Edward Markey

Skip to content Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts Senator Markey Facebook Senator Markey Instagram Senator Markey Twitter Senator Markey Youtube Senator Markey Facebook Senator Markey Instagram Senator Markey Twitter Senator Markey Youtube News Press February 11, 2026 Following Dystopian Super Bowl Ad, Markey Again Calls on Amazon to End Facial Recognition Technology in Ring Doorbells Letter Text (PDF) Washington (February 11, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today wrote to Andrew Jassy, CEO of Amazon, urging Amazon to discontinue its facial recognition technology (FRT), “Familiar Faces,” embedded in its Ring doorbells. Senator Markey wrote this letter following public backlash to Amazon’s Super Bowl commercial, which sought to promote the image recognition technology embedded in its Ring doorbells. Senator Markey previously wrote to Amazon in October, requesting that the company abandon its plans to integrate FRT into its Ring doorbells and asking key questions about Amazon’s privacy practices. In the letter, Senator Markey wrote, “Amazon apparently intended its Super Bowl commercial to demonstrate that its new technologies could identify lost pets. Instead, Amazon inadvertently revealed the serious privacy and civil liberties risks attendant to these types of Artificial Intelligence-enabled image recognition technologies. And notably unmentioned in Amazon’s commercial is that it rolled out FRT in its Ring doorbells last year. It’s not hard to imagine the ways that Amazon—or law enforcement—could abuse this feature.” Senator Markey continued, “Unfortunately, Amazon has consistently failed to prioritize public privacy with its Ring doorbells, especially in rolling out FRT last year. As I explained in my October letter asking Amazon to pause that rollout, this technology represents a significant expansion of Ring’s privacy risks, including allowing Ring doorbells to collect biometric information on anyone in their video range — without the individual’s consent and often without their knowledge. Amazon’s response to my letter confirmed these privacy gaps.” Senator Markey concluded, “The massive backlash to Ring’s Super Bowl advertisement confirmed the public’s opposition to Ring’s constant monitoring and invasive image recognition algorithms. Social media posts with thousands of engagements describe the feature as ‘dystopian’ and raise alarms about the expansion of mass surveillance into residential neighborhoods. Users said they would never purchase a Ring doorbell or indicated that they would remove their Ring doorbell from their home. Given this public opposition and the technology’s serious risks to privacy and civil liberties, I once again urge Amazon to immediately discontinue these dangerous features.” Senator Markey has consistently questioned Amazon’s Ring doorbell data privacy practices and relationship with law enforcement. In December, Senator Markey released the latest findings in response to his probe into Ring. In October, Senator Markey wrote to Amazon requesting that it abandon its plans to integrate FRT into Ring doorbells and asked key questions about Amazon’s privacy practices. In response to Senator Markey’s October letter, Amazon revealed that Ring's privacy protections only apply to device owners and not members of the public. In 2022, Senator Markey sent a follow up letter to Amazon, highlighting the company's ongoing privacy violations and unchecked data sharing with police depart

Skip to content Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts Senator Markey Facebook Senator Markey Instagram Senator Markey Twitter Senator Markey Youtube Senator Markey Facebook Senator Markey Instagram Senator Markey Twitter Senator Markey Youtube News Press February 05, 2026 Markey, Merkley, Wyden, Jayapal Introduce Bill to Ban ICE and CBP Use of Facial Recognition Technology Amid Trump’s Rapidly Growing Surveillance State Senator Markey joined by Senator Merkley and Rep. Jayapal Bill Text (PDF) Washington (February 5, 2026) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) introduced the ICE Out of Our Faces Act, bicameral legislation that would ban ICE and CPB from acquiring and using facial recognition technology (FRT) and other biometric identification systems. The ICE Out of Our Faces Act would also require the deletion of all data collected for use in or by biometric identification systems and allow individuals and state attorneys general to seek civil penalties for violations. “ICE and CBP agents are using facial recognition technologies to track, target, and surveil individuals across the country,” said Senator Markey. “The Trump administration isn’t deploying these tools to maintain public safety. They are doing so to silence lawful speech and to punish dissent. I’m proud to introduce the ICE Out of Our Faces Act to stop this unaccountable, authoritarian use of facial recognition technologies. Big Brother has no place in a democracy, and we will not allow these Orwellian tools to take root here.” “We are at an incredibly dangerous moment in this country, where overzealous and overly violent ICE and Border Patrol agents are increasing their use of biometric identification systems. This has become a surveillance state with militarized federal troops on our streets to terrorize and intimidate US citizens and residents alike. We must urgently pass the ICE Out of Our Faces Act to stop the proliferation of this technology, protect our communities, and protect our democracy,” said Representative Jayapal. “For years, I’ve been ringing the alarm bells about the dangers of a national surveillance state built on facial recognition technology. Now, we’re seeing Trump’s lawless federal agents deploy this technology on our streets across the nation as he tries to tighten his authoritarian grip,” said Senator Merkley. “Without oversight, this technology is dangerous in the hands of any government, and the Trump Administration is abusing it to trample on privacy, freedom of speech, and civil liberties. All freedom-loving Americans must join us to stand up to this assault on folks’ fundamental rights.” “ICE and CBP have trampled on our Constitution when they build databases of regular people concerned about ICE committing violence in their communities or scan the faces of people on the street to run through their surveillance systems. I’m glad to work with Senator Markey to protect Americans against harassment and biometric surveillance by Trump’s handpicked militia,” said Senator Wyden. The ICE Out of Our Faces Act is co-sponsored by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The legislation is endorsed by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), Fight for the Future, American Civil Liberties Union, The Leadership Conference’s Center for Civil Rights and Technology, Free Press

Skip to content Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts Senator Markey Facebook Senator Markey Instagram Senator Markey Twitter Senator Markey Youtube Senator Markey Facebook Senator Markey Instagram Senator Markey Twitter Senator Markey Youtube News Press February 03, 2026 Senator Markey Opens Investigation into Autonomous Vehicle Companies’ Use of Remote Human Operators Letter Text (PDF) Washington (February 3, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today wrote to seven of the major autonomous vehicle companies—Waymo, Tesla, Zoox, Aurora, Motional, May Mobility, and Nuro—demanding answers about the safety of their remote assistance operator systems. In the letter to the companies, Senator Markey explains that—unknown to many Americans—autonomous vehicle companies rely on remote human operators to oversee autonomous vehicles and help the driving systems navigate complex driving tasks. Unfortunately, companies have provided little insight into where these remote operators are located, how often they intervene with the autonomous vehicle, or how they are qualified. In the letters, Senator Markey wrote, “Without proper safeguards, the AV industry’s reliance on [Remote Assistance Operators] could create serious safety, national security, and privacy risks...Congress and the public deserve assurance that remote assistance operations will not endanger passengers, other road and vulnerable road users, or national security.” Senator Markey continued, “Overseas remote assistance operations may be more susceptible to physical takeover by hostile actors, potentially granting them driver-like control of thousands of vehicles transporting passengers on American roads. Heavy and fast-moving vehicles could quickly become the weapons of foreign actors seeking to harm innocent Americans.” Senator Markey requests the following information by February 17, 2026: The roles and responsibilities of the remote assistance operator, such as whether the operator is limited to providing advice or instruction or is permitted to change’s the vehicles trajectory or driving path. Whether any remote assistance operators are located outside the United States, and if so, the countries and jurisdictions involved, and how [the company] conducts oversight, supervision and qualification of such overseas operators; The average and worst-case latency between the vehicle and remote assistance operator from the time a request is generated by the vehicle until a human begins interaction and the time from human intervention to vehicle execution of any instruction; The frequency with which remote assistance sessions are invoked (for example, number of sessions per vehicle-mile or per trip), and the proportion of sessions that result in human input that alters the vehicle’s driving plan; A description of [the company’s] training, qualification, and monitoring practices for remote assistance operators, including how performance is measured, what credentials and oversight apply, how many hours RAOs work per shift, and how your company manages fatigue, distraction, and user-error for remote operators. A copy of any internal policies or standards by which remote assistance operations are governed, such as remote assistance operator to vehicle ratios, escalation procedures, boundaries for remote operator intervention (such as speed limits, zones, vehicle states), and fallback planning when the remote connection fails or is degraded. Senator Markey is a longtime ad

Vote: YEA on Blackburn Amdt. No. 2814; To strike the section relating to support for artificial intelligence. - On the Amendment <measure>S.Amdt. 2814</measure>