HB 5521: Biometric Surveillance Act

The use of biometric identification systems – collecting a person’s face scan or other biometric information and comparing that information against a database of stored biometric information in search of a match – is becoming far more common across the country. Biometric surveillance enables the invasive power to track who we are, where we go, and what we do. These technologies, such as facial recognition, are flawed and inaccurate.

We need to curb the use of this technology in Illinois.

HB 5521 bars state and local law enforcement from using or contracting with a third party or other government agency, to use biometric identification systems except for background checks, fingerprinting pursuant to an arrest or conviction, to collect forensic evidence or to access a work issued device. It also bars the Secretary of State from using driver’s license photos for facial recognition searches.

While the State of Illinois regulates companies’ collection and use of sensitive biometric information, local and state law enforcement have been left to their own devices. And because biometric surveillance generally happens in the shadows, the full reach of the surveillance state is unknown.

But the harms of this technology were on full display as DHS, according the Attorney General’s lawsuit, used biometric surveillance technology to scan the faces and fingerprints of people more than 100,000 comparing the faces of citizens and non-citizens against a variety of government databases containing 200 million images and a deep well of data including name, date of birth, and immigration status.

Whether its federal agents, or local law enforcement, biometric surveillance threatens the well-being of our communities, our privacy rights and our ability to freely express ideas, protest government policies, and attend places of worship.

Under HB 5521, the Attorney General would be able to bring a lawsuit against a state or local agency that used biometric data in violation of the Act, and individuals could sue if their rights under the Act were violated.