In February, two Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives reintroduced a bill called the Justice in Forensic Algorithms Act of 2024 that seeks to allow defendants access to the source code that make up the algorithms involved in evidence analysis in their criminal proceedings.

Along with prohibiting “the use of trade secrets privileges to allow the defense access to source code,” the proposed bill would also direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to create certain guidelines and standards for testing algorithms used by federal law enforcement.