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China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

techcrunch.com

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Re: China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

#171

Post by jaclaz »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #64
cimi_ wrote: post #46

Setting who wants to do this aside in order to avoid the constant 'X is worse than Y' arguments. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that in a near future we will have cameras that can do much more than identification on a massive scale. It may be easy to track things like how stressed, healthy, sober etc. people are without their consent or without them even noticing. And this would be precise , not speculativ…

Yup. Think about how you can recognize your friends without even seeing their face, by the way they walk, what they wear, how tall they are, and other contextual clues. Computers will be able to do all of that. Also think about other things that only computers with massive amounts of data will be able to do. Computers will be able to enumerate your wardrobe, your possessions. They'll be able to figure out most of the…

>Think about how you can recognize your friends without even seeing their face, by the way they walk, what they wear, how tall they are, and other contextual clues.

Yep, but think also how many times you approached a friend from behind and patted him/her on the back only to realize that you just patted a perfect stranger?

I have no particular problem to believe that one's gait is "distinctive", but quite a few in believing that that particular stroll is "unique".

Re: China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

#174

Post by cimi_ »

informatimago wrote: post #163
cimi_ wrote: post #46

Setting who wants to do this aside in order to avoid the constant 'X is worse than Y' arguments. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that in a near future we will have cameras that can do much more than identification on a massive scale. It may be easy to track things like how stressed, healthy, sober etc. people are without their consent or without them even noticing. And this would be precise , not speculativ…

What kind of world? When you hypothesize a world where AI uses cameras everywhere to know everything they can about everybody, you haven't characterized that world at all. First, IS IT REALLY EVERYBODY? (But let's assume for now, it's really everybody). The question that will characterize the kind of world, is what is done with that information. You can choose to use it to oppress and repress people; or you could use…

I understand the point you are trying to make, and maybe I am too pessimistic when thinking that the negative outcomes are more likely to happen on large scale than the positive ones.

I think 'who holds the power?' is a good lens to try to judge this through. Unless there is a major shift in how humans relate to the World, I think unleashing this power is dangerous.

Edit: typo

Re: China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

#175

Post by cglace »

cglace wrote: post #15
otto2 wrote: post #2

This will cause people to start walking on the street in the same way as Fremen in Frank Herbert's Dune, by varying frequency and step length in order not to attract a (government) worm.

Or just put a rock in your shoe.

I don't know why this is being downvoted. It's an actual strategy used by the CIA to change walking patterns to avoid detection.

Re: China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

#176

Post by pasbesoin »

Remember a decade or so ago when the U.S. military was icing Middle Eastern "terr'ist" targets based upon gait analysis?

Well, now it's you. And also, once again, brought to "the world" by China. (Maybe they'll sell it along side of or as an add-on to their Great Firewall turnkey systems.)

I remember viewing a few of those old video segments (drone- and plane-based platforms) and feeling pretty nervous.

Re: China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

#177

Post by Konnstann »

informatimago wrote: post #163
cimi_ wrote: post #46

Setting who wants to do this aside in order to avoid the constant 'X is worse than Y' arguments. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that in a near future we will have cameras that can do much more than identification on a massive scale. It may be easy to track things like how stressed, healthy, sober etc. people are without their consent or without them even noticing. And this would be precise , not speculativ…

What kind of world? When you hypothesize a world where AI uses cameras everywhere to know everything they can about everybody, you haven't characterized that world at all. First, IS IT REALLY EVERYBODY? (But let's assume for now, it's really everybody). The question that will characterize the kind of world, is what is done with that information. You can choose to use it to oppress and repress people; or you could use…

You can extrapolate based on what's being done with the information that people are gathering now. Targeted advertisements, intrusive employee surveillance in places like Amazon warehouses or the TSA, to name some instances I've personally read about. How about buying data to target political ads?

Almost every tracking method or tool that has been created is used by businesses to exploit me as much as possible, so why should I believe that further developments would be used any differently?

Re: China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

#178

Post by reeves23423 »

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #84
cimi_ wrote: post #46

Setting who wants to do this aside in order to avoid the constant 'X is worse than Y' arguments. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that in a near future we will have cameras that can do much more than identification on a massive scale. It may be easy to track things like how stressed, healthy, sober etc. people are without their consent or without them even noticing. And this would be precise , not speculativ…

This kind of world gets built by some people who are excited to work towards this goal, but also by a much larger group of people for whom meeting their daily needs outweighs the abstract, distant drawbacks that they can pretend to rationalize away. It will be built through economic coercion appealing to their livelihoods, and the impacts will be perceived as externalities. Incidentally, this is the same way most of…

Good Analysis. What is the optional thing a 2x programmer can do now to stop if possible or atleaset delay such a totalitarian regime to happen ?

Re: China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

#179

Post by reeves23423 »

cimi_ wrote: post #174
informatimago wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of world? When you hypothesize a world where AI uses cameras everywhere to know everything they can about everybody, you haven't characterized that world at all. First, IS IT REALLY EVERYBODY? (But let's assume for now, it's really everybody). The question that will characterize the kind of world, is what is done with that information. You can choose to use it to oppress and repress people; or you could use…

I understand the point you are trying to make, and maybe I am too pessimistic when thinking that the negative outcomes are more likely to happen on large scale than the positive ones. I think 'who holds the power?' is a good lens to try to judge this through. Unless there is a major shift in how humans relate to the World, I think unleashing this power is dangerous. Edit: typo

>I think 'who holds the power?' is a good lens to try to judge this through.

Eventually some one with bad intentions will end in power even if started with a pretty good guy(Example: US president start and end). Its better to think of the worst and place the checks at the earliest (like the constitution)

Re: China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk

#180

Post by LMYahooTFY »

onychomys wrote: post #63
LMYahooTFY wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have evidence to back up any of that? China doesn't have near the surveillance infrastructure that the US government does outside of China. The simple fact that China has more citizens to surveil does not mean China is conducting surveillance on a larger scale.

The parent article starts with "China is home to the world’s largest network of CCTV cameras — more than 170 million...", so apparently they really are conducting surveillance on the largest scale.

I don't think the number of CCTV cameras is the only relevant metric...
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