Thought Crimes? Facial Recognition Technology Is Invading The U.S.; San Fran Passes Historic Privacy Bill; Man Arrested In UK For Hiding Face

Saturday, May 18, 2019
By Paul Martin

By Aaron Kesel
ActivistPost.com
MAY 18, 2019

You can’t run, you can’t hide; facial recognition technology is advancing at a quickening pace, it’s becoming more widespread and accurate, and we are entering the path of no return.

A report from Georgetown researchers states that agencies in Chicago and Detroit have bought real-time facial recognition systems. Meanwhile, a privacy bill failed to pass in San Francisco. Elsewhere, in the UK an unidentified man was arrested for hiding his face from facial recognition technology and was gifted an insane disorderly behavior fine of £90.

According to the Georgetown researchers, software from a South Carolina company, DataWorks Plus, called FaceWatch Plus, “provides continuous screening and monitoring of live video streams” and is being used by Chicago and Detroit police departments.

Both police departments claim it has not used its system. However, Chicago previously introduced an Orwellian program in the Chicago Police Department that targets innocent citizens based on pre-crimes. Similar to dystopian films like Minority Report, a complex computer algorithm was being tested silently for 3 -years prior form 2016. The program was set up to track and catalog every citizen in the city, and use private data about each person to determine whether or not they could be a potential criminal, as Free Thought Project reported previously.

Wired further notes that:

Chicago’s adoption of FaceWatch Plus goes back to at least 2016, the report says. According to a description of the program—found in DataWorks Plus’ pitch to Detroit—the “project objective” involved tapping into Chicago’s 20,000 street and transit cameras. Chicago police told the researchers the system was never turned on. (The department did not respond to additional questions from WIRED.) Illinois is one of only three states with biometric-identify laws that require consent from people before companies collect biometric markers, like fingerprints and face data. But public agencies are exempted.

In addition, government agents in Chicago previously visited more than 1,300 innocent people who had high numbers on its pre-crime list, to inform them that they are now regarded as “potential criminals.” According to the New York Times, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson previously said that officials were stepping up those visits at the time, with at least 1,000 more people.

“We are targeting the correct individuals. We just need our judicial partners and our state legislators to hold these people accountable,” Johnson insisted.

The Rest…HERE

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