Several members expressed outrage at the revelation, first reported by the Washington Post and New York Times, that Utah was among a handful of states allowing the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement mined data in millions of driver licenses.ĭepartment of Public Safety officials said while such searches were conducted looking for identified suspects in criminal cases, the reports were overblown and denied there were wholesale fishing expeditions taking place. When lawmakers first discussed the issue in September, there seemed to be some support for banning use of the technology on driver licenses. “The way we found to stop that from happening was with the use of facial recognition software.” “They weren’t even fake IDs, they were real IDs issued by the state of Utah,” Thatcher said. That meant minors being able to engage in age-restricted activities, he said, and individuals applying for lines of credit with someone else’s information. Thatcher said that prior to the department’s adoption of facial recognition technology roughly 10 years ago, people were able to apply for and obtain a valid, government-issued identification card under a false name or birth date. “If we are going to issue a government ID,” Thatcher said, “then the onus is on us to ensure that we are not issuing an ID that can be used for identity theft or voter fraud or any of the other bad things you can do.” Dan Thatcher, warned that inaction would mean the practice continues without legal guardrails as the state’s Department of Public Safety works to block bad actors from obtaining fraudulent identification.

A proposal to clearly authorize but regulate the use of facial recognition software on Utah’s driver license database fell flat at the Legislature on Wednesday, with the bill facing a bipartisan chorus of concerns related to privacy and warrantless searches.īut the bill’s sponsor, West Valley Republican Sen.

Driver license recognition