Facial Recognition Technology has changed the lives of Americans by making them a part of every crime investigation and security tape. By having databases full of pictures of the faces of each and every American citizen that law enforcement officers and other government officials have access to, when these photos are used to identify criminals, all citizens become a part of this investigation. Why, you ask? Because one false accusation or facial recognition match-up could make an innocent citizen a criminal.

Take, for example, ICE. ICE used facial recognition technology and driver’s license databases to identify illegal immigrants. However, no laws have been passed which allow this. These actions have been deemed scandalous by several sources, not just because of the lack of law-based support, but also because of the racial and sexual discrimination behind the software. It has been identified that this software mis-identifies people of color the most, but more specifically, women of color. Due to these complications, it is easier for an innocent citizen to be marked a criminal and arrested for crimes they did not commit.

Facial recognition technology is only growing stronger everyday, as it is used more frequently. From social media, to college campuses, to restaurants and retail shops, faces are collected on a daily basis to be added to the database. Hopefully, as the database fills, facial recognition software will grow to be more accurate and effective, but only time will tell.