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ACLU Demands DHS Disclose Its Use of Facial-Recognition Tech (cnet.com)
The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday called on the Department of Homeland Security to disclose its use of facial-recognition software. The nonprofit also again pushed for an end of law enforcement's use of the technology. From a report: The ACLU's statements follow reports Tuesday that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials met this summer with Amazon. Around that time, the company pitched the agency on potentially using its facial-recognition software, called Rekognition, along with other Amazon products. A handful of US police agencies are already trying out Rekognition as part of their crime-fighting and investigative efforts. The ACLU since May has criticized Amazon's marketing of its facial-recognition software to law enforcement and has asked Congress and the public to debate whether the technology should be used. The nonprofit has argued that facial-recognition technology has the potential of being misused by policing agencies and misidentifying people.
Why would law enforcement give up the methods and tactics? I bet the terrorist cells would absolutely love that information. So much easier to plan your next attack successfully when you know how to avoid observation and identification.
ACLU's stance is, law-enforcement endangers our civil liberties. Though it certainly might sometimes do that, criminals always do.
Cameras — and the face-recognition software behind them — are no different from a policeman on the corner. The technology just greatly improves on the humans here, and is much cheaper. If it is Ok for a cop to stand there and observe the crowd — memorizing faces and pulling out those, who look like the pictures of the suspects on the "Wanted" list — it is Ok for a computer to do the same.
Indeed, the computer is less likely to engage in any deliberate harassment...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.