European Parliament Calls for a Ban on Facial Recognition

The subtitle is also important: Non-binding resolution also asks for AI-based predictive policing ban.

AI, by its complexity and opacity should not be used to profile people. Just because it could be so easily manipulated.

I have mixed feelings over this. As a recent victim of crime (burglary and robbery) I know there is nothing the police can do about it even though the robber was caught on tape. There is a lot of crime that goes unpunished that contributes heavily to morale of the honest part of the population and their belief in the system. Why work when some thugs can take your staff for free and won't even be bothered by police over it.

I mean if I am spending better part of my life working and giving away huge % of what I make to the government the least I could expect is said government having resources to catch the bad guys. I am in lucky position that the crime won't affect me much. It's a significant sum of money and a lot of days spent fixing stuff, worrying about security etc. I can't start to imagine how demoralizing it must be for someone who losses years of savings in a burglary and that's not even a stretch to imagine if they go for a few nice things you have (like say a nice mountain bike or skiing equipment).

I find the attitude of ignoring "petty crime" very worrying. I think the cost of it is underestimated. If we can use technology to catch the bad guys let's try it. As an honest working tax payer the government has all my data anyway and can get phone records to pinpoint my location most of the time. I don't care that much anymore. I do care about being safe though. As long as the cameras are in public places and not on private properties it's not such a big hit to privacy anyway.

right - your real and legitimate feelings of being vulnerable individually are a basic ingredient to a society-wide "sea change" in public life.

First to say, feelings are real and you have spoken your truth in public, yes on that. However, "compliance !== safety" What if you are being tracked overall, others are too, then someone breaks into your flat while you are out dining, and then nothing happens to help you, for whatever reasons. Public life is altered forever by tech yet, your problem is not solved. There have been surveillance cameras for decades in Britain, is everything OK now? or, do you want to compare the modern society in China as a goalpost?

>I find the attitude of ignoring "petty crime" very worrying

Ironically I think petty crimes are much more impactful personally than say political corruption/bribery.

If you find out that your politicians received bribe/corrupt personally you don't feel it immediately. It's not like your tax amount suddenly increasing to cater the corruption.

Petty crimes on the other hand are much more direct in impact. Personal property/Money loss, that feeling of "why me", terror, etc.

My guess is that "opacity" is referring to implementations, while "complexity" is referring to the effects. "Totally clear and simple technologies" is referring to just the implementation.

We don't want to get involved with AI because of the complex issues it opens, not because the current implementations are complex.