Compendium of biometric case studies with a focus on laws published

A research institute housed out of New York University that focuses on the social implications of AI has published a compendium of legal efforts to regulate biometric systems. The goal is to examine what the law can and currently cannot accomplish regarding biometrics.

The AI Now Institute makes no bones about advocating the leashing of AI in order to protect individuals from being harmed by algorithms, those who write the algorithms and those wielding the algorithms.

Its leaders have declared four focuses for the institute: labor and automation, bias and inclusion, safety and critical infrastructure and rights and liberties.

Too often, AI technology, according to the institute, is set about working with “minimal oversite, few accountability mechanisms, and little research into their broader implications.”

The compendium is edited by AI Now Director of Global Strategy and Programs Amba Kak and it holds eight use cases from the United States, the UK, India, the EU and Australia, collected under the title “Regulating Biometrics: Global Approaches and Urgent Questions.”

One of the U.S. case studies asks if Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, or BIPA, is the country’s most important biometric privacy law. It “questions the inevitable limits of a law that is centered on ‘informed consent,’ a system that gives the illusion of control” but protects practices that people generally do not have the resources to challenge.

Another one focused on the United States is itself a compendium. It lists the bans and moratoriums on police use of facial recognition, and contains a taxonomy that goes beyond the topic’s major categories.

Article Topics

AI Now Institute  |  Australia  |  biometric identification  |  Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)  |  biometrics  |  EU  |  facial recognition  |  India  |  legislation  |  privacy  |  regulation  |  UK  |  United States