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ACLU Demonstrates Flaws in Facial Recognition

posted by janrinok on Saturday July 28 2018, @06:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the they're-criminals dept.

Thexalon writes:

The American Civil Liberties Union, in an effort to demonstrate the dangers of face recognition technology, ran photos of members of Congress against a database of mug shots using Amazon Rekognition software. That test incorrectly identified 28 legislators as criminals (cue the jokes - yes, the Congress members were confirmed to be elsewhere at the time). They hope that demonstrating that this risk hits close to home will get Congress more interested in regulating the use of this technology.

The false matches were disproportionately of people of color, including six members of the Congressional Black Caucus, among them civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). These results demonstrate why Congress should join the ACLU in calling for a moratorium on law enforcement use of face surveillance.

[...] If law enforcement is using Amazon Rekognition, it’s not hard to imagine a police officer getting a “match” indicating that a person has a previous concealed-weapon arrest, biasing the officer before an encounter even begins. Or an individual getting a knock on the door from law enforcement, and being questioned or having their home searched, based on a false identification.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @07:37PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @07:37PM (#714069)

    Unfortunately, people aren't taking this seriously, for example see the direct quote at the end of this article:

    https://buffalonews.com/2018/07/27/tom-reed-wanted-man-amazons-rekognition-falsely-thought-so/ [buffalonews.com]

    People who know the jovial, friendly-to-a-fault Rep. Tom Reed would never think that he would go by the nickname "Penitentiary Face."

    But if you believe Amazon's facial recognition software, that might be a fitting moniker.

    The American Civil Liberties Union recently did a test of Amazon's controversial facial recognition software, called "Rekognition," where head shots of members of Congress were cross-referenced with a criminal mugshot database.

    The result? "Rekognition" falsely recognized 28 members of Congress as hardened criminals, including Reed, three U.S. senators and Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights hero from Georgia.

    The test disproportionately singled out African-American and Latino lawmakers as criminals, even though they're not. And to the ACLU, this stands as proof that law enforcement agencies shouldn't use Amazon's flawed technology.

    But Reed, a Republican from Corning with little hair, reacted to his case of mistaken identity with characteristic good humor.

    “I just hope they were kind enough to match me to someone with hair," he said.

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  • (Score: 2) by SpockLogic on Saturday July 28 2018, @07:50PM (1 child)

    by SpockLogic (2762) on Saturday July 28 2018, @07:50PM (#714076)

    Only 28 members of Congress? I thought it would be much higher, much much higher.

    They were falsely recognized you say. No, they must have all been guilty of something. I call fake news.

    --
    Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII

    • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @09:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @09:19PM (#714109)

      Many of them were black, does that help?