Comments on: Google’s Anti-Facial Recognition Policy for Glass is Deadly https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly Safeguarding Humanity Sat, 29 Apr 2017 22:46:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 By: Richard M Stallman https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly#comment-179044 Wed, 04 Dec 2013 14:07:44 +0000 http://lifeboat.com/blog/?p=9170#comment-179044 If your boss can watch you and you can watch your boss, it does not
balance out: rather, it gives your boss more power over you. See
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/stallman20121208.

Beyond that, privacy is necessary for democracy. See
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html.
To make whistleblowers and democracy safe, we must redesign
systems so that they do not accumulate dossiers about everyone.

One way to do this is to make them remember only people who are
specifically sought on legal grounds.

For instance, if face recognition systems and license-plate
recognition systems can only “see” people and cars that are being
sought, under a court order, plus invalid plates, they would do some
good while respecting most people’s privacy. They would be able to
spot kidnapped children, to the extent such systems have any chance at
it.

I doubt a kidnapped child will walk past you on the street with a
captor, acting as if everything were ok, such that you would need face
recognition to tell you to call 911. But that’s a side issue.

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By: Normal Liberal Human Being https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly#comment-179004 Tue, 03 Dec 2013 19:38:28 +0000 http://lifeboat.com/blog/?p=9170#comment-179004 Fast-forward to 2018. Imagine quick scans, imagine instantaneous scans: Glass 2.0 or 3.0

Now imagine:
- Sex Scan App: uses search software and advanced recognition software to immediately search out and flash up any nude or lewd pictures on internet of everyone you pass on the street. An alternative app could synthesize a naked pic, to give you a general idea.

- Embarass Scan App: similar, but displays any embarassing or drunk photos of everyone you pass on the street

- Religion Scan App: displays the religious affiliation of everyone you see, based on any Facebook declarations, hints or insinuations across a wide range of social media

-Political Scan App: same as above, but displays political stance of everyone you see (maybe summed up in a single fun graphic — like Dick Cheney’s fat head.)

Now fast-forward another 5 years, to the point where many people have gotten used to the idea that many people are continuously running one or more of these apps constantly. Or an app that displays all of this in a fun way. Imagine yourself buying a cup of coffee, or saying Hi on the street. Or interacting on a college campus. You’re not just being mentally undressed; you’re being seen at your worst at all times. How cool is that? People in a small town don’t literally see you drunk or naked WHILE you are buying a donut from them–even if they did happen to be at that Christmas party 12 years ago. But with Glass, everyone will. We might as well all get married.

Since porn and bigotry are already primary uses of search engines for very many people, I think we just have to assume that this is where the road is going. It will happen. I just hope we have at least, say, 2 or 3 years to prep for it. But I actually doubt that we have that long. And I worry about my kids. I don’t know if they’re actually less likely to be kidnapped when a good quarter of everyone is walking around the street in a sea of porn.

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By: Tihamer Toth-Fejel https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly#comment-178984 Tue, 03 Dec 2013 13:45:43 +0000 http://lifeboat.com/blog/?p=9170#comment-178984 As an engineer, the first question I would ask is: *How* is Google going to ban face recognition software from Glass? I don’t think it will be possible to enforce.
As a citizen, the first question I would ask is: Is privacy really a right? No, it is not. You have no privacy in a family, or a small town, but you certainly have a right to life and liberty in both cases. The desire for privacy is understood because in a sense it is a forced one-way intimacy; However, if it is two-way, then it is less likely to be forced. Besides, evil loves anonymity. The loss of anonymity (the same you would lose in a small town) is a small price to pay for the added security and freedom you gain from knowing the identity of everyone you see.

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By: Mark Lockie https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly#comment-178981 Tue, 03 Dec 2013 10:03:25 +0000 http://lifeboat.com/blog/?p=9170#comment-178981 I have seen facial recognition demonstrated on Google Glass — despite the ban. It is a “huge” way short of being able to do what you describe. Facial recognition in this sort of unconstrained environment would also be likely to produce a massive number of false positive hits, so stretching law enforcement to the limit. In terms of privacy I think we must be careful about being able to use such devices — especially if they become ubiquitous.

Niche applications could be a good idea, for instance at checkpoints where a person’s ability to use two hands is essential, but for the wider public there would need to be some robust safeguards.

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By: Ian Pearson https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly#comment-178979 Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:48:00 +0000 http://lifeboat.com/blog/?p=9170#comment-178979 Face recognition could certainly help somewhat in this particular problem. assuming that runaways are not disguising themselves and paedophiles are not aware of the system and therefore not hiding or disguising their victims. However, it is a false argument to suggest that we must choose either privacy or safety. Even if everyone were to be anonymous all the time, it is still possible to protect people. It is also wrong to assume that all runaways want to be found and protected. Do they have no right to stay hidden if that is their true desire? Can emergency services not be issued with licensed cameras to help with such problems if that’s what we think is appropriate? To use face recognition to identify paedophiles with minors would require extremely high reliability if many false positives are to be avoided.

However, the main objection is the level of potential abuse of face recognition. It won’t only be used by benign systems. Just sticking with ones directly relevant to this issue, any paedophile or slaver (many thousands of vulnerable people are held and hidden away as slaves) would also see which children are missing and without protection, or which adults are vulnerable, so this would increase the danger for missing children and vulnerable adults, not decrease it. It will also force any children who genuinely want to vanish to go to more extreme means.

In short, it can’t solve the problem, and could even make it worse. The other problems raised by face recognition stack on top of this, but even on this one the idea makes no sense and on this occasion, Google is right.

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By: Paul Wakfer https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly#comment-178975 Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:28:15 +0000 http://lifeboat.com/blog/?p=9170#comment-178975 A good article except that a penchant for privacy (except from government and its enforcers) is actually *not* individualistic, but rather simply short-range irrational. The long-range view of a true individualist is pride in one’s being and all one’s actions and desire for the positive or negative social preferencing by others which ensues. See my website for foundational details and its advanced technology section for my proposal for constant cloud recording of all of one’s entire environment whenever one is outside of one’s home.

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By: Chris Hennick https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly#comment-178974 Tue, 03 Dec 2013 04:53:55 +0000 http://lifeboat.com/blog/?p=9170#comment-178974 As a person with Asperger Syndrome, I need a face-recognition app to remember people I don’t know well. If Google Glass can’t have one, I no longer have a compelling reason to want Glass.

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By: David Brin https://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/12/googles-anti-facial-recognition-policy-for-glass-is-deadly#comment-178971 Tue, 03 Dec 2013 03:50:22 +0000 http://lifeboat.com/blog/?p=9170#comment-178971 I agree completely, as expressed in my nonfiction book: “The Transparent Society: Will Technology Make Us Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?” A ban on face registries is expected in the short term. But people will realize that soon, elites of government, wealth or criminality will have access anyway. Our only hope for freedom will come when we all can see as well as those elites can.

See:
http://www.scoop.it/t/the-transparent-society

With cordial regards,

David Brin
http://www.davidbrin.com
blog: http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/
twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidBrin

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