01-27-2020, 01:09 PM
(01-27-2020, 12:34 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I'm all on board with facial recognition not being allowed in the US. It's probably a good tool for our military to use overseas against our enemies, but I don't think it should be allowed to be used in the US and on US citizens.
Maybe if enough states follow their lead, there will be a federal level enactment. Probably would include provisions that they could use it in airports and government buildings, but so long as it's out of the public, I can live with that as a compromise.
This is going to come across like I am all about big brother, but why is a facial recognition checking you against a crime database different then a cop sitting on a street corner flipping through wanted posters trying to match faces? It's more accurate in reality even with the current flaws (which will get better over time) but even beyond that we have always held that there is no expectation to privacy in a public place so I'm not sure where the issue is other than it's just too good at doing what it does. Should a positive identification be treated as a conviction? No. Officers should then continue on their normal investigative procedures to ensure the person is who the system believes they are and if in question should yield on the side of caution.
Cops already have licenses plate readers where they drive around parking lots or even down roads and they scan all license plates in seconds and can tell you any warrants that are out for the owner of the vehicle. Red light cameras and speeding cameras are a less sophisticated version of all this where they send the pictures of the offense back and they are checked against DMV registrations and then citations issues. Really most people's issues with these things are that they feel like if no one (actual people) are there to catch them breaking the law then they should be able to. Now there is some research in the U.S. around accidents being caused by people trying to avoid these as well as some corruption to their application, however the general reasoning behind them really shouldn't be contested if people truly believe laws should be enforced.
Where people should be scared is the commercial uses of facial recognition. Google Glass for instance had a lot of concerns about real time facial recognition matching people on the street to their social media pages. While again this would be in public with no expectation of privacy, the issue is people approached their online behavior historically with a false assumption of future anonymity but that isn't the case. There is a whole generation of amateur nude models/ porn actresses or actors who don't realize within the next five years you will essentially be able to google their faces and within seconds know exactly who they are based on all their other social media interactions or online pictures or media.
