Around half of all adult Americans are on the agency’s image database, and its software is incorrect 15 percent of the time, Jamie Condliffe, March 27, 2017.

“Last year, we learned about the remarkable scale of the FBI’s facial-recognition technology, with its access to nearly 412 million photos—many originating from sources unrelated to crime, such as ID documents. The intelligence agency has been trying to create a system that can accurately identify criminals in, say, CCTV footage—though it wasn’t then known how well the bureau’s software worked, nor whether it actually improved investigations. Now, we have at least a little more insight into the program. The Guardian reports that a House oversight committee hearing last week revealed some interesting new details about the proliferation and abilities of the FBI’s facial-recognition systems…”