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Orlando Police Decide To Keep Testing Controversial Amazon Facial Recognition Program (gizmodo.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the about-face dept.

Despite previous reports that the program has been ended, the Orlando Police Department in Florida is planning to continue its test of Amazon's real-time facial recognition system. "News of OPD supposedly ending its use of Rekognition on footage captured by a number of CCTV cameras came just a day after the ACLU sent a letter to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer regarding the face recognition program," reports Gizmodo. "But the end date for the initial pilot period had already been selected -- it just happened to coincide with the ACLU's report and the ensuing backlash from civil rights groups." From the report: While the original test period ended, the OPD will soon sit down with Amazon representatives to outline the new pilot, the police department told the Orlando Sentinel. "It's really to prevent the next tragedy," Orlando Police Chief John Mina said. Now, with the program set to continue, Dyer says the practice is not as dystopian as it seems.

Details on the new pilot are sparse. OPD confirmed it will test Rekognition on at least eight cameras, as it did before, though their location isn't known. In the previous trial program, five Rekognition-enabled cameras captured footage at OPD headquarters, while three additional cameras were positioned in downtown Orlando. During its initial testing phase, Rekognition will scan officers' faces against a face database made up of volunteers. The plan, the OPD memo explains, is for officers themselves to walk in front of the cameras and record how accurately the technology recognizes them from different angles, with different clothes, or other variables. It's not known how long this initial testing phase will last, though the city plans to draft proposed regulations before any public rollout begins. It's worth noting that pilot itself requires no public approval and Dyer has wholeheartedly supported Rekognition. "No images of the public will be used for any testing," OPD said in a statement.

46 comments

  1. is the Orlando city council up for election by Presto+Vivace · · Score: 1

    this year? vote them out.

  2. What are you afraid of? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you arent a criminal it doesn't affect you.

    1. Re:What are you afraid of? by Narcocide · · Score: 0

      FALSE. Non-criminals go to the police stations to file reports all the time.

    2. Re:What are you afraid of? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well... It's Florida.

    3. Re:What are you afraid of? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ya. So?

    4. Re:What are you afraid of? by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      If you arent a criminal it doesn't affect you.

      You forgot your Sarcasm tag.

      What? Oh...

    5. Re: What are you afraid of? by Type44Q · · Score: 1
      And if you're illiterate (and/or a government shill), clearly history doesn't affect you.

      Fucking inbred.

    6. Re:What are you afraid of? by kilfarsnar · · Score: 1

      If you arent a criminal it doesn't affect you.

      Define criminal, and then somehow convince me that definition will never change.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    7. Re:What are you afraid of? by Bryansix · · Score: 0

      Maybe you don't understand the meaning of the word "affect". Will your face be scanned? Yes. Will you be affected? Nope. A human could just as easily recognize you visiting a location. You have no expectation of privacy in public and if you have no criminal warrants outstanding then no action will be taken against you. I'm not sure what the problem is here.

    8. Re:What are you afraid of? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      Maybe you don't understand the meaning of the word "affect". Will your face be scanned? Yes. Will you be affected? Nope.

      That assumes 1) that there will not be false positives and 2) that police will not act on false positives. These are both wholly unwarranted views, proven false by past experience which you are willfully ignoring.

      I'm not sure what the problem is here.

      Your willful ignorance.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:What are you afraid of? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FALSE: Innocent non-criminals get caught up in the criminal justice system all the time. 95% of convicted and incarcerated criminals currently serving time pleaded Guilty with a plea-bargain deal, whether they were actually guilty or not.

    10. Re:What are you afraid of? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your face will be scanned, stored indefinitely in a massive database, and shared among dozen of other departments for who knows what reasons. If you think this is limited to Orlando, you are sadly mistaken. Your face is fodder for the future.

    11. Re:What are you afraid of? by Bryansix · · Score: 1

      Guy, the police have a lot more false positives when they simply try to find people themselves. The software will probably reduce false positives.

    12. Re:What are you afraid of? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Incorrect.
      A police officer who thinks you are a wanted criminal because they "recognized" your face isn't likely to ignore that just because the computer didn't alert.
      As such the false positive rates are additive not an exclusive replacement.

    13. Re:What are you afraid of? by Bryansix · · Score: 1

      That's an interesting hypothesis. Now if only you could test it and see if it was true.

  3. They'll never ID me... by Miles_O'Toole · · Score: 1

    I think I know how to defeat this system...

    Dickishly

    --
    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
  4. Think of it as by AHuxley · · Score: 0

    An instant real time visual "DNA test" for criminal people.
    Feed the system with people who do crime and wait for them to wonder around out in the community.
    People who have stayed in the USA past their allowed date on their visa.
    Non citizens who are illegal migrants.
    Illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants who trying to use gov services.
    Criminals. Non-violent and violent trying to get ready to do more crime.
    Criminals from another part of the USA.
    Groups of people who then riot. Their local support structure that allowed them to riot.
    Criminals trying to use a new set of photo ID to get more services. Services that they are not able to get and are not entitled to.
    Policing can then be used on actual communities who need surveilling as that location has a lot of crime.
    Tracking of criminals and who they meet, who is now with them, new faces.

    With todays advanced software and computer power that can be a photograph face from decades of police records.
    Passport images, images of people in the USA illegally, CCTV images from a crime.
    People doing the kind of repeated health related, disorder, drug use and property damage that needs real time support.

    Think of the ability to map crime, respond to crime and discover people who need support.
    To really get police down into communities that hide and support criminals, illegal migrants.
    Criminals, illegal migrants, wanted people who only have a CCTV image of their past crime.

    With much less crime, no dumping of trash on clean streets, no parked RV, no tent cities any city can then attract new jobs and investment.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:Think of it as by PeopleAquarium · · Score: 1

      This was sarcasm, right?

    2. Re:Think of it as by cavreader · · Score: 1

      It included a fairly good list of what facial recognition could be used for if taken to extremes. The big question is whether or not you have the expectation of privacy when walking around in public.

    3. Re:Think of it as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > the expectation of privacy when walking around in public.

      No we don't. Being seen in public doesn't worry me. Being tracked in public is concerning. I wouldn't want a system where a law enforcement officer could take my driver license id picture and run a search on it applying a facial recognition algorithm to identify and match my face image in a massive database of captured public image data from cctv spread citywide. It would be the reverse of what facial recognition is being used for now. That could be used to track me at specific places and at specific times.

    4. Re: Think of it as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no dumping of trash on clean streets, no parked RV, no tent cities

      Dasvidaniya mofo, how many times are you going to try that same meme?

    5. Re:Think of it as by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Having CCTV alert to every faced detected from every driver license id picture in the USA would not be much use given police and contractor numbers to respond in real time.
      A passive system that detects a face and ensures its has federal and state/city id.
      Load the detection software with criminals and illegal migrants using created/fake/shared photo ID.
      Faces who cant be detected due to active avoidance methods eg fashion, allergy mask, mask to hide identity to riot with.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re: Think of it as by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Until the streets are clean as most normal cities and safe AC.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    7. Re: Think of it as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Believe it or not, I'm a Chinese and that's what my country is doing/trying to do and is also the exact results. However, a more responsible society is needed to mitigate/minimize the potential privacy problems, which in my opinion is likely too ideal.

    8. Re:Think of it as by Bryansix · · Score: 1

      You realize the police can legally follow you around anywhere you go in public right? They just don't do so now as a matter of resource restraints.

    9. Re:Think of it as by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      An instant real time visual "DNA test" for criminal people.

      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.

      With much less crime, no dumping of trash on clean streets, no parked RV, no tent cities any city can then attract new jobs and investment.

      I'm just waiting for your modest proposal for what we should do with the homeless, who are currently at numbers not seen since the great depression.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:Think of it as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The detection software will be loaded with both criminals and non-criminals alike.

    11. Re:Think of it as by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Why non-criminals AC? The easy way around that is just to set up a state/federal task force.
      No non-criminals exist in a federal database at any time. No non-criminal database is ever created federally.

      A state can allow the US federal gov to work on data within its own state collection of criminal data sets.
      At no time did the US federal gov, mil / other agency copy out any data. All the data stated in that state when advanced software found a criminal in that state in real time.
      Do that all over the USA and ensure every state has its own real time database. Federal privacy is still protected. Every state is fully equipped to scan every face against state criminal data sets in real time.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    12. Re:Think of it as by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

      Username checks out

    13. Re:Think of it as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The US already has a gigantic non-criminal database and it is maintained by the IRS. Of course it would contain a significant number of both criminals and non-criminals. The IRS makes the NSA and CIA look like amateurs when it comes to collecting and maintaining citizen data. And the government doesn't even need a warrant to access the data. The IRS is probably one of the most powerful agencies in the government. The power to seize assets before the accusations have been adjudicated and the proven true is scary. The IRS can seize control of your finances making it almost impossible to pay for your defense against the accusations.

    14. Re:Think of it as by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Once they get the cost of collect it all and voice prints with a nice GUI down to a per year city police software rental price.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  5. The War On Us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How did protect-and-serve end up being us vs them?

    1. Re:The War On Us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Around the time you started fellating yourself.

    2. Re:The War On Us by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      How did protect-and-serve end up being us vs them?

      Oh, you think there was a time when it wasn't?

      How cute.

    3. Re:The War On Us by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 1

      They did not tell you who they protect and serve.

      --
      Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
    4. Re:The War On Us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did not tell you who they protect and serve.

      Exactly! A police officer is sworn to protect and serve the interests of the city corporation that hired them. A city corporations interests are not its citizens but its corporate investors, businesses and financiers... NOT the everyday citizens. Everyday citizens are a threat to be controlled and neutralized and subjugated by the police force employed by the city corporation.

  6. homicides by backslashdot · · Score: 1

    In principle I am in favor, but will this make us safer? I doubt it. They aren't going to arrest any dangerous criminals with this .. they will waste their time catching people with traffic citations. Think about it, who would YOU rather waste time arresting?

  7. Orlando Police by alxc · · Score: 1

    All your faces are belong to us.

  8. Stop vacationing in Orlando, simple. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop vacationing in Orlando as long as they use this surveillance unless there are clear, legal, timeframes for data deletion, simple.

    14 days should be sufficient time to determine if anything "bad" happened. Delete on a 14-day rolling window.

    I actually don't mind police using technology to help with good police work. I do mind if they use it to look for crimes that otherwise wouldn't be seen, weeks/months/years later. It is a trade-off.

  9. Because! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So there!

  10. OPM by packrat0x · · Score: 1

    This project isn't about improving the police, it's about spending "Other People's Money" on campaign contributors.

    --
    227-3517
  11. Its still going by TechMaster321 · · Score: 1

    After all of whats happened, who is the program still continuing?

  12. tombstone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Put that on my tombstone.
    "The practice is not as dystopian as it seems." G. Reaper

  13. 2010's = Humans use technology for evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The 2010s will always be remembered as the beginning of evil uses of technology against people. Investigate these:

    - windows 10 forced spying
    - Google requiring location services to be on for some wifi or bluetooth function
    - License plate readers
    - Heck, Roombas map your house and sell your house location data to others
    - Cameras in your face leaving a Walmart, store and now even an airport.

    It's clear to me that Orwell had a Tardis. 2010s = the decade we realized that Orwell had a Tardis.