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

guest · Sep 9, 2020

mood said: ↑

CBP does not make it clear Americans can opt out of airport face scanning, watchdog says September 2, 2020
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GAO report on DHS use of facial recognition on travelers
September 3, 2020
https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/09/03/gao-report-on-dhs-use-of-facial-recognition-on-travelers/

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a new report requested by Congressional oversight committee chairs describing and assessing the ways that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) use facial recognition to identity and track international (CBP) and domestic (TSA) travelers.

Here’s how the GAO says it works (click flowchart for larger version): [...]
The GAO report doesn’t address several of the most significant issues with DHS use of facial recognition to identify travelers, including: [...]

It’s unclear whether the GAO actually audited the flow of data, or whether the GAO took CBP and TSA at their word as to what data is transferred between what entities.
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FACIAL RECOGNITION:
CBP and TSA are Taking Steps to Implement Programs, but CBP Should Address Privacy and System Performance Issues
(PDF): https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/709107.pdf

guest · Sep 9, 2020

Portland City Council votes to ban facial recognition technologies in public places
September 9, 2020
https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/09/...al-recognition-technologies-in-public-places/

The Portland, Oregon City Council today unanimously voted to adopt two of the strongest bans of facial recognition technologies in the U.S. One prohibits the public use of facial recognition by city bureaus including the Portland Police Department, while the other bans all private use in places of “public accommodation,” like parks and buildings.

The ban on Portland government agencies’ use of facial recognition technology goes into effect immediately, while the ban on private use goes into effect starting January 2021. The state of Oregon already banned police from using body cameras with facial recognition technology.
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As OneZero’s Kate Kaye notes, the newly adopted pair of Portland ordinances ban the use of facial recognition at stores, banks, restaurants, public transit stations, homeless shelters, doctors’ offices, rental properties, retirement homes, and a variety of other types of businesses.
The bans fall short of preventing facial recognition use in private clubs, places of worship, and households, and they don’t limit the technology’s deployment at workplaces like factories or office buildings (excepting publicly accessible lobbies within those workplaces).
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guest · Sep 10, 2020

mood said: ↑

Portland City Council votes to ban facial recognition technologies in public places September 9, 2020
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Portland's facial recognition ban is a major win, especially against Amazon
September 9, 2020
https://mashable.com/article/portland-bans-facial-recognition-technology/

The city of Portland just took the fight against facial recognition up a notch.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the Portland City Council and Mayor Ted Wheeler voted to adopt two ordinances that will ban use of the tech both by the city, and, in some cases, private businesses. The vote represents a major win in a battle against a biased technology that has led to the wrongful arrest of innocent people.

"The dangers and inequities in the current technology are present and clear," Mayor Wheeler said in Wednesday's streamed City Council session.
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In other words, a private business can still use facial-recognition tech, just not in an area where the public might be exposed to it.

Notably, OneZero reports that Amazon, which sells its own controversial facial recognition technology, spent thousands of dollars lobbying against the measures.
In February, the Oregonian reported that three gas stations in Portland were using facial recognition on customers before they entered the stores. This type of use of the technology will be banned once the measure goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2021.
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guest · Sep 10, 2020

Japanese passengers test facial recognition ticketing on driverless buses
September 10, 2020
https://www.nfcw.com/2020/09/10/367...al-recognition-ticketing-on-driverless-buses/

Bus passengers in Japan are taking part in a pilot of self-driving buses equipped with facial recognition technology which enables them to pay for their tickets as they board using a ‘face pass’ system.

“Passengers have their face scanned and registered beforehand so that their account gets charged automatically once their face is detected boarding a bus,” according to Japan Today.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is testing the driverless buses and facial recognition ticketing system in a number of cities across the country with the next, in Maebashi City, “expected to begin this December”.
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The Osaka Metro began testing facial recognition gates on the city’s subway in December 2019.
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guest · Sep 10, 2020

Comment: As face recognition bans grow, care is needed by legislators
September 10, 2020
https://9to5mac.com/2020/09/10/face-recognition-bans-grow/

We’re seeing a growing number of face recognition bans introduced around the world as local and national legislators respond to growing public unease over the privacy implications.

We’ve seen bans on public agencies or police departments using face recognition technology, and now one US city has gone even further, extending a ban to private companies too …
TNW reports that Portland has introduced the far more extensive ban.

Thirteen US cities have so far enacted some kind of ban on face recognition.
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Public concern about face recognition is fully understandable.
But if we’re to avoid the risk of inadvertently outlawing Face ID and its Android equivalents, such legislation needs to be carefully drafted to ensure that it draws a clear distinction between face recognition and face authentication.

Face recognition is pointing a camera at an unknown individual and having the system identify them.
Face authentication is a camera system confirming a person’s claimed identity.
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Legislators don’t exactly have the best track record of understanding technology (watch any congressional inquiry into tech matters for examples), and it would be very easy to word laws in ways that would make Face ID illegal. Let’s hope they are taking advice from tech-savvy employees or consultants.
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guest · Sep 14, 2020

IBM calls for US export bans on facial recognition tech including cameras and big iron
‘Certain foreign governments’ can’t be allowed to conduct mass surveillance
September 14, 2020
https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/14/ibm_facial_recognition_export_ban_call/

“Certain foreign governments” should not be allowed to access technology that would let them deploy facial recognition technology as a tool of mass surveillance, says IBM government and regulatory affairs veep Christopher A. Padilla.

Big Blue’s opinion was expressed in a Friday submission [PDF] to an inquiry being conducted by the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on the topic of “Advanced Surveillance Systems and Other Items of Human Rights Concern”.
IBM wants BIS to “employ precision regulation that applies restrictions and oversight to particular use-cases and end-users where there is greater risk of societal harm.” That’s IBM’s emphasis, by the way.
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IBM has already stopped offering general facial recognition technology because it doesn’t want to be in the business of potentially allowing profiling or surveillance.
Neither the blog post or submission mentions cloud and its potential to let a government access facial recognition tech, or the infrastructure required to undertake it, across borders.
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IBM: A Precision Regulation Approach to Controlling Facial Recognition Technology Exports

guest · Sep 16, 2020

mood said: ↑

Pittsburgh considers ban on facial recognition, predictive policing
August 27, 2020
https://statescoop.com/pittsburgh-considers-ban-facial-recognition-predictive-policing/
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Police, public safety leaders defend use of facial recognition as crime fighting tool ahead of council vote
September 15, 2020
https://www.wpxi.com/news/investiga...head-council-vote/UUYDDI3GDZGC5NQJKSLIMYN3DI/

The Pittsburgh City Council is scheduled to vote on a plan that would restrict the use of facial recognition technology by police.

“People think back to the movie ‘Minority Report’ where we’re following individuals around we have instant recognition of who they are and that’s not the case at all,” Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said.
O’Connor introduced legislation that would require the police department to get the Council’s approval before using facial recognition software. It does not ban the current practice of using the state system.
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“This technology has helped solve numerous violent crimes within the City of Pittsburgh. It’s a tool in the tool box,” Hissrich said.
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guest · Sep 16, 2020

Over 1,000 parents sign open letter protesting facial recognition in schools
September 16, 2020
https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/16/...ter-protesting-facial-recognition-in-schools/

This morning, Fight For the Future, a nonprofit advocacy group promoting causes related to privacy, censorship, and copyright legislation, published a letter calling for a ban on facial recognition in U.S. schools that gained 1,000 signatures from parents in 50 states in less than a week.

The open letter, which is addressed to lawmakers and school administrators around the country, highlights the dangers of surveillance and risks associated with data compromise, as well as the ways facial recognition might exacerbate discrimination against particular students.
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Parents Against Facial Recognition

Our kids are heading back to school—some online, some in person. While many schools are working to make sure our kids are safe, other schools are considering invasive surveillance tech like facial recognition that will put them in danger. Putting our kids under constant surveillance is an unethical experiment, and we have no idea what the long term psychological effects are or how it could hurt their ability to learn, thrive, and be themselves.

We envision a world where schools are a safe environment for our kids, but this isn’t possible if schools adopt facial recognition technology. That’s why we’re coming together to fight for our kids and to ban facial recognition from schools.
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guest · Sep 19, 2020

DOJ is looking into facial recognition for agent devices to identify prisoners
September 18, 2020
https://www.securitymagazine.com/ar...ition-for-agent-devices-to-identify-prisoners

The U.S. Marshals Service, charged with moving prisoners around the nation, is looking into building a facial recognition tool into its agents’ smart devices to help identifying prisoners during transfer. The agency released a request for quotes seeking a software development kit (SDK) that will give developers a code base to begin constructing a tool that will be integrated with separate, existing in-house apps built by the Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons.

Ideally, the final product will work with existing systems and allow marshals to take a picture of a prisoner, match that against an image gallery and get relevant information, including origin and destination, medical information, security concerns and, a prisoner’s identity.
Currently, this information is combined into a paper packet that accompanies the prisoner during transfers.
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The MPAC app is being developed for the Android operating system, prompting the JPATS to require both Android and iOS compatibility in the facial biometric solicitation.
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guest · Sep 21, 2020

New CBP propaganda on facial recognition and other biometrics
September 17, 2020
https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/09...a-on-facial-recognition-and-other-biometrics/

US Customs and Border Ptotection (CBP) has launched an entire new subdomain of its website, biometrics.cbp.gov, devoted to propaganda intended to persuade the traveling public to submit to, and airlines and airport operating authorities to collaborate in, the use of facial recognition and other biometrics to identify and track travelers.

There’s nothing in CBP’s happy-talk sales pitch for facial recognition on this new website that we haven’t seen before. And there are still no answers to any of the questions we’ve asked CBP officials about these practices and the legal basis (not) for them.
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If there’s anything noteworthy on this site, it’s under the Resources tab, where you can download copies of the official CBP signs that are supposedly posted at airports, seaports, and land border crossings, including those for airport arrivals (shown at the top of this blog post), airport departures, cruise ports, and pedestrian lanes at land borders.

None of these signs contain any Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) notice or any OMB Control Number.
Some people wonder why we care about OMB approval or PRA notices. OMB approval is often little more than a rubber stamp.

It’s emblematic of the extent to which CBP and the DHS assume that they can disregard any of the substantive or procedural rules that apply to all other agencies, and make their own laws through secret diktats.
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guest · Sep 21, 2020

Despite past denials, LAPD has used facial-recognition software 30,000 times in last decade, records show
September 21, 2020
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-21/lapd-controversial-facial-recognition-software

The Los Angeles Police Department has used facial-recognition software nearly 30,000 times since 2009, with hundreds of officers running images of suspects from surveillance cameras and other sources against a massive database of mugshots taken by law enforcement.

The new figures, released to The Times, reveal for the first time how commonly facial recognition is used in the department, which for years has provided vague and contradictory information about how and whether it uses the technology.
The LAPD has consistently denied having records related to facial recognition, and at times denied using the technology at all.
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LAPD Assistant Chief Horace Frank said “it is no secret” that the LAPD uses facial recognition, that he personally testified to that fact before the Police Commission a couple years ago, and that the more recent denials — including two since last year, one to The Times — were just mistakes.

“We aren’t trying to hide anything,” he said.
Civil liberties advocates disagree.

They said the recent denials — only corrected after The Times questioned their accuracy — are part of a long pattern of deception in which the LAPD has systematically avoided discussing facial recognition by denying it has records related to the technology or by claiming, erroneously, that it doesn’t use it.
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guest · Sep 22, 2020

Amazon, Microsoft Say Facial Recognition Lawsuits Mistarget Them
September 15, 2020
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/priva...ay-facial-recognition-lawsuits-mistarget-them

Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. say an Illinois biometric privacy law doesn’t apply to suits that claim the companies used photos without permission to develop facial recognition technology.

Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act doesn’t apply to company conduct outside of that state, Amazon and Microsoft said in filings Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
The photos at issue are part of International Business Machines Corp.'s “diversity in faces” dataset, which has been made available for research to eradicate racial and gender bias in facial recognition. Two people leading two potential class actions claim their faces were some of those used in the dataset.
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The same two people have sued IBM in an Illinois court, alleging violations of the state’s biometric privacy law. Alphabet Inc.'s Google also faces a lawsuit similar to the ones against Amazon and Microsoft.
The cases are Vance et al v. Amazon.com Inc., W.D. Wash., No. 2:20-cv-01084, 9/14/20 and Vance et al v. Microsoft Corp., W.D. Wash., No. 2:20-cv-01082, 9/14/20.
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guest · Sep 23, 2020

mood said: ↑

PopID’s face-based payments pose privacy and security risks
August 27, 2020
https://venturebeat.com/2020/08/27/popids-face-based-payments-pose-privacy-and-security-risks/
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Exposing Your Face Isn't a More Hygienic Way to Pay
September 21, 2020
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/09/exposing-your-face-isnt-more-hygienic-way-pay

A company called PopID has created an identity-management system that uses face recognition. Their first use case is as a system for in-store, point of sale payments using face recognition as authorization for payment.
They are promoting it as a tool for restaurants, claiming that it is pandemic-friendly because it is contactless.

Nonetheless, the PopID payment system is less secure than alternatives, unfriendly to privacy, and is likely riskier than other payment alternatives for anyone concerned about catching COVID-19. On top of these issues, PopID is pitching it as a screening tool for COVID-19 infection, another task that it's completely unsuited for.
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Even the best cameras are finicky, not working accurately if people are wearing hats, glasses, or masks, and require the camera to view only one subject at a time.
Security
However, being a payment system, there is the obvious additional risk of fraud. PopID says, "Your Face now becomes your singular, ultra-secure 'digital token' across all PopID transactions and devices," yet that can't possibly be so.
False positives are common and in a payment system, a false positive means a false charge.

[...] is hardly "ultra-secure." Moreover, it requires every PopID customer to tell the whole store their name (or use a PopID pseudonym).
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Privacy
PopID is an incipient privacy nightmare. The obvious privacy issues of an unregulated payment system that knows where your face has been is only the start of the problem.

But [CEO of PopID, John] Miller’s vision [...] he wants to build a world where they can “use it for everything: at work in the morning to unlock the door, at a restaurant to pay for tacos, then use it to sign in at the gym, for your ticket at the Lakers game that night, and even use it to authenticate your age to buy beers after.”
“You can imagine lots of things that you can do when you have a big database of faces that people trust,” Miller said.
Nothing more needs to be said. PopID as a payment system is a stalking horse for a face-surveillance panopticon and salable database of trusted faces.
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hawki · Sep 23, 2020

"Average American recorded by security cameras 238 times each week, study shows..."

https://www.studyfinds.org/americans-recorded-by-security-cameras-238-times-week/

guest · Sep 28, 2020

Facial recognition startup NtechLab scoops $15m for market expansion
September 23, 2020
https://www.verdict.co.uk/ntechlab-funding/

Founded in 2015, the Russian company creates facial recognition software that uses artificial intelligence and neural networks to identify faces, silhouettes and actions recorded on video.

After fears that it could “bring an end to public anonymity”, it closed its consumer business. It’s facial recognition software is now used by governments and businesses for surveillance. It was used during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia to monitor crowds and has also aided the arrest of more than 100 people on the federal wanted persons list.
NtechLab said it plans to use the investment to develop automatic detection of “aggressive behaviour”. It is also looking to create vehicle recognition software, which it said could be used for tracking compliance with recycling procedures.
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NtechLab technology has “significant” export potential
NtechLab’s technology has been used during the coronavirus pandemic to monitor people in cities. In Moscow, NtechLab’s live facial recognition software has been integrated into the city’s surveillance network in a deal worth at least $3.2m.
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guest · Sep 28, 2020

MEPs raise concerns on EU plans for police facial recognition database
...potential abuse of data as well as the likelihood of false positives
September 22, 2020
https://www.euractiv.com/section/di...plans-for-police-facial-recognition-database/

As part of a planned extension of the EU’s 2008 Prum Decision, which allows for the exchange of DNA, fingerprint and vehicle registration data, member states have proposed that police authorities be given powers that permit them to share facial images.

Under the so-called ‘next-generation Prum’ plans, MEPs were told by experts on Tuesday (22 September), that there could be certain challenges to privacy rights that arise as part of the introduction of new data categories into the agreement, such as facial images.
“But these false positives have consequences for investigations, investigations might go into a wrong direction,” she added.
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The EPP’s Tomas Tobé noted that a ‘high exchange’ of data between EU police forces is necessary for the fight against crime, but that there should be a better understanding on the usefulness of facial recognition data in this context.
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guest · Sep 28, 2020

Our legal action against the use of facial recognition by the French police
September 21, 2020
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/202...e-of-facial-recognition-by-the-french-police/

We already spoke about it last year: the French government is trying to make us believe there should be a national public debate on facial recognition.
However, facial recognition is already well set up: the city of Nice experimented last year a facial recognition program on its street. In French stations and airports, automated entry gates called “Parafe” are already in use with facial recognition. And it will be the cornerstone of the new digital identity program called “Alicem”.

This deployment is even more visible with the TAJ criminal file. This file contains, beside an outstanding number of information, images of people “involved” in a police investigation : guilty individuals, but also non-guilty individuals for of whom pictures are kept in the database, against their will.
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According to a report from the Parliament and the French data protection authority (CNIL), 19 millions of files and 8 millions of images are saved in this database.

It turns our face into a tracking device, rather than a signifier of personality, eventually reducing it to a technical object. It enables invisible control. It establishes a permanent and inescapable identification regime. It eliminates anonymity. That is why, today, we challenge these provisions of the criminal procedure code on the TAJ file : to not let any breath and resting spot to this biometric mass surveillance.
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guest · Sep 30, 2020

ExamSoft’s remote bar exam sparks privacy and facial recognition concerns
September 29, 2020
https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/29/...arks-privacy-and-facial-recognition-concerns/

Sometimes the light Kiana Caton is forced to use gives her a headache. On top of common concerns that come with taking a state bar exam — like passing the test — Caton has to deal with challenges presented by facial recognition technology. She’s a Black woman, and facial recognition tech has a well-documented history of misidentifying women with melanin.

To ensure her skin tone doesn’t lead ExamSoft remote test monitoring software to raise red flags, Caton will keep a light shining directly on her face throughout the two-day process, a tactic she picked up from fellow law school graduates with dark skin.
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Next week, law school graduates from 20 states — including Caton, who is in California — will simultaneously take the bar exam from remote locations using ExamSoft. In order to take part, they must first surrender biometric data like an iris scan or facial scan.
For Caton and many others taking the test next week, a job offer may hang in the balance.
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guest · Oct 9, 2020

Live facial recognition is tracking kids suspected of being criminals
October 9, 2020
https://www.technologyreview.com/20...ognition-is-tracking-kids-suspected-of-crime/

In a national database in Argentina, tens of thousands of entries detail the names, birthdays, and national IDs of people suspected of crimes. The database, known as the Consulta Nacional de Rebeldías y Capturas (National Register of Fugitives and Arrests), or CONARC, began in 2009 as a part of an effort to improve law enforcement for serious crimes.

But there are several things off about CONARC. For one, it’s a plain-text spreadsheet file without password protection, which can be readily found via Google Search and downloaded by anyone.
Now a new investigation from Human Rights Watch has found that not only are children regularly added to CONARC, but the database also powers a live facial recognition system in Buenos Aires deployed by the city government.
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The system has since led to numerous false arrests (links in Spanish), which the police have no established protocol for handling. One man who was mistakenly identified was detained for six days and about to be transferred to a maximum security prison before he finally cleared up his identity.

“There seems to be no mechanism to be able to correct mistakes in either the algorithm or the database,” Han says. “That is a signal to us that here’s a government that has procured a technology that it doesn’t understand very well in terms of all the technical and human rights implications.”
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guest · Oct 9, 2020

CBP expands facial recognition program to international travelers at San Francisco and San Jose airports
October 7, 2020
https://venturebeat.com/2020/10/07/...elers-at-san-francisco-and-san-jose-airports/

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) this week announced the expansion of its Simplified Arrival program, which uses facial recognition to verify the identity of airline travelers arriving in the U.S. According to a press release, Simplified Arrival is now in use at San Francisco International Airport and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport following recent installations in Detroit and Houston.

As early as 2016, CBP began laying the groundwork for the program of which Simplified Arrival is a part: the $1 billion Biometric Entry-Exit Program. Through partnerships with airlines like Delta and JetBlue, CBP has access to manifests that it uses to build facial recognition databases incorporating photos from entry inspections, U.S. visas, and other U.S. Department of Homeland Security corpora.
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As the CBP explains, with Simplified Arrival, travelers on international flights pause for photos at primary inspection points after debarking from the plane. If the alternative photo-matching process fails, they undergo the traditional inspection process.
CBP says that to date, more than 53 million travelers have participated in the Biometric Entry-Exit Program (up from 23 million as of March 2020) and that nearly 300 imposters have been prevented from illegally entering the U.S. since September 2018.
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Despite the controversial nature of the CBP’s ongoing efforts, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration recently announced that it, too, would begin piloting checkpoints at airports that rely on facial scans to match ID photos.
The White House has mandated that facial recognition technology be in use at the 20 busiest U.S. airports for “100 percent of all international passengers” entering and exiting the country by 2021.
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Imposter ID'd With Facial Recognition Technology At Local Airport

With the help of the Simplified Arrival process, customs officials detected a traveler's mismatched documents at Washington Dulles Airport.
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guest · Oct 10, 2020

Port of Seattle continues debate on facial recognition
October 9, 2020
https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/10/09/port-of-seattle-continues-debate-on-facial-recognition/

The debate continues on whether the Port of Seattle should allow or pay for continued or expanded use of facial recognition at Sea-Tac Airport (SEA) and the Seattle cruise port.

Yesterday Port of Seattle staff and a subcommittee of the Port Commission met with an advisory committee on biometrics appointed by the Port Commission.
Jennifer Lee of the ACLU of Washington State delivered a letter co-signed by a coalition of organizations including the Identity Project urging the Port Commission not to authorize, pay for, or participate in any use of facial recognition to identify travelers:

On December 10, 2019, the Commission adopted seven principles to guide its decision-making on if and how biometrics should be used at the Port. These principles are: justified, voluntary, private, equitable, transparent, legal, and ethical.
We do not believe that either the current or the proposed uses of biometrics to identify travelers on Port property can be implemented in a manner consistent with these principles. [...]
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We believe that the Port of Seattle should follow the example set by the city of Portland, and ban use of facial recognition to identify travelers, to the limit of its jurisdiction. Certainly the Port of Seattle should reconsider and reverse its decision to collaborate with the DHS by funding and deploying its own shared-use DHS-linked cameras.
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guest · Oct 11, 2020

How facial recognition systems are adapting to masks
October 11, 2020
https://thenextweb.com/neural/2020/...on-systems-are-adapting-to-masks-syndication/

It’s surprising how quickly public opinion can change. Winding the clocks back 12 months, many of us would have looked at a masked individual in public with suspicion.

But documents leaked earlier this year revealed Australian Federal Police and state police in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia all use Clearview AI, a commercial facial recognition platform. New South Wales police also admitted using a biometrics tool called PhotoTrac.

Many facial recognition technology vendors are already preparing for a future where mask use will continue, or even increase. One US company offers masks with customers’ faces printed on them, so they can unlock their smartphones without having to remove it.
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Facial recognition systems will need to adapt. Detection will be based on features that remain visible such as the eyes, eyebrows, hairline and general shape of the face.
Such technologies are already under development. Several suppliers are offering upgrades and solutions that claim to deliver reliable results with mask-wearing subjects.
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guest · Oct 12, 2020

In Singapore, facial recognition is getting woven into everyday life
October 12, 2020
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-n...ognition-getting-woven-everyday-life-n1242945

Singapore already boasts one of the world's most advanced national digital identity programs, SingPass, which residents can use for more than 400 digital services, including accessing tax returns and applying for public housing.
Now, residents can use it with just their face.

Singapore's 4 million citizens will be able to access government services and more through a new facial verification feature in its national identity program, the country announced in July. Dubbed SingPass Face Verification, the new feature allows users to securely log into their accounts without the need to remember passwords, and is meant to be used in public kiosks, home computers, tablets and mobile phones. It was also tested at a local bank in July.
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Singapore's rollout of facial verification to SingPass marks one of the biggest efforts yet to weave the technology into everyday life. But it comes with warnings from privacy advocates and technology watchdogs about the risk of abuse.

"Even if we say that rogue government employees are not the problem, I can think of a lot of problems where the whole of the government will find ways to legally misuse the technology to surveil their citizens," she said.
The technology claims to be able to prevent logins made with photographs, masks and deepfakes.
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Besides Singapore, iProov is working to get its system deployed in the United States at land borders as part of the Trusted Travelers program, and is already being used in the U.K. in its immigration and health agencies.
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guest · Oct 19, 2020

Vermont's Legislature passes facial recognition ban
October 14, 2020
https://iapp.org/news/a/vermont-legislature-passes-facial-recognition-ban/

Vermont’s Legislature passed a ban on the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement, WCAX reports.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont said the law, which prohibits police use of the technology without the Legislature’s consent, is a “historic win for Vermonters’ right to privacy, and an important step towards increasing police accountability and racial justice in this state and nationwide.”
Full Story
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guest · Oct 24, 2020

Police are using facial recognition for minor crimes because they can
Catching shoplifters with facial recognition may not be worth the cost to civil liberties
October 24, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/police-are-using-facial-recognition-for-minor-crimes-because-they-can/

Police often frame facial recognition as a necessary tool to solve the most heinous crimes, like terrorist attacks and violent assaults, but researchers have found that the technology is more frequently used for low-level offenses.

In a recent court filing, the NYPD noted that it's turned to facial recognition in more than 22,000 cases in the last three years.

"Even though the NYPD claims facial recognition is only used for serious crimes, the numbers tell a different story," said Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. "As facial recognition continues to grow, it's being routinely deployed for everything from shoplifting to graffiti."
The department's facial recognition policy, established in March, allows the technology to be used for any crime, no matter the severity.
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At The Wall Street Journal's Tech Live virtual conference on Oct. 20, Hoan Ton-That, CEO of facial recognition startup Clearview AI, said it isn't the company's responsibility to make sure its technology is being properly used by its thousands of police partners.

When it's able to be used without limits by police departments, the technology increases the chances of mistakes and threatens privacy, said Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, author of The Rise of Big Data Policing and a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia.
"Facial recognition should never be used for misdemeanor or low-level felony cases," Ferguson said. "Technology that can destroy privacy in public should be used sparingly and under strict controls."
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Facial recognition is here to stay. And we should all probably accept it

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

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