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Breaking: It will be illegal for nearly all Virginia law enforcement agencies to use facial recognition technology starting July 1.
Both chambers of the General Assembly today accepted @GovernorVA Ralph Northam's technical amendment to @delegateaird's bill, House Bill 2031, which means it will become law.
HB 2031 will outlaw police departments, sheriff's offices, etc. from using facial recognition technology unless the General Assembly passes a law specifically allowing them to do so AND the agency has "exclusive control" over it.
No law enforcement agency I know of has "exclusive control" over the facial recognition technology they've used; it just doesn't work that way. That's why Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, called her legislation a "de facto ban."
That means, come July 1, law enforcement agencies can't use Clearview AI and the like.
The ban won't include Virginia State Police ( @VSPPIO), who wrongly told both @virginianpilot (i.e. me) and Aird it hadn't used Clearview or any other facial recognition program
But its investigators had (see our story below) https://www.pilotonline.com/government/virginia/vp-nw-virginia-state-police-clearview-20210330-zqgok5644vewhjyoaozdjibi7u-story.html
But its investigators had (see our story below) https://www.pilotonline.com/government/virginia/vp-nw-virginia-state-police-clearview-20210330-zqgok5644vewhjyoaozdjibi7u-story.html
After we exposed the State Police, Aird said she was scrambling to get the governor's office to include a last-minute amendment that would have included the State Police. But the governor's suggested changes included no such amendment.
I haven't asked Del. Aird if she'll push to include State Police in the future.
We've covered how law enforcement in Hampton Roads and Virginia have used Clearview for months. You can find our stories about it below. https://www.pilotonline.com/government/local/vp-nw-clearview-facial-recognition-norfolk-police-20200909-pcuvhkos5rhmzbhkzthsnlex4m-story.html
