ICE Facial Recognition App Mandates Scans, Keeps Photos 15 Years

A DHS document reveals ICE’s Mobile Fortify facial recognition app verifies identity and immigration status without allowing individuals to refuse scans. Photos taken are stored for 15 years, including those of U.S. citizens. The document describes the app’s technology, data handling, and rationale, amid reports that ICE and CBP are scanning faces in public to verify citizenship.

Key Points

• ICE’s Mobile Fortify app is used to verify identity and immigration status and does not allow individuals to refuse a facial scan.
• Face photos captured by the app are retained for 15 years, regardless of immigration or citizenship status, including U.S. citizens.
• An internal DHS document details the technology, data processing, storage practices, and rationale for the app’s use.
• 404 Media previously reported that ICE and CBP agents are scanning people’s faces in public to verify citizenship.

Sentiment

The overall sentiment of the Hacker News discussion is overwhelmingly negative, critical, and alarmist. Users express profound fear, horror, frustration, and anger regarding the implications of ICE's facial recognition app, viewing it as a dangerous step towards government overreach, potential injustice, and authoritarianism.

In Agreement

• The app's definitive determination of status, potentially overriding evidence of U.S. citizenship, is horrifying and dangerously prone to error.
• The system will cause significant problems for U.S. citizens with complex or non-standard immigration histories, leading to wrongful detentions or deportations without due process.
• The 15-year retention of all facial photos, including those of citizens, is a clear indication of intent to create a comprehensive biometric dataset for general government use, not just immigration enforcement.
• Facial recognition technology is known to be inaccurate, especially for people with darker skin, making its use as a 'definitive' tool inherently discriminatory and dangerous.
• This tool represents government overreach, a move towards authoritarianism, and empowers a national police force to act with impunity, subjugating the populace.
• Individuals caught in misidentification scenarios will likely have little to no legal recourse against ICE's actions, leading to severe personal consequences.

Opposed

• There are no key viewpoints in the discussion that express agreement with or support for ICE's facial recognition app or its associated policies. The discussion is overwhelmingly critical.