POLITICO reports that House leaders will consider a moratorium on funding facial recognition following a House Oversight Committee hearing on DHS facial recognition programs. Prior to the hearing, EPIC briefed members of the House committee about the entry-exit program at US airports. Air travelers have reported that it is difficult to opt-out and the agency has still not conducted a required rulemaking. Last month, EPIC led a coalition of over 35 organizations urging Congress to halt the use of face recognition on the general public. In a statement in April to the House Appropriations Committee, EPIC recommended that Congress halt the funding for the facial recognition program at TSA, also within the DHS. After a Buzzfeed story featured documents obtained by EPIC about plans to expand facial recognition at airports, Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Mike Lee (R-UT) called for the suspension of the program.
Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ask about the steps taken to protect consumers from the security vulnerabilities of internet-connected cars. The senators wrote: "We are concerned by the lack of publicly-available information about the occurrence and handling of cyber vulnerabilities in internet-connected cars, and believe that NHTSA should be aware of these dangers in order to take possible regulatory action." In comments to NHTSA, EPIC called for national safety standards for connected cars. EPIC also underscored the privacy risks of modern vehicles in a recent amicus brief to the Supreme Court.
A new Gallup poll found that 48 percent of respondents said the government should boost its regulation of technology companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google, while 40 percent said regulation of these firms shouldn't change. Roughly 60 percent of self-identified liberals, union members, college graduates and Democrats support increased oversight of tech companies. EPIC maintains an extensive page on Privacy and Public Opinion which shows consistent support among Americans for stronger laws to protect their privacy. EPIC has also opposed mergers that threaten consumer privacy, including Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp, Google's acquisition of DoubleClick, and Google's acquisition of Nest Labs.
