by Michael J. Marino
Strong support was heard from both Republicans and Democrats for Senate Bill 397, which would restrict government use of facial recognition technology.
The purpose of the bill, sponsored by Senator Ken Bogner (R-Miles City), is “to prohibit the use of facial recognition technology for continuous facial surveillance or facial identification by state and local government agencies and law enforcement agencies.”
“Montanans don’t want mass surveillance,” said Sen. Bogner in a Feb. 22 press conference, “and the government should not be tracking its people.” He stated the bill “does continue to allow departments to use facial verification – that is, one-to-one and one-to-many verification – but it puts strict guidelines on the use of such technology.”
To be clear, one-to-one or “embedded” facial verification, is “used to verify a user based on matching an image with an enrolled biometric profile,” according to software company Sensory, Inc. “One-to-many” is reportedly the less trustworthy means of facial verification, which Sensory describes as “fraught with issues” that led to “mistrust” of the technology.
Rep. Katie Sullivan (D-Missoula) gave SB 397 her vote of confidence on Feb. 23, calling it “incredibly thoughtful.” She spoke of strong opinions coming from both sides of the issue, “with some wanting a complete ban and some wanting complete access” to facial recognition.
SB 397 passed the Senate Committee, with amendments, by a vote of 10-0 on Feb. 27. The bill’s next step will be a second reading on the floor of the Senate.
