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Privacy Advocates Leave In Protest Over U.S. Facial Recognition Code of Conduct
Taco Cowboy writes: Nine privacy advocates involved in the Commerce Department process for developing a voluntary code of conduct for the use of facial recognition technology withdrew in protest over technology industry lobbyists' overwhelming influence on the process. "At a base minimum, people should be able to walk down a public street without fear that companies they've never heard of are tracking their every movement — and identifying them by name — using facial recognition technology," the privacy advocates wrote in a joint statement. "Unfortunately, we have been unable to obtain agreement even with that basic, specific premise." The Commerce Department, through its National Telecommunications and Information Administration, brought together "representatives from technology companies, trade groups, consumer groups, academic institutions and other organizations" early last year "to kick off an effort to craft privacy safeguards for the commercial use of facial recognition technology."
The goal was "to develop a voluntary, enforceable code of conduct that specifies how the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights applies to facial recognition technology in the commercial context." But after a dozen meetings, the most recent of which was last week, all nine privacy advocates who have participated in the entire process concluded that they were thoroughly outgunned. "This should be a wake-up call to Americans: Industry lobbyists are choking off Washington's ability to protect consumer privacy," Alvaro Bedoya, executive director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, said in a statement. "People simply do not expect companies they've never heard of to secretly track them using this powerful technology. Despite all of this, industry associations have pushed for a world where companies can use facial recognition on you whenever they want — no matter what you say. This position is well outside the mainstream."
The goal was "to develop a voluntary, enforceable code of conduct that specifies how the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights applies to facial recognition technology in the commercial context." But after a dozen meetings, the most recent of which was last week, all nine privacy advocates who have participated in the entire process concluded that they were thoroughly outgunned. "This should be a wake-up call to Americans: Industry lobbyists are choking off Washington's ability to protect consumer privacy," Alvaro Bedoya, executive director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, said in a statement. "People simply do not expect companies they've never heard of to secretly track them using this powerful technology. Despite all of this, industry associations have pushed for a world where companies can use facial recognition on you whenever they want — no matter what you say. This position is well outside the mainstream."
By pulling out of the process, they're basically ensuring they will have zero say in the outcome.
"War makes me sad." - Me
Half the building is ashes but go ahead and pull the fire alarm anyway
I'm perfectly fine with this, as long as their right to point their omnipresent cameras at me is balanced by my right (codified into law, of course) to point a fucking shotgun at said cameras as well as their sickening fucking heads.
There has been a major push to get basically every security camera in downtown DC networked into the government systems. It's sold as a why-wouldn't-you-want-this measure, and IIRC almost everyone has signed on.
We'll see if CV Dazzle becomes fashionable.
At a base minimum, people should be able to walk down a public street without fear that companies they've never heard of are tracking their every movement — and identifying them by name — using their employees eyes and ears. When I walk up to a receptionist he/she better ask for my id. And how dare that fast food employee remember my normal order. Big Brother is here.
The goal was "to develop a voluntary, enforceable code of conduct
Because they work for/with the government, those privacy advocates are -- by definition -- adults. Yet they are so fucking naive as to make me wonder whether or not they are mentally retarded.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
yeah, right.
in Guy Fawkes masks.
Maybe they could object by pointing out that various congress critters have a habit of being seen (and now recognized) with women other than their wives in locations other than their offices. That might strike closer to home for some of them. Just a thought.
"Industry lobbyists and Washington are choking off the people's ability to protect consumer privacy." There, fixed it for him.
When you're in public, anyone can recognize you whether it be man or machine. Anyone can take pictures of you and what you are doing. There is no concept of "privacy" when you are in public.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
"Industry lobbyists are <insert negative thing here>"?
When did anybody in the US think we aren't living in a plutocratic oligarchy?
Though please do note: I said ruled by the MONEY... not the rich... parse that as you see fit.
@Whee
Corporation lobbyists roll over government. What's new?
.
Privacy in cell phone communications was not commonplace until some Congress critter's cell phone calls were taped and made public.
Privacy in facial recognition will not become a reality until some Congress critter is caught and embarrassed via the use of facial recognition.
Congress does not care about privacy until they are the victims of the lack of it.
Can't you just go back to fapping instead of posting your pointless comments?
People should make sure the CEOs of these companies that track you are in the database. Then follow them, photograph them and post it on google maps with date and time.
Haven't people been complaining for decades that businesses don't recognize them anymore? There has often been nostalgia for a time when people were recognized by name when they walked into their bank.
Wouldn't this just be reviving the "Good Olde Days", at least for small town America? Or is facial recognition only okay when done by a MeatCreature?
They can't use facial recognition on you if they don't have a photo of you to start with. Unless you're hopelessly dumb and allowed photos of your face, linked with your name, to be posted on the Internet, that's not going to happen unless the government starts giving them access to things like drivers license database. If that's the way it's going to go then it's time for a full-on revolution, because everything else has failed.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Identity theft will now include your face. I for one, intend to wear my motorcycle helmet 24/7 and call myself "The Stig".
It should be noted that when facebook started their facial recognition stuff, I uploaded dozens of photos of Mark Zuckerberg to my profile, and identified them as me. Facebook still has no idea what I look like.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Well, the face isn't the only thing - prosthetic legs, arms, canes,
stilts, seeing-eye dogs, male-pattern baldness, various forms of skin
discoloration, scars, tats and even movement patterns.
So the corporations will be doing things with data. Feed in bad data.
Cross-dress for an evening out. Go to Goodwill or the halloween stores and get a collection of
character outfits. Fake tats. hairpieces/wigs...
Lifts for shoes and boots.
Wrap-around "padding" , and fake warts!
Have fun!
You know that there is a difference between courting and stalking, don't you? Same thing.
If corporations are people as the US Supreme Court and former candidate for President Mitt Romney have said, then they are obviously people who can ignore laws and customs they don't like. If a human person were to use facial recognition on a widespread scale to follow the public movements of and to gain personal information about another individual, they would run afoul of several anti-stalking measures, at least.
Not so for our corporate ubermenschen
This has been troubling me for over a year. Last winter I twice got ads for something I picked up at a retailer, never having searched it online, causing me to look up and find these articles.
Admittedly I've lived in very small villages before where there was no privacy, and I can relate to those who say that the idea of privacy is a fairly modern thing. But never in a village was there such a preponderous difference in power between villagers than there exists between individuals and the corporations who can now track our every move.
BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/busine... NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02... Here is a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?... http://adage.com/article/digit...
Gently reply
Start finding and hacking the cameras recording me.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
We are becoming "1984"
But mix in the "CtOS" from the game Watchdogs
and we have what the U.S. is turning into.
I predict there will be a boiling point and the next civil war even if it's soon to 50 years away will be the citizens vs law enforcement.
militarizing police and militarizing corporations is grossly against the law of posse comitatus act.
There's an app for that.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
If I was a billionaire, I'd give everyone a free week at a brothel and a marketing-by-facial-recognition contract.
Plan B is reflective eye-glasses and a 3D tattoo of President Obama's eyes on one cheek and Miley Cyrus's eyes on the other.
Did they really think that Amazon is going to put its profit on the line to fulfill some code of ethics, even if their views did prevail? (the article mentions that is was a "voluntary agreement", so they were not bound to follow it)
"Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
Humans are very adaptable, the main upshot of this type of shit may be a reduction in skin cancer 30 years from now once everybody learns to wear a ski mask all the time.
If this really does become ubiquitous people will find new fashionable ways to wear apparel, make up and skin art that confuses the cameras.
Everybody should cover their face. Choose your preferred method - there are several both with and without religious tie-ins. Or use massive amounts of make-up. Oh yes, and keep your phone and tablet off with the battery out while in transit. Have fun!
The key would be transparency or the lack thereof. If I could access the same source data base as the government is using I'd really have very little problem with this.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I find it shame-worthy that the US public has not stood up to this yet.
How can democracy of the people be passed over by the "bribing" actions of religious/corporate entities and conglomerates? Entities have an agenda, and I strongly believe that it is not in alignment with the public at large.
Dollars buys votes in congress. American Democracy has failed its kin.
I never was a fan of burqa, but perhaps those folks are wiser than I thought.
The real threat to privacy is from government use of facial recognition technology. Worrying about whether the Banana Republic or Google tries to recognize your mug from a camera is such a useless distraction from the real threats that one really has to wonder whether these "privacy advocates" aren't really just in league with the NSA.
1 / I just copyrighted my picture and all variations thereof, be it analogic, digital or purely algorithmic representation
2 / You are allowed to take picture of me or reproduce my appearance for a mandatory fee of 10$ for each frame. By taking this picture you agree to all clauses of this integrated agreement.
3 / PROFIT
Freedoms are eroding one by one.
They will be scanning your face at the McDonalds in the near future. Not only will they be scanning it, but they will also be recording the time, date, and location. So basically they will be tracking everywhere you go, everything you say, and everything you eat.
Seriously.
It's called Tumblr.
What does it matter if corporations can do this when the government does this already? Our privacy has been violated for so many years already.
There's a fap for that!
http://undecidedgames.blogspot.com