By Joe Pinkstone For Mailonline
Published: 11:04 BST, 19 April 2019 | Updated: 11:07 BST, 19 April 2019
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The FBI has failed to appease concerns about the use of its facial recognition technology in criminal investigations.
Multiple issues were raised three years ago after a congressional watchdog urged the bureau to improve its practices in order to meet privacy and accuracy standards.
The FBI - and other US law enforcement agencies - have been using the Next Generation Identification-Interstate Photo System since 2015.
It uses facial recognition software to link potential suspects to crimes from a vast database of 30 million pictures, including mugshots.
The report slamming the FBI for its failure to moderate the software comes as the bureau increases its use of the technology.
In 2018 it was reported that the FBI was also using Amazon's controversial Rekognition technology to sift through the vast troves of surveillance footage it gathers, it was confirmed at the start of 2019 that it is now being officially trialled.
The accuracy of the Amazon software has long been questioned - especially after 28 members of Congress were incorrectly matched to mugshots of criminals.
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Rekognition is expected to help speed up the FBI's process of going through video surveillance footage that's collected during investigations, especially counterrorism efforts
Government Accountability Office recommended the FBI put in checks to make sure use of the powerful technology met privacy standards.
It proposed six changes to ensure this happened and a follow-up report published this week claims none of these have been implemented.
Debate raged over whether four of the proposals were actually necessary as Department of Justice officials pushed back against the suggestions.
But all six were added to the Justice Department's list of 'priority open recommendations' regardless.
