New Orleans Police Continuing to Use Live Face Recognition Despite City Law
(American Civil Liberties Union, Apr 29, 2026)
New Orleans police are accused of continuing to use live facial recognition through Project NOLA even though city law bars use of the technology as a surveillance tool. The piece says officers were still sending photos to the private camera network after an announced pause, raising fresh concerns about real-time monitoring, retroactive tracking, weak oversight, and the use of a privately run system outside normal public accountability.
The Data Search Across Agencies Enabled by the Home Office Biometrics Programme
(Identity Week, Apr 29, 2026)
The UK Home Office’s biometrics programme is being positioned as a cross-government platform that lets agencies search across immigration, passport, and law enforcement datasets to support watchlist, criminality, and risk checks. The coverage highlights how face, fingerprint, and even DNA-based systems are being integrated across dozens of government customers, while also stressing that privacy, ethics, and proportionality reviews are central to how new biometric uses are considered.
Contractor Exemption Under Biometric Privacy Law Only Applies for Government-Related Work, State Appellate Court Rules
(Law.com, Apr 29, 2026)
An Illinois appellate court said the contractor exemption under the state’s biometric privacy law is not a blanket shield. Protection applies only when the challenged conduct falls within the contractor’s government-related work, reinforcing that companies cannot rely on government-contractor status to avoid liability for private-side biometric practices outside that scope.
Digital Dragnet Search: Government Votes for Biometric Matching and AI Analysis
(heise online, Apr 29, 2026)
Germany’s federal cabinet has approved a legislative package that would let the BKA, federal police, and migration authorities use automated biometric image matching and AI-supported data analysis, including online dragnet searches across publicly accessible internet images with a judicial order. Civil liberties groups and opposition critics say the plan risks mass surveillance, threatens anonymity in public life, and may conflict with constitutional protections and EU rules on biometric identification as it moves to parliament for further review.
Ford’s Latest Patent Scans Your Face Before You Drive as New Cars Go All In on Surveillance Tech and Privacy Advocates Say Analog Is Dying
(Moneywise, Apr 29, 2026)
Ford’s newly surfaced patent covers in-cabin cameras and machine-learning features that could read lips, scan irises, track facial expressions, monitor heart rate, and compare biometric data against outside databases. Moneywise frames the filing as part of a broader push toward heavier vehicle surveillance, while also noting Ford has not committed to putting the patented system into production.
