Utah officials said Monday they do not allow immigration officials to conduct fishing expeditions using facial recognition technology to mine databases of photos of undocumented immigrants taken for driving privilege cards.
They also denied reports that the state allows wholesale facial recognition searches through its driver license photos for other law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
“That might happen in other states. But that did not happen in Utah, and it still does not happen in Utah,” said Marissa Cote, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Public Safety.
The Washington Post and the New York Times reported over the weekend that documents show ICE and the FBI mined driver license databases in many states — including Utah — using facial recognition technology, analyzing millions of motorists’ photos without their knowledge.