Biometric surveillance is coming for you, even if you have'nothing to hide' Clare Garvie is a Senior Associate at Georgetown University's Center on Privacy and Technology, where she has dedicated her work to studying law enforcement's use of face recognition technology on the American public. She is considered the foremost expert on face recognition technology; last year she testified in front of Congress. She writes extensively on its use in law enforcement investigations. As well, she brings to light the worrying ways the technology disrupts privacy, circumvents judicial norms and legal precedents, and promotes chilling effects on free speech and civil liberties. All of this happens under a veil of secrecy, without public consent and largely outside of the purview of American lawmakers. Garvie's research spotlights the ways these technologies are disproportionately used on Black and Brown communities and the failures of face recognition algorithms when deployed on people of color and women. The technology's efficacy, already cause for concern, is further problematized by law enforcement's cavalier practices.

When is it appropriate for police to conduct a face recognition search? To figure out who's who in a crowd of protesters? To monitor foot traffic in a high-crime neighborhood? To confirm the identity of a suspect -- or a witness -- caught on tape? According to a new report by Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy & Technology, these are questions very few police departments asked before widely deploying face recognition systems.