In the News

Last year, the ACLU sued the FBI, the Department of Justice and other agencies that contract with facial recognition providers to block its use. Former 2020 presidential candidate Julián Castro called the use of facial recognition software for mass surveillance a “dangerous violation of human rights” in a tweet Tuesday. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) echoed the… Read more »

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has held a number of hearings on the use of facial recognition technology, but has yet to introduce a bill regulating it. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., who serves on the committee told CNBC in a phone interview on Wednesday that he’s hopeful Congress will pass a bill this year. Microsoft promotes facial recognition technology as part of its… Read more »

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a California Democrat and one of the lawmakers misidentified in the A.C.L.U. test, said he met with Amazon about the issue almost a dozen times. He said Amazon was less open to criticism than its tech peers. “They were avoiding taking any responsibility for their technology in my opinion,” Mr. Gomez said on Wednesday after the company’s announcement. “They always had… Read more »

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Ca., who serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform which has held hearings on the use of facial recognition technology, told CNBC that he hopes a bill will be passed before year's end. 'It's a good first step, but it's still not enough,' Gomez says in response Amazon's moratorium on use of Rekognition. IBM on Monday chose to completely get out of the… Read more »

While the House Committee on Oversight and Reform has held a number of hearings on the use of facial recognition technology, it has yet to introduce a bill regulating the technology. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Ca., who serves on the committee told CNBC in a phone interview he is hopeful Congress will pass a bill this year. “It’s a good first step, but it’s still not enough,” said Rep. Gomez of… Read more »

IBM’s decision was welcomed by California Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez. “Smart move by @IBM as we KNOW #FacialRecognition tech as a law enforcement tool is NOT ready for primetime. Back in ‘18, @amazon’s software misidentified me & other Members of Congress — mostly people of color — during an @ACLU test,” he tweeted Monday .”This tech needs legislative guardrails NOW.” Full Article Read more »

The Democratic-controlled House has held a series of hearings on facial recognition software, but Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-California), who serves on the committee, blamed Amazon for a lack of legislation regulating the technology. “It’s a good first step, but it’s still not enough,” Gomez told CNBC. “They’re saying, ‘we’ve been asking Congress to put guardrails on the use of this… Read more »

On Monday, House Democrats pressed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to explain how the agency plans to handle hurricane season and other natural disasters amid the public health crisis. The Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee's Environment subcommittee sent a letter to FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor asking for a video hearing by June 22. Prior to… Read more »

A group of House Democrats introduced a bill Wednesday that would push back major deadlines for the 2020 census as requested by the U.S. Census Bureau because of the coronavirus pandemic. While the bureau has collected responses from some 89 million households so far, primarily online, officials at the bureau say they will not be able to deliver to the president by the end… Read more »

Four-month deadline extensions were included in the latest coronavirus relief package the House passed earlier this month. But with bipartisan talks with the Republican-led Senate and the Trump administration stalled, Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., says he helped introduce the new House bill Wednesday to try to get clarity about the census timeline sooner. Full Article Read more »