Facial recognition is here to stay. And we should all probably accept it

guest · Feb 10, 2020

ACLU rejects Clearview AI's facial recognition accuracy claims
It accuses Clearview of faking endorsements to boost inaccurate tech
February 10, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/2020/02/10/aclu-rejects-clearview-ai-facial-recognition-claims/

Clearview AI's facial recognition isn't just raising privacy issues -- there are also concerns over its accuracy claims.
The ACLU has rejected Clearview's assertion that its technology is "100% accurate" based on the civil liberty group's methodology for testing Amazon's Rekognition, telling BuzzFeed News that the findings are "absurd on many levels" and amounted to "manufacturing endorsements." According to the ACLU, there are key differences that make Clearview's sales pitch misleading.

For one, Clearview was searching nearly 3 billion public photos that included the politicians whose faces were part of the test, not arrest photos like the ACLU used. It didn't account for what would happen if someone wasn't in the database. Would it generate false positives, and would there be any bias in those false hits? [...]
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The ACLU Called Clearview AI’s Facial Recognition Accuracy Study “Absurd”

”The report is absurd on many levels and further demonstrates that Clearview simply does not understand the harms of its technology in law enforcement hands.”
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guest · Feb 11, 2020

EU backs away from proposed five-year facial recognition ban
Instead, it will recommend that member states assess the technology themselves
February 11, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/2020/02/11/european-commission-facial-recognition-guidelines/

The European Union won't issue a ban on facial recognition tech, as it once proposed, the Financial Times reports.

Instead, it seems the European Commission will encourage individual member states to set their own facial recognition rules. The latest draft suggests that independent groups assess each proposed public use of the technology.
A source familiar with both drafts said the moratorium was popular among civil rights activists but opposed by the security community and that the debate has become "divisive."
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Dermot7 · Feb 11, 2020

The Metropolitan police have been accused of defying the warnings of its own watchdogs by beginning operational use of facial recognition CCTV, despite a scathing assessment of its effectiveness from the expert hired to scrutinise its trials.

On Tuesday, thousands of shoppers in east London were scanned by van-mounted cameras pointed at the doors of the Stratford Centre retail complex, in what a senior police officer at the scene described as an “intelligence-led” deployment.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/11/met-police-deploy-live-facial-recognition-technology

ronjor · Feb 12, 2020

U.S. Senators propose facial recognition moratorium for federal government

Khari Johnson@kharijohnson February 12, 2020
That Commission’s goal would be to ensure facial recognition does not produce bias or inaccurate results, stand in the way of law enforcement’s efforts to identify missing and exploited children, or “create a constant state of surveillance of individuals in the United States that does not allow for a level of reasonable anonymity.”
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guest · Feb 13, 2020

Rights groups join student demands to bar facial recognition at colleges
The ACLU, EFF and several other groups sign a letter of support for the student demands
February 13, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/rights-groups-join-student-demands-to-bar-facial-recognition-at-colleges/

Students shouldn't have to worry that colleges and universities are tracking their movements with facial recognition, a group of rights organizations said in an open letter Thursday. The letter supports demands by student groups around the country that their schools promise not to use the technology on campus.

"Exposing students and educators to facial recognition profoundly limits their ability to study, research, and express freely without fear of official retaliation," the groups said in the letter.
The letter comes as privacy concerns over facial recognition have mounted. Critics cite studies showing that the technology has low accuracy rates for women and minorities.

The campaign to keep facial recognition off campuses is part of a larger effort to push specific sectors to swear off the use of the technology.
More than 50 schools have already indicated they have no plans to use facial recognition, including Columbia University, Michigan State University, Rice University and UC Berkeley, according to Fight for the Future.
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guest · Feb 14, 2020

No, Clearview AI's creepy plan to spy on us is not 'free speech'
This mass surveillance is misguided and sinister
February 14, 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/14/clearview-ai-facial-recognition-technology

Law enforcement agencies around the world are enthusiastically adopting the services of Clearview AI, a tech company whose powerful software scrapes several billion open-source images for the purposes of facial recognition.
[...] he claims that Clearview’s practices are protected by the first amendment. [...] Fortunately he is dead wrong. The constitution does not shield Clearview AI from accountability.

Facial recognition is extremely dangerous. It offers us the horrible choice between dysfunction and dystopia. On the one hand, studies have repeatedly shown that facial recognition can have serious accuracy problems, especially for people of color.
The unrestricted use of facial recognition technology is clearly incompatible with a democratic society.
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We must pass laws that restrict facial recognition technologies, both in the private sector and when used by government. Attempts to defend mass surveillance under the auspices of free speech are misguided at best and sinister at worst. All Americans should push back.
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hawki · Feb 14, 2020

"Mastercard is pioneering new payment technology that identifies commuters by the way they walk

Commuters may soon be able to ditch their bus pass and access public transport with technology identifying them by the way they walk.
Mastercard is working with transport firms to develop a new system that would authenticate passengers by their gait...

Closed-circuit television cameras would identify passengers approaching transport barriers. Once the system recognizes the individual, it would let them pass after matching them with an account that is in credit or linked to a valid payment card...

Scammers are using increasingly sophisticated technology to assume the identity of customers and providers are seeking high-tech solutions to stay one step ahead..."

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/m...by-the-way-they-walk-2020-02-14?mod=home-page

guest · Feb 15, 2020

Class action suit against Clearview AI cites Illinois law that cost Facebook $550M
February 14, 2020
https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/14/c...i-cites-illinois-law-that-cost-facebook-550m/

Just two weeks ago Facebook settled a lawsuit alleging violations of privacy laws in Illinois (for the considerable sum of $550 million). Now controversial startup Clearview AI, which has gleefully admitted to scraping and analyzing the data of millions, is the target of a new lawsuit citing similar violations.
If your face is visible to a web scraper or public API, Clearview either has it or wants it and will be submitting it for analysis by facial recognition systems.

The lawsuit, filed yesterday on behalf of several Illinois citizens and first reported by Buzzfeed News, alleges that Clearview “actively collected, stored and used Plaintiffs’ biometrics — and the biometrics of most of the residents of Illinois — without providing notice, obtaining informed written consent or publishing data retention policies.”

A federal judge in Facebook’s case wrote: “the development of face template using facial-recognition technology without consent (as alleged here) invades an individual’s private affairs and concrete interests,” and is therefore actionable.
That’s a strong precedent and the similarities are undeniable — not that they won’t be denied.
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guest · Feb 17, 2020

Automated facial recognition breaches GDPR, says EU digital chief
February 17, 2020
https://thenextweb.com/neural/2020/...ognition-breaches-gdpr-says-eu-digital-chief/

The EU’s digital and competition chief has said that automated facial recognition breaches GDPR, as the technology fails to meet the regulation’s requirement for consent.

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice president for digital affairs, told reporters that “as it stands right now, GDPR would say ‘don’t use it’, because you cannot get consent,” EURACTIV revealed today.

“So what we will say in the paper in a very lawyered up language is, let’s pause and figure out if there are any [situations], and if any, under what circumstances facial recognition remotely should be authorized”, she said.
Her comments reflect the EU’s recent cancellation of plans to introduce a five-year moratorium on the technology.
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guest · Feb 19, 2020

U.S. military facial recognition could identify people from 1 km away
February 18, 2020
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/military-facial-recognition-tech-kilometer/

But just how far away from their subjects can cutting-edge facial-recognition systems work? According to a new report, a whole lot further than you probably think. So far, in fact, that the person identified may not even realize that they were caught on camera in the first place.

New Scientist writes that the United States military is in the process of funding the creation of a portable face-recognition device that’s able to identify individuals from up to 1 kilometer away. That’s the equivalent of almost 11 football fields.
The project, titled Advanced Tactical Facial Recognition at a Distance Technology, began in 2016. A working prototype of the system was demonstrated at the end of last year.

The firm doesn’t reveal exactly how its technology works. Even with cutting-edge A.I., it’s a massively challenging problem to solve, since adding longer lenses to cameras increases noise from the vibrations.
While it was originally designed for handheld use, it could also reportedly be used with drones. SOCOM documents say that it could possibly be shared with law enforcement agencies.
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guest · Feb 19, 2020

UCLA cancels on-campus facial recognition program after backlash
The university had planned to scan faces for people banned from campus
February 19, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/ucla-cancels-on-campus-facial-recognition-program-after-backlash/

UCLA will not go forward with a facial recognition program, and will prohibit the technology's use on campus, a university administrator said Wednesday. The move comes after backlash from student groups and privacy advocates, who are pushing for campuses across the country to bar facial recognition.

"UCLA will not pursue the use of this technology," said UCLA administrative vice chancellor Michael Beck, said in a statement. "We have determined that the potential benefits are limited and vastly outweighed by the concerns of our campus community."
The program would have used facial recognition to raise an alert if people who were banned from campus entered the premises, and to offer an extra level of authentication in restricted areas of the university, a university spokesperson said.
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On Wednesday, Fight for the Future deputy director Evan Greer said in a statement other universities should take heed of UCLA's decision. "We won't stop organizing until facial recognition is banned on every campus," she said. Student activists are planning a day of action at college campuses around the country in March.
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guest · Feb 21, 2020

Canada investigating facial recognition company Clearview AI over privacy, security concerns
February 21, 2020
https://boingboing.net/2020/02/21/canada-investigating-facial-re.html

Canada's privacy authorities on Friday said they are investigating New York-based Clearview AI over concerns the facial recognition technology may not comply with Canadian privacy law.

“Clearview AI bills itself as a tool for law enforcement, scraping the internet for publicly available photos and using facial recognition to identify potential suspects,” reports Moira Warburton at Reuters, “Critics in both Canada and the United States have raised concerns about the lack of consent of those searched, and the potential for misuse of the service.”
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guest · Feb 24, 2020

Leak shows EU police aim to create an international facial recognition database
February 24, 2020
https://thenextweb.com/neural/2020/...an-international-facial-recognition-database/

EU police forces plan to build a network of national police facial recognition databases that spans across every member state, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept.

The report from national police forces of 10 EU member states, led by Austria, called for new EU legislation that would enable this interconnected database to be created “as quickly as possible.” The document was circulated among officials last November. The Intercept reports that preparatory work on the legislation is already underway.

“This is concerning on a national level and on a European level, especially as some EU countries veer towards more authoritarian governments,” he said.
EU changes tune on facial recognition
EU commissioners have publicly spoken out against the use of facial recognition, but recent reports suggest the bloc is taking a different approach in private.
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guest · Feb 25, 2020

Met Police chief defends facial recognition from 'ill-informed' critics
February 25, 2020
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51628833

Dame Cressida Dick said eight criminals had been caught using the controversial live facial recognition cameras.

She said "inaccurate" critics should "justify to the victims of those crimes why police should not be allowed to use tech... to catch criminals".
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner was responding to a report calling for tighter rules on police use of technology.

"If an algorithm can help identify, in our criminal intelligence systems material, a potential serial rapist or killer... then I think almost all citizens would want us to use it," she said.
The Met says its tests show cameras can identify 70% of suspects who walk past them.
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guest · Feb 25, 2020

Brazilian police introduces live facial recognition for Carnival
February 25, 2020
https://www.zdnet.com/article/brazilian-police-introduces-live-facial-recognition-for-carnival/

The use of facial recognition technology in Brazil has evolved and is now in place in the largest possible laboratory: the Carnival.

Live facial recognition had been used in Brazil during Carnival at a much smaller scale last year. In 2020, it has been rolled out by police forces for the first time across six capitals across the country
In São Paulo, the country's largest urban center, the technology is supported by dozens of cameras sending the facial images to the police's database, which before the Carnival already had information related to over 32 million faces.

When announcing the use of live facial recognition, the São Paulo police said a "situation room" would monitor the images from the cameras, which are then compared with a database managed by a biometrics lab.
According to the police, the team behind the scenes and officials working in the field would reduce the likelihood of mistakes, such as wrongly arresting people.
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The police of São Paulo now plans to use the system in various other events with crowds involved where there is potential for conflict and criminal activity
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guest · Feb 27, 2020

Clearview said its facial recognition app was only for law enforcement as it courted private companies
February 28, 2020
https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/27/clearview-facial-recognition-private-companies/

After claiming that it would only sell its controversial facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies, a new report suggests that Clearview AI is less than discerning about its client base.

According to BuzzFeed News, the small, secretive company looks to have shopped its technology far and wide. While Clearview counts ICE, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the retail giant Macy’s among its paying customers, many more private companies are testing the technology through 30-day free trials.
Non-law enforcement entities that appeared on Clearview’s client list include Walmart, Eventbrite, the NBA, Coinbase, Equinox and many others.

According to the report, even if a company or organization has no formal relationship with Clearview, its individual employees might be testing the software.

“This list, if confirmed, is a privacy, security, and civil liberties nightmare,” ACLU staff attorney Nathan Freed Wessler said of the revelations. “Government agents should not be running our faces against a shadily assembled database of billions of our photos in secret and with no safeguards against abuse.”
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Minimalist · Feb 28, 2020

Apple has blocked Clearview AI’s iPhone app for violating its rules

An iPhone app built by controversial facial recognition startup Clearview AI has been blocked by Apple, effectively banning the app from use.
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https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/28/apple-ban-clearview-iphone/

guest · Mar 1, 2020

RCMP acknowledges using facial recognition technology, but won't say where
February 27, 2020
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/clearview-ai-rcmp-facial-recognition-1.5479098

The RCMP has for the first time acknowledged using controversial facial recognition technology that has raised privacy concerns, saying it was used in the Mounties' efforts to crack down on online child sexual abuse.

The statement also mentioned that "a few units in the RCMP" are also using it to "enhance criminal investigations," without providing detail about how widely and where.

"While the RCMP generally does not disclose specific tools and technologies used in the course of its investigations, in the interest of transparency, we can confirm that we recently started to use and explore Clearview AI's facial recognition technology in a limited capacity," the statement said.
"While we recognize that privacy is paramount and a reasonable expectation for Canadians, this must be balanced with the ability of law enforcement to conduct investigations and protect the safety and security of Canadians, including our most vulnerable"
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ronjor · Mar 2, 2020

The Facial Recognition Company That Scraped Facebook And Instagram Photos Is Developing Surveillance Cameras

Caroline Haskins BuzzFeed News Reporter
Ryan Mac BuzzFeed News Reporter
Logan McDonald BuzzFeed Staff
Posted on March 2, 2020,
Clearview AI is operating a sister entity called Insight Camera that’s been experimenting with live facial recognition, according to documents seen by BuzzFeed News and companies that have used it.
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guest · Mar 3, 2020

mood said: ↑

Moscow court case challenges city's facial recognition use after launch
January 31, 2020
https://in.reuters.com/article/russ...al-recognition-use-after-launch-idINKBN1ZU1XX
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Russian court rules in favor of facial recognition over privacy claims
March 3, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...recognition-over-privacy-claims-idUSKBN20Q29U

A Moscow court ruled on Tuesday that the city’s facial recognition system does not violate the privacy of its citizens, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs told Reuters - a blow to activists who had hoped to ban the technology’s use.

Lawyer and activist Alena Popova and opposition politician Vladimir Milov of the Solidarnost party had filed a case against Moscow’s Department of Technology (DIT) [...]
Moscow completed its facial recognition rollout with the awarding of a small software contract in December, having already spent at least 3.3 billion roubles ($50 million) on hardware, and its system now boasts more than 105,000 surveillance cameras fitted with the technology.

“This ruling shows there are no legal defenses for facial recognition complaints,” said Popova’s lawyer, Kirill Koroteev.
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On its website, the DIT says it uses video surveillance in crowded areas to “ensure safety”, and that video footage is deleted within five days of an incident, unless a request by the public or law enforcement is made.
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guest · Mar 4, 2020

British police scanned 8,600 people’s faces in London without their consent, resulting in just 1 arrest and 7 false positives
March 4, 2020
https://www.businessinsider.nl/met-police-scans-8600-faces-resulting-in-1-arrest-2020-3

British police used facial recognition to scan more than 8,000 people’s faces in one of London’s busiest shopping districts, and it yielded far more false than correct positives.

As spotted by British privacy advocacy group Big Brother Watch, statistics released by London’s Metropolitan Police show it deployed Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology on February 27 at Oxford Circus, a busy area in the center of London frequented by tourists and shoppers.
The figures show the police scanned roughly 8,600 people, and the technology threw up eight matches from its database of faces. Seven of these were false positives however, resulting in five incorrect “engagements.”

Big Brother Watch wrote on Twitter that this meant 86% of the alerts the system threw up were false, and 71% of these misidentifications resulted in the police stopping and questioning someone.

Big Brother Watch added: “This blows apart the Met’s defence that facial recognition surveillance is in any way proportionate or that the staggering inaccuracy is mitigated by human checks.
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hawki · Mar 5, 2020

"Live Facial Recognition Is Coming to U.S. Police Body Cameras

Police cam manufacturer Wolfcom has contracts with 1,500+ organizations [police departments, universities, and federal organizations across the country.]

Wolfcom, a company that makes technology for police, is pitching body cameras with live facial recognition to law enforcement groups across the United States,...It’s a move that pushes against industry norms: Axon, the largest manufacturer of body cameras in the United States, declared last year that it would not put the invasive technology in its hardware, citing 'serious ethical concerns.' NEC, which sells live facial recognition elsewhere in the world, has also not sold it to U.S. law enforcement..."

https://onezero.medium.com/exclusiv...oming-to-u-s-police-body-cameras-bc9036918ae0

guest · Mar 5, 2020

Clearview AI: We Are ‘Working to Acquire All U.S. Mugshots’ From Past 15 Years
March 5, 2020
https://onezero.medium.com/clearvie...-u-s-mugshots-from-past-15-years-645d92319f33

Clearview AI worked to build a national database of every mug shot taken in the United States during the past 15 years, according to an email obtained by OneZero through a public records request.

The email, sent by a representative for Clearview AI in August 2019, was in response to an inquiry from the Green Bay Police Department in Wisconsin, which had asked if there was a way to upload its own mug shots to Clearview AI’s app.

“We are… working to acquire all U.S. mugshots nationally from the last 15 years, so once we have that integrated in a few months’ time it might just be superfluous anyway,” wrote the Clearview AI employee, whose name was redacted.
The Clearview AI employee also told the Green Bay Police Department that it was developing a way for its customers to upload their own images to the company’s app. This would allow police departments to combine their databases with Clearview AI’s.
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Minimalist · Mar 8, 2020

With painted faces, artists fight facial recognition tech

As night falls in London, Georgina Rowlands and Anna Hart start applying makeup. Instead of lipstick and eyeliner, they're covering their faces with geometric shapes.

Rowlands has long narrow blue triangles and thin white rectangles criss-crossing her face. Hart has a collection of red, orange and white angular shapes on hers.

They're two of the four founders of the Dazzle Club, a group of artists set up last year to provoke discussion about the growing using of facial recognition technology.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-artists-facial-recognition-tech.html

hawki · Mar 9, 2020

"Tech Firms Seek to Head Off Bans on Facial Recognition

Microsoft, Amazon show support for some legislative measures

WASHINGTON—Amid rising calls for regulation, technology companies are pushing for laws that would restrict use of facial-recognition systems—and head off the more severe prohibitions some cities and states are weighing..."

[Paywall]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tech-firms-seek-to-head-off-bans-on-facial-recognition-11583498034

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