By: Perla Khattar*
Abstract
This article examines the growing deployment of facial recognition technology (“FRT”) in the United States and its implications for core human rights, including privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom from discrimination. As both government agencies and private companies increasingly use FRT to track individuals, identify faces in public spaces, and profile consumers, the potential for abuse grows exponentially. Drawing on international human rights law, U.S. constitutional principles, and recent case studies, this article argues that unregulated facial recognition threatens to normalize mass biometric surveillance and disproportionately burdens marginalized communities through algorithmic bias and chilling effects on dissent. The current U.S. legal framework—lacking a comprehensive federal privacy law—fails to provide sufficient protections, leaving much of the regulatory burden to a patchwork of state and local measures like Illinois’ BIPA and city-level bans.
In response, this article proposes a rights-based approach to facial recognition governance. It recommends enacting a federal (biometric) privacy statute modeled on the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), requiring consent, transparency, and algorithmic fairness. It further advocates for warrant requirements and strict limits on law enforcement use, bans on persistent public surveillance, and corporate accountability grounded in human rights due diligence. This article concludes that preserving civil liberties in the age of facial recognition will require deliberate legal reforms that prioritize individual autonomy and dignity over surveillance convenience and commercial interest.
* J.S.D. Candidate, Notre Dame Law School; Research Fellow, Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab; Fellow, Kellogg Institute for International Studies; LL.M., Loyola University-New Orleans (2021); LL.B., La Sagesse University (2020).
Suggested Citation: Perla Khattar, Biometric Surveillance and the Erosion of Rights: A Human Rights Analysis of Facial Recognition Technology in the United States, 130 Penn St. L. Rev. Penn Statim 82 (2026).