Facial Recognition Technology: Security vs. Privacy Concerns

Imagine a computer thousands of miles away recognizing you in a camera at an intersection. Furthermore, consider being tracked and monitored from your home to your place of work every day. Facial recognition technology makes this type of identification possible and it is being rapidly developed for country defense and law enforcement purposes. On this episode of Lawyer 2 Lawyer, host J. Craig Williams interviews Ed Tivol from EWA, Government Systems, Inc. and Jennifer Lynch from Electronic Frontier Foundation. Together, they discuss the paradox of security vs. privacy when it comes to biometric modes of identification. In addition, they deliberate on how this data is being collected, who is collecting it, and for what purpose. Tune in to hear about your evolving First and Fourth Amendment Rights in the face of national security, crime prevention, and the private sector.

Jennifer Lynch is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and works on open government, transparency, and privacy issues as part of EFF's Transparency Project. She is a writer and frequent speaker on government surveillance programs, domestic drones, intelligence community misconduct, and biometrics. Lynch has testified about facial recognition before Senate Subcommittees and prior to joining EFF, she was the Clinical Teaching Fellow with the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Ed Tivol is the Vice President of the Intelligence and Operations Division for EWA, Government Systems, Inc. a defense contractor actively developing facial recognition technology for the Federal Government. He is a 1964 graduate of The Citadel and served in the Army's Military Intelligence branch for 24 years. Tivol completed two tours in Vietnam and retired with the rank of Colonel in 1990. In the same year, he began his work with EWA and has been there ever since. Ed holds master's degrees from University of Maryland and the Army War College. Today Mr. Tivol and his wife raise racehorses and Angus cattle outside of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

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