Coalition Demands Congressional Oversight of FBI’s Vast Biometric Database

A coalition of 45 organizations urged Congress to hold a hearing on the FBI’s massive biometric database and the risks of facial recognition technology. The letter follows the FBI’s recent proposal to exempt the “Next Generation Identification” database from Privacy Act safeguards—including requirements for accuracy, relevancy, and transparency. The civil liberties organizations said that “the FBI is retaining vast amounts of personal information and exposing millions of people to a potential data breach.”