MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott has asked the state Agency of Transportation to put on hold the use of facial recognition technology by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
WCAX-TV reports that Scott’s office asked DMV to stop using the software pending a legal review by the attorney general.
The move comes after the Vermont Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union outlined concerns about the program, which uses facial recognition technology to scan the DMV database of more than 700,000 individuals.
ACLU attorney Jay Diaz says the program is in violation of a Vermont law that prohibits using biometrics to identify license applicants.
DMV officials said after receiving the ACLU letter they launched an internal review of how the system is used.
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