US oversight body calls for more real-world biometrics testing, bias protections

A federal U.S. agency wants more testing of biometrics applications in the real world, stronger protections against bias and more transparency in biometrics use, after talking the matter over with other agencies, “academics, advocacy groups and technology experts.”

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified six concerns shared by stakeholders and five considerations to address those concerns in the 66-page report to Congressional Committees on “Biometric Identification Technologies: Considerations to Address Information Gaps and Other Stakeholder Concerns.”

Concerns around biometrics include …

academics accountability agency applications bias biometric-bias biometric identification biometrics biometrics news body demographic fairness experts facial recognition federal gao gao (government accountability office) government government accountability office government services matter office oversight real six stakeholders stronger talking technology testing transparency u.s. government world