from the now-is-the-time-for-all-good-men-to-tint-their-windows dept.
New York's attempt to use facial recognition to track and locate terrorists in our midst has not gone so well.
The Wall Street Journal[*] has obtained a Metropolitan Transportation Authority [(MTA)] email showing that a 2018 technology test on New York City's Robert F. Kennedy Bridge not only failed, but failed spectacularly -- it couldn't detect a single face "within acceptable parameters." An MTA spokesperson said the pilot program would continue at RFK as well as other bridges and tunnels, but it's not an auspicious start.
Facial recognition is already a contentious privacy issue and prone to marginal accuracy at the best of times. Having cameras peering into one's vehicle just for driving down the road may be somewhat off-putting for those who have not given up on privacy entirely. Knowing that it borders on worthless with current technology for cars moving at speed capturing faces through windows will be welcome news to some.
The system also, notably
sometimes has trouble recognizing non-white people and women, and it assumes a culprit won't wear a mask or another disguise. While no terrorist detection system is foolproof, there are real concerns that current approaches could generate false positives or let suspects slip through the cracks.
[*] The name of the publication is "The Wall Street Journal" — the word "The" is part of the name of the newspaper, — so here it should have been cited as The Wall Street Journal. --Ed.]
Happy for privacy that it isn't there yet, or sad for law enforcement being less effective as a result.
Which camp do Soylentils fall into?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:32PM (2 children)
this is terribly invasive. the only camp is to vote out whoever put them there and punish the people that developed the technology to track us like cattle
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ikanreed on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:36PM (1 child)
Imagine if we saved capital punishment only for public officials who abuse their constituents.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:29PM
>public officials who abuse their constituents.
There are 10 kind of public officials and both kinds abuse their constituents.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:41PM
Just cover up your serial number...
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:51PM (8 children)
Find a most wanted terrorist and make masks of his face. Sell them for $10 each and, hopefully, profit.
Every time a Christian defends Trump an angel loses it's lunch.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:56PM (7 children)
I believe those are called Guy Fawkes masks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:47PM (4 children)
In the future we will evolve to all have variants on a few very common faces. It is like how in china they all have the same couple dozen names or how in the projects everyone gets the same haircut and wears jeans and a white t-shirt.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:49PM (3 children)
Forgot to mention, one of those faces will be Donald Trump. Imagine an entire country of people who look and act like Donald Trump. That is what this facial recognition is biologically selecting for.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:11PM (1 child)
"imagine"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:24PM
Are you seeing Donald Trump everywhere? I'd say to see a doctor but they don't know what to do anyway, you'd probably end up on some pills that make you piss the bed.
(Score: 4, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:50PM
Ladies, you can speed up the process. Go to Manhattan CryoBank. 369 Lexington Avenue in New York. Ask for the Trump Special!!!!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:28PM
I'm quite sure they meant someone who is currently most wanted. As opposed to a long dead guy, who only Britains care about.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:26PM
Because wearing the mask of a guy who failed his mission brings good luck...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:53PM (3 children)
>There are real concerns that current approaches could generate false positives or let suspects slip through the cracks.
Seriously? There shouldn't be - false positives and negatives aren't a "concern", they're a guarantee. Even for far simpler systems than facial recognition (medical diagnostic tests anyone?). In fact, assuming that far less than 1% of citizens are terrorists, and the system is anything less than 100% accurate, you can be all but guaranteed that almost all positives will be false positives. Anyone who doesn't recognize and accept that statistical reality up front has no business getting anywhere near any sort of computer-recognition system. At best its only legitimate use is as a rapid pre-screening system, and that assumes the occasional false negative is acceptable.
The attitude being expressed here tells me that even the executives leading the charge don't accept that fact, which probably means the goons operating the system aren't even informed of it.
THAT gives me real concerns about the whole program.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:21PM
Authorities always want more power, and facial recognition has been on their radar ever since cheap desktop computers could record video. They've been wanting facial recognition for decades. They're so eager for it, they'll minimize and try to trample upon all kinds of technical and ethical problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:48PM (1 child)
The real concern is that mass surveillance is happening at all, not merely that there are false positives and false negatives. Why are there so many mealy-mouthed 'privacy advocates' who focus on the most minor issues of surveillance without considering the larger, more dangerous issues [gnu.org] with it?
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:35PM
My guess? Because they get tired of constantly pointing out the elephant in the room to people who insist it's only a mouse, and take a breather to point out that even if it were a mouse, the stated plan is *still* F'ing stupid.
That's my excuse anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:29PM (1 child)
Concentration, if you continue to insist on something as silly as privacy in this day and age.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:39PM
LOL, you realize you posted as AC right?
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:30PM
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:33PM (1 child)
I think most people are mistaken when thinking of AI/Facial recognition, I don't blame them, only people pushing it that way so they can sell their tech or ask to recruit their "AI specialist".
Remember that time when the UK police wanted to easily tag porn picture and ended up having false positive on dunes? It will happen as long as people don't understand how this technology work and its limits.
That said, I'm not entirely sure about the privacy angle since you are driving in a public space, but as long as there isn't camera everywhere I guess?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:54PM
Don't let the propaganda fool you. [gnu.org] Mass surveillance of any kind - whether it happens in a public place or not - is inherently dangerous to liberty and democracy. The purpose is to weed out dissidents, whistleblowers, journalists, political opponents, etc. Just because you can't expect that people won't see you in a public place doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to expect that you're not being tracked by a mass surveillance apparatus; those are two different types of privacy, and it's reasonable - and necessary - to have the latter without the former.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:29PM
The terrorists won!
Not only are people scared, but their anti-terrorist attempts are failures.
Cool...cool, cool..cool.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:38PM (1 child)
And, very successfully. Getting ready to put that one into many Federal Buildings & Parks. But, it's not Soylent (Fake) News. Because it reminds Head in Sand Editors who their President is. Sub torpedoed!!! oann.com/u-s-secret-service-testing-facial-recognition-system-outside-white-house [oann.com]
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:06PM
Why do you hate America?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:51PM
AI AI AI! AI AI AI!!!1!
Can't wait for the crash.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:06PM
It's not (and fuck whoever even thought about this) the RFK bridge.
It's the Tri-Boro bridge and always will be.
Who cares about a bunch of fucking cameras? We're talking about bridge names here!
(Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Wednesday April 10 2019, @02:20PM (1 child)
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:24PM
Onto t-shirts, hats, or henna facial tattoo templates.