This is where crony capitalism gets super creepy. The surveillance state is very profitable and Taser is about to provide a “solution” to police departments which is sure to fatten the company’s bottom line. Soon software may be able to identify “people of interest” just from a feed from a police officer’s body camera.
And guess what? Even if you aren’t “of interest” you will soon be in the facial recognition database. Then imagine algorythms running over this data.
“Well he was in New York last week. Now he’s in LA. Last month he was in Miami. Oh and look at this, he attended a concert supporting a radical cause…Well even though he hasn’t done anything wrong the algorithm says this guy has a 15% chance of doing SOMETHING illegal in the next 3 months. Might be best to go talk to him…”
This scenario is not that far out. Seriously.
Just wait until drones start deploying the same software.
According to the 4th Amendment of the Constitution we are supposed to be secure in our persons without fear of search by the police. Isn’t instant face recognition a violation of this principle?
And how great is it that the citizenry will pay the taxes which will fund the deployment of this technology. Kind of sick.
(From Motherboard)
Could police officers someday identify criminals just by looking at them?
That’s the vision being touted by Taser International, which holds a monopoly on “conducted electrical weapons” for law enforcement and is aiming to build one for police body cameras, according to a Businessweek cover story.
In the story, Lieutenant Dan Zehnder of the Las Vegas Police Department imagined himself patrolling the Las Vegas Strip with his Axon model Taser body camera streaming back to headquarters. The footage gets “real-time analysis, and then in my earpiece there is, ‘Hey, that guy you just passed 20 feet ago has an outstanding warrant,’” he told the magazine. “Wow.”
Taser’s CEO, Rick Smith, told Businessweek that the company plans to begin live-streaming body camera footage to the cloud by 2017, and that facial recognition could arrive soon after that.
The Supreme Court needs to get hip to this big data search stuff and quickly. We can only then hope and pray that they will for some reason stay true to the letter and spirit of the 4th Amendment. Sadly I have little faith in that happening. But there’s always the chance.
Why would they even want this kind of intrusive surveillance technology?
They have to hone their skills at identifying specific targets, because there’s nothing they can do against the numbers they’re facing now.
And the scumbags are prying their way into my computer as I type.
The real-time face recognition that pig speculates about in the article hasn’t been developed yet, and it may be a tough hill for the bastards to climb. Even the FBI’s Next Generation Identification system can’t do anything close to that, provided the recently released GAO report doesn’t contain disinformation. But as always, we need to be aware of what police state technology is being pursued.
This is also why I’ve never really supported the whole push for police body cameras. While well-intentioned, it only creates more public surveillance while doing very little to improve police accountability. The pigs either “forget” to turn on the cameras, have them “accidentally” fall off, or simply don’t get punished even when damning footage arrives intact in court.
In some ways face recognition is moot, since any footage of someone caught on a camera can be put in front of millions on the Web or TV (“The police are asking for the public’s help in identifying this man…”). If I were going to do something illegal in a place where there could be cameras, I’d wear a ski mask.
“I’d wear a ski mask.”
Guy Fawkes mask for me, BMF.
” Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England’s overthrow.
But, by God’s providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James’s sake!
If you won’t give me one,
I’ll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn’orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray! “