Police in China are now sporting glasses equipped with facial recognition devices and they're using them to scan train riders and plane passengers for individuals who may be trying to avoid law enforcement or are using fake IDs. So far, police have caught seven people connected to major criminal cases and 26 who were using false IDs while traveling, according to People's Daily.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Beijing-based LLVision Technology Co. developed the devices. The company produces wearable video cameras as well and while it sells those to anyone, it's vetting buyers for its facial recognition devices. And, for now, it isn't selling them to consumers. LLVision says that in tests, the system was able to pick out individuals from a database of 10,000 people and it could do so in 100 milliseconds. However, CEO Wu Fei told the Wall Street Journal that in the real world, accuracy would probably drop due to "environmental noise." Additionally, aside from being portable, another difference between these devices and typical facial recognition systems is that the database used for comparing images is contained in a hand-held device rather than the cloud.
Source: Engadget
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday February 09 2018, @12:13AM (1 child)
Public area, transportation that requires reservation, database of people with warrants ... Nothing illegal from a US standpoint.
Slippery slope? Probably, but then again, how much longer does it take, and therefore is practical, to scan against a 1.4B entry database than those 10k? What's the false-positive rate?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 09 2018, @12:29AM
Why compare every face to the entire population? I mean, why bother, at this point in time. They have their 10k most wanted in this protable database. Maybe they get ten today, maybe they get 1000 of them. Overnight, the database can be updated, with the apprehended suspects removed, and the next most wanted put into the queue. Such a simple system will be more than adequate, for the foreseeable future.
Ultimately, though, you're right. All the scanners will be connected to the cloud, and everyone will be scanned, routinely. Gubbermint will know all person's locations at all times.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @12:21AM (1 child)
So, this handheld device that contains all these images. Is it the one and only? No? Hmm ... so where do you download all these images from to get them onto these handheld devices? Could it be ... The Cloud?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @12:57AM
_Contained in_ is not the same as _came from_. It means it works without an active network outside of the glasses and the device, for example in a tunnel while it is in use.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday February 09 2018, @01:00AM (2 children)
if the hand held device is doing the matching, what is the error rate?
Being China, a false arrest may not lead to the same consequences as in the US (remanded forever, extorionate bail bonds, plea deals for innocents who hapoen to be broke)
Maybe being locked up occasionally for having a face similar enough to someone on the "wanted" list is just part of living in China. (Likely coming to a Western Nation near, or around, you, soon)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @08:02AM (1 child)
In China, police arrest you. They may even rough you up if you start fighting with them.
In US, they shoot you and then *maybe* apologize few months later that they got the wrong man. Then they blame the victim for getting shot.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday February 09 2018, @08:09AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_fee [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @01:09AM (2 children)
Note that the software is Chinese-made. To US software, they all look alike.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 09 2018, @01:33AM
[Citations [theinquirer.net] provided [wired.com]]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @08:32AM
Well, if a black person holds up a liquor store, in the USA, we go to the zoo and shoot the gorilla.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 09 2018, @01:40AM (4 children)
He wants to be like them.
ICE will get such glasses first. There are other people to deport than those with olive skin.
Then the TSA will get them. Didn't get your fix-it ticket signed off in time? Now you can't fly in airplanes anymore.
I predict a resurgence for train travel. As yet at least they do not require passing through security checkpoints.
Train stations will surely be surveilled somewhere around President-For-Life Trump's fourth term of office.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @01:57AM (2 children)
Maybe Trump could undo the damage FDR did to this country during his four terms as president. We can all dream.....
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @02:22AM
> Maybe Trump could undo the damage...
You can't fix a country by putting your name on hotels, can you?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 09 2018, @06:12AM
By finding a way to prevent old people from starving to death in the snow?
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @08:39AM
:
And that didn't happen. So good luck with your prediction. Air travel just going up every year since TSA started their pornoscanners..