Privacy

CFA Joins Others to Oppose California Bill to Allow Facial Recognition Use to Obtain Vital Records

Consumer Federation of America and other groups told a California lawmaker that they oppose his bill, AB 751, which would enable facial recognition to be used to authenticate individuals who want to obtain copies of their vital records from the state. The groups pointed out that facial recognition is error-prone, especially in correctly identifying people of color, that there are serious concerns about the potential for unrelated uses by data brokers and law enforcement, and that there are already other convenient means for accessing vital records, such as submitting a scan of a notarized statement verifying a person’s identity.