Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have formally asked the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate the use of surveillance technologies by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Technologies Under Investigation

The senators' request refers to several technologies and companies already subject to journalistic investigations, including:

  • Flock, for license plate reading.
  • Penlink, for monitoring social media and location data.
  • Clearview AI, for facial recognition.
  • Paragon Solutions, for phone hacking.
  • Biometric databases for data collection.

Privacy Concerns

The senators express "deep concern" that surveillance may be used inappropriately and without supervision, facilitating brutal actions against American communities. They are asking for information on how the DHS obtains, processes, and retains people's sensitive data, whether it keeps track of false positives and incorrect identities, and how it shares information with private companies.

Request for Transparency

The letter sent to Inspector General Joseph Cuffari also asks for clarification on the relationship between the DHS and data brokers, the possibility for citizens to object to surveillance, and the existing privacy protections. Although the letter is not a guarantee of immediate change, these types of legislative initiatives can bring to light new details about surveillance programs and, ultimately, lead to reforms.

For those evaluating on-premise deployments, there are trade-offs to consider. AI-RADAR offers analytical frameworks on /llm-onpremise to evaluate these aspects.