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U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

thehill.com

41–50 of 115 posts

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#41
post #30

Facial recognition tech could save so much time and money though. Imagine how many man hours would be saved if teachers no longer had to take attendance? Shoplifting would hit all time lows since you wouldn't be able to get away with it short of wearing a mask into the store.

As far as I can tell the core axiom of privacy activism is that it's a given that the trade is not worth it. It's why so much of the digital privacy movement is people who don't live in bad neighborhoods.

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. What one expects != what one thinks is right. 2. I suppose you would be ok, then, with a police officer tailing you everywhere you go, recording everything you do, everywhere you go, everything you say, and to whom, peering in the windows of your home if you forget to keep your blinds drawn? Just in case that information happens to be useful to a government at some point in the future?

Yep, and its also not a reasonable thing to say "If you go outside you accept total surveillance." Since going outside is a requirement for life. I find it acceptable that if I go outside I might get caught on some store security camera and that video sits on a hard drive for a week and then gets written over but I do not find it acceptable that the store camera recognizes my face and stores my presence in an easily…

Yeah, "find it acceptable" is good verbiage.

There seems to be a lot of conflation on this subject between "expectation of privacy" in the practical sense and "expectation of privacy" in the legal sense. Like, you'd better fuckin believe I expect not to be followed by cops or secret agents everywhere I go. I expect it on the persistence forecast basis and because I understand that it's practically impossible to allocate manpower in that way, assuming they don't think I've done anything wrong in particular.

I also expect that the government, local and federal both, will try to erode my effective privacy in any and every way they can afford and get away with.

None of that has much to do with e.g. the fact that legally, if a cop peers in my window and sees bales of cocaine stacked on the floor of my living room, or whatever, he can come in and take them from me and arrest me.

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#44
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Way to miss the point. The invention of the bulldozer didn't change property rights.

Our existing laws and ideas of privacy were build based on the limitations of the current tech. Yes you could take a photo of a random person in public but it wasn't very useful or harmful to do so. Now we have supercharged spyware tech we have the ability to cause a lot of harm without being in violation of any existing laws because such a thing simply wasn't possible previously.

Citation needed. Current laws predate the invention of such fundamental technology as the camera, never mind video recording.

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#45
post #2

Good but don't exempt the government. Many local cities are building out vast networks. Including my very own Miami Beach Police Department.

Every thread with privacy debates make me more and more curious about what kind of things HN users want/need to hide so bad from the public ;)

Maybe they own goog stocks in secret.

Edit: this isn't serious.

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#46
Title is somewhat misleading, although not intentionally so:

> The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), an independent agency, is coming under increasing pressure to recommend the federal government stop using facial recognition.

The PCLOB exists to advise the government on compliance with civil liberties and privacy principles, not to recommend bans on private activities. This proposal would only restrict federal agencies, not third parties--unlike proposals by the EU which would ban private data processors and companies.

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#47
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is none? Anyone can walk up to you on the street and take your picture.

And I'd be fine with that whenever that would happen by a person organically making the decision to do so.

Next gig economy job/alternate reality game: public surveillance

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#48
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was around when the emissions rules were less strict. If you compare the air back then vs today you see quickly that environmental regulations were a big success. Companies fought them tooth and nail at every step but the rules worked.

Certainly true, but the regulations VW violated went into force in 2009. We're not talking about the smog era.

We still have plenty of unnncessary smog. This is not over.

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#49
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't really work for corporations. (See: Dieselgate). They don't get caught for years, if ever.

Then that needs to be fixed. We can’t just accept that companies are above the law.

So, kind of tying back to earlier ideas.. the government should regulate effectively... a major source is "off road" engines like lawn mowers.

Diesel cars are not. (Trucks yes, but as ever ever those standards are far laxer)

Re: U.S. Gov Privacy Watchdog Under Pressure to Recommend Facial Recognition Ban

#50
post #30

Facial recognition tech could save so much time and money though. Imagine how many man hours would be saved if teachers no longer had to take attendance? Shoplifting would hit all time lows since you wouldn't be able to get away with it short of wearing a mask into the store.

Students? You're proposing we track students? It says something that the first example that's used (not just you, I've seen it many times elsewhere, too) is that we track the only group of people who by-and-large cannot consent, and not only that, but in a way that has permanent implications for their right to privacy.

Further, the idea of facial recognition being used in every store is atrocious. Not only can they track you online, now advertisers and the government can track your offline spending habits and location at all times, too!

Why hasn't anyone proposed a use for facial recognition that isn't:

1. Useless (like it is in iOS)

2. Completely scummy (like it is in both of your examples)

3. Using it to increase surveillance on populations that cannot legally offer consent in any way, in areas that they're forced to go to?

I kind of expect it here on HN, given how large of a proportion of adtech and other surveillance-oriented employees there are here, but I see it everywhere, and it's just confounding.

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