from the Smile!-You're-on-Candid^W-Federal-Camera! dept.
A new report concludes that a Department of Homeland Security pilot program improperly gathers data on Americans when it requires passengers embarking on foreign flights to undergo facial recognition scans to ensure they haven't overstayed visas.
The report, released on Thursday by researchers at the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University's law school, called the system an invasive surveillance tool that the department had installed at nearly a dozen airports without going through a required federal rule-making process.
The report's authors examined dozens of Department of Homeland Security documents and raised questions about the accuracy of facial recognition scans. They said the technology had high error rates and were subject to bias, because the scans often fail to properly identify women and African-Americans.
"It's telling that D.H.S. cannot identify a single benefit actually resulting from airport face scans at the departure gate," said Harrison Rudolph, an associate at the center and an author of the report.
"D.H.S. doesn't need a face-scanning system to catch travelers without a photo on file," he added. "It's alarming that D.H.S. still hasn't supplied evidence for the necessity of this $1 billion program."
Homeland security officials said the program was necessary and fulfilled a decades-old congressional requirement to prevent foreign visitors from overstaying their visas.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/us/politics/facial-scans-airports-security-privacy.html
(Score: 5, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 23 2017, @10:54PM (4 children)
So, this couple is at the airport, LEAVING THE COUNTRY, and we're worried that they may be a day, a week, a month overdue leaving?
No, that's not the purpose of facial scanning, that is just a BS excuse offered to justify it. What DHS wants is facial recognition on every citizen, along with DNA, fingerprints, social media history - basically everything. The Nazis in Germany would have loved this technology. Of course, DHS are the "good guys", so they'll never use all this data for evil purposes. DHS is so very good, that even if an evil administration is ever elected, they won't permit the administration to use all that data for evil purposes.
And, if you believe that story, you'll also believe that I won't ejaculate in your mouth.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 23 2017, @11:07PM
I believe the FBI already adds state ID and drivers license photos into a facial recognition database, or at least it does so in many states. So yes, all these government agencies want facial recognition on the entire populace. The general public does not pay much attention to these issues despite their importance, and instead focuses almost entirely on things like the economy.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Sunday December 24 2017, @01:30AM (2 children)
I really think they are collecting these faces to match them when they attempt to come back in. Illegals deciding to leave and come back in can be denied because they over stated their visa. Of course the fact that they HAD a visa in the first place sort of says they were following the rules at one time, and now just want to go home.
Overstaying a visa is not a criminal offense, but only a civil grounds for future inadmissibility (upon return).
So why pick these people for facial reco? Practice. People leaving are not likely to complain or go get a lawyer.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @04:31AM
When you have 3d images of every American's face, combined with Hollywood special effects, you can glue that 3d imaged face on any body you need to, whether a real body, or a fake body and make them have been places or done crimes they didn't. They aren't just looking to get us for thought crimes, they are looking to get even the most pious among us for false crimes, just so they can ensure they stay in power under any circumstances. Most people simply lack the imagination, technical knowledge, or ability to critique their own side's establishment the same as they do their 'opponents' to realize the full breadth of what is really going on in America. It is coming if it isn't already here, and when truth and fiction become indistinguishable, the quest for future evidence or truths about the universe we live in will peter to a halt, as reverifying every theorem, proof, and recorded evidence of how the universe operates will become necessary, with fewer and fewer ways to prove that data hasn't been fabricated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @02:32PM
I think it's merely authoratarian overreach.
Dress it up to prevent terrorists from raping children with sticks of dynamite they bought on sale from China without first paying tariffs, but it's still authoratarian overreach.
Let your fears guide you and you will soon be on the dark side of the force, you will.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 23 2017, @11:31PM (7 children)
By putting citizenship info on identity documents. Need to present papers to an officer, he can see whether one is a foreigner and ask what gives him permission to be in this country. That's not what the rich and powerful want though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 23 2017, @11:46PM (1 child)
Another options would be to utilize Jesus's snapcams to spy on their barest snaps in existence. By glaring at the displayed picture, it could cause a yelp.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @12:08AM
What's you! I've have finally found the fertile I'd been seeking for. Get pregnant!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @12:08AM (4 children)
Hmm ... "Papers please" has a familiar ring to it but I just can't place it.
If you think turning all members of law enforcement into immigration officers is a good idea then you better double (or triple) the number of jails first. Everything, including deportation, takes a long time and the courts are already bogged down.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @01:53AM (2 children)
Nobody will rent you an apartment without proof of identity. Many hotels will demand it also. Plus those times when you are stopped for a traffic issue.
Do you think some crimes are ok for the cops to ignore?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @09:13AM
Which is frankly awful and I'd like that to change. I also think you should be able to anonymously buy prepaid cards and burner phones, despite many governments trying to ruin that.
Stopping people for such things is a waste of time the vast majority of the time, and sometimes it's just to generate revenue. I'd like it better if they only bothered with egregious offenders (people who are clearly driving dangerously) and, absent any identification, detained them until their identities could be verified. Going without a form of identification should not be a crime in and of itself. We did in fact have law enforcement before we had all the forms of identification that we have today, most of which just serve to increase the government's surveillance capabilities.
Because of the dangers of government and corporate license plate readers, I don't think license plates should even be mandatory. Even though it's a public place and you can't expect people to not see you at all, I think we who live in free societies can sure expect that the government won't mandate that we submit to mass surveillance (which mandatory license plates and anti-mask laws do). Since we can't ban every camera, it's better to just make it easier for people to protect their anonymity. Sure, this would make it more difficult for the government to catch bad guys, but that is well worth it in the name of freedom; we are not supposed to be a country which discards freedoms to make the government's job easier or to increase safety.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @06:15PM
yes, of course. in fact, it is their constitutional duty to ignore certain laws. look it up, bootlicker.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @02:16AM
Operation Wetback was completed pretty damned quickly. It didn't take years to determine that someone was going back over the border. All we need is an executive order, and we can just "git r done". Fek all the bleeding heart liberals.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Sunday December 24 2017, @12:43AM
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 24 2017, @02:14AM (3 children)
But when I do fly, I take along a FUGLY woman. She breaks the cameras, and I'm safe from that facial recognition nonsense.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @02:40AM (2 children)
Your wife??
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @04:38AM
Yo mama!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @01:12PM
I think he's been hitching a ride on your wife's broom. But, you're not supposed to know about it, because there's some hanky panky going on while the broom is on autopilot.
(Score: 1, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday December 24 2017, @05:36AM
Does anybody remember San Bernardino? The HORRIFIC shooting in San Bernardino? Our great FBI had a lot, a lot of trouble "unlocking" the phone. When there's a terror attack, we need to after a lot of people and find out whether or not they knew. We need to be able to find out. Let me tell you, I don't believe the sister. I think she knew. We have to stop terrorists. And the only way we're going to stop them, in my opinion, is that way. You know, they say they don't mind dying. I think they do mind dying. But I can tell you this. They want their families left alone.
We have to stop terrorism. So we have to "unlock" the phones. And a lot, a lot of the phones "unlock" with the face. You look at what's happening in New York, in the subway in New York. This guy tried to blow himself up. He failed very badly. But if he blew himself up, where's his face? Maybe, probably, his face is gone, or it's a mess (like Crazy Mika, she had a lot of work done). A guy blows his face off, it's very hard to "unlock" his phone with his face. Because his face is in little pieces. It's like hamburger, folks. Very frankly, it's hamburger. So we're doing something very smart, we get the cyber of the faces, the scans. Before these guys blow themselves up. And maybe we can use that face cyber to "unlock" the phone. So we can go after the family. And see if there was COLLUSION. There's a lot of collusion going on, believe me. A lot.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Sunday December 24 2017, @07:37AM (2 children)
The real question is: Can DHS name a single benefit to justify their existence? Not just the cameras, but the whole organization? Personally, I think flying was just as safe in the US - and a lot more pleasant - when the airlines handled security.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 24 2017, @09:03AM
Securing the cockpit doors and having some disguised security personnel on the plane add security without violating anyone's rights. You'd think that, in 'the land of the free and the home of the brave', we wouldn't tolerate security measures that violated our freedoms.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 24 2017, @01:23PM
No, the existence of DHS cannot be justified. There were existing organizations and agencies the could have done everything that DHS does, and more efficiently. All that was required in the aftermath of 9/11/01 was to tweak existing law, and allow those agencies expanded authorities, and better communication among them. This country has always had an aversion to a large military, or the military having control of things. We have always loathed the idea of a military coup, or takeover. But, we invented this DHS, and given it more authority, as well as more power, within the US. If there ever is a coup, it will originate at the top echelons of the DHS. But, no one seems to consider those possibilities.
I've never thought about it before, but I wonder how many coups, throughout history, have been led by the palace guard, or Imperial guard, or whatever name the ruler's elite troops may have called themselves. Hail Caesar? Create a special organization that is above suspicion, and you had better be very suspicious of it!!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25 2017, @06:13AM
Kuwait has DNA for everybody in the country, both residents and visitors.
If they get DNA from a person, at a crime scene for example, they can always determine who the person is. They can always determine immigration status. They can always identify the dead. They can always determine who a child's parents are.