RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- As it searches for fugitives, the FBI has started using facial-recognition technology on driver's-license photos of millions of Americans.
It's been comparing those photos with pictures of convicts, in a high-tech analysis of nose sizes and chin widths.
And at least one suspect has already been nabbed by the project in North Carolina. Agents are hoping to expand the project -- perhaps nationwide.
But privacy advocates are worried that the method lets authorities track people who've done nothing wrong.
An ACLU attorney says it amounts to a "virtual lineup."
This year, investigators learned that a double-homicide suspect had moved to North Carolina. They took a 1991 booking photo and compared it with 30 million photos stored by the state motor vehicle agency. In seconds, the search returned pictures of dozens of drivers who looked like the suspect. An FBI analyst zeroed in one of the men, and agents arrested him. They believe he had built a new life under an assumed name.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
