Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Summit) | Photo Courtesy of Celina Villanueva website
Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Summit) | Photo Courtesy of Celina Villanueva website
An Illinois state senator is backing legislation that would restrict what the secretary of state does with data it collects regarding facial recognition.
Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Summit) called for amending Senate Bill 225, the Illinois Identification Card Act.
“It provides that the Secretary of State shall not provide facial recognition search services or photographs obtained in the process of issuing an identification card or a driver's license or permit to any federal, state, or local law enforcement agency or other governmental entity for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws," Villanueva said.
Understanding that facial recognition is much more common in airports, Bennett asked how many states are doing this and if it's happening throughout the country. Glahn, who works for the Illinois Secretary of State, confirmed several approaches nationwide, and some states are not using the technology.
Villanueva filed the legislation dealing with facial recognition in March and has recently been before the committee with Judiciary-Privacy Sub-Chair State Senator Scott Bennett (D-Champaign), Minority Caucus Chair Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington). Brenda Glahn testified before the committee.
According to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey, most U.S. adults trust law enforcement to use facial recognition responsibly.
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