foundation that objectively analyzes actual commercial FR developments, places its use in the context of the multi-dimensional and cross-platform contemporary data-driven practices, identifies its implications beyond consumer concerns to reflect upon its broader societal impact (such as civil liberties), and engages with legal frameworks or proposals that have or could address how FR should be properly regulated. Given that the focus of the Commerce Department-led proceeding is to help implement the Obama Administration’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (CPBR), stakeholders should also address how FR should be dealt with in related legislation and identify the specific CPBR principles inherent in such a discussion (such as “Individual Control,” “Respect for Context,” “Accountability,” etc.).

To help promote a more informed discussion of actual FR and related biometric data practices, CDD provides this overview on ten of the hundreds that could be cited. The report is attached.