The Legal Aid Society has filed a lawsuit against the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) for unlawfully withholding records related to its use of facial recognition technology.

The FDNY’s use of facial recognition technology came to light after it was used in a case that was dismissed against former Legal Aid client Zuhdi Ahmed. In Mr. Ahmed’s case, a fire marshal used this technology to identify Mr. Ahmed in a surveillance video from a protest unrelated to the criminal case.

The case against Mr. Ahmed was thrown out last month by a Manhattan criminal court judge who found systemic due process and discovery violations, including the FDNY’s improper and opaque use of Clearview AI facial recognition software and access to DMV records, in violation of the NYPD’s own policies and procedures.

“Identifying me based on a match to a high school graduation video is not something I knew the police were capable of, or something I thought was allowed in this country,” said Mr. Ahmed. “I had no idea photos and videos of my graduation were available publicly online until I was arrested because of it.”

“This case makes me second-guess my digital security,” he continued. “I now think differently about the things I post online, because they could eventually be taken out of context and used against me.”

“In People v. Zuhdi A., the court exposed how the FDNY worked with the NYPD to use unregulated facial recognition software to identify and prosecute a protester — without oversight, without authorization, and in direct violation of established NYPD policy,” said Shane Ferro, an attorney with Legal Aid’s Digital Forensics Unit. “The judge’s ruling made clear that the FDNY was acting as a law enforcement agency, enabling the NYPD to sidestep the POST Act and evade the transparency the law demands.”

“To this day, FDNY has refused to release any records about its role. New Yorkers deserve answers — and a full investigation by the City Council and Department of Investigation into this dangerous workaround,” Ferro continued. “We also renew our call for the state legislature to ban law enforcement’s use of this Orwellian technology once and for all.”