Utah lawmakers said Wednesday that it may be time to hit the pause button on state use of facial recognition technology that allows immigration and law enforcement officials to pore through all Utah driver license photos to identify criminals, witnesses or others of interest.
That came as officials conceded that Utah’s system is out of date; prone to errors, especially with women and people of color; in need of more training for analysts and has no legal standards for operation. The Legislature never passed laws specifically allowing such activities.
“Why not take a pause so that we can solve some of these questions,” Marina Lowe, legislative and policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, asked the Legislature’s Government Operations Interim Committee on Wednesday.