Overview
- Rep. Bennie G. Thompson unveiled the Realigning Mobile Phone Biometrics for American Privacy Protection Act with co-sponsors Lou Correa, Shri Thanedar, Yvette D. Clarke, Grace Meng, and Adriano Espaillat.
- The proposal targets ICE’s Mobile Fortify and similar tools by allowing mobile identification only at ports of entry.
- It blocks distribution or use of the apps outside DHS and would require removal from non-DHS IT systems and workflows if enacted.
- The bill mandates destruction of photographs and fingerprints of U.S. citizens within 12 hours and orders deletion of previously collected citizen biometrics.
- The move follows 404 Media’s reporting that Mobile Fortify matches faces against a DHS database of about 200 million images and has been used on U.S. citizens; DHS has not commented.