Facial Recognition: Not for LE and Intel Professionals? What? Hello, Reality Calling
July 30, 2018
I read “Facial Recognition Gives Police a Powerful New Tracking Tool. It’s Also Raising Alarms.” The write up is one of many pointing out that using technology to spot persons of interest is not a good idea. The Telegraph has a story which suggests that Amazon is having some doubts about its Rekognition facial recognition system. What? Hello, reality calling.
The “Raising Alarms” story makes this statement, obtained from an interview with an outfit called Kairos. I circled these statements:
“Time is winding down but it’s not too late for someone to take a stand and keep this from happening,” said Brian Brackeen, the CEO of the facial recognition firm Kairos, who wants tech firms to join him in keeping the technology out of law enforcement’s hands. Brackeen, who is black, said he has long been troubled by facial recognition algorithms’ struggle to distinguish faces of people with dark skin, and the implications of its use by the government and police. If they do get it, he recently wrote, “there’s simply no way that face recognition software will be not used to harm citizens.”
The write up points out:
Many law enforcement agencies — including the FBI, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and several departments in San Diego — have been using those databases for years, typically in static situations — comparing a photo or video still to a database of mug shots or licenses. Maryland’s system was used to identify the suspect who allegedly massacred journalists at the Capital Gazette newspaper last month in Annapolis and to monitor protesters following the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.
Yep, even the Hollywood gangster films have featured a victim flipping through a collection of mug shots. The idea is pretty simple. Bad actors who end up in a collection of mug shots are often involved in other crimes. Looking at images is one way for LE and intel professionals to figure out if there is a clue to be followed.
Now what’s the difference between having software look for matches? Software can locate similar fingerprints. Software can locate similar images, maybe even the image of the person who committed a crime. The idea of a 50 year old man robbed at an ATM flipping through images of bad actors in a Chicago police station is, from my point of view, a bridge too far. The 50 year old will either lose concentration or just point at some image and say, “Yeah, yeah, that looks like the guy.”
Let’s go with software because there are a lot of bad actors, there are some folks on Facebook who are bad actors, and there are bad actors wandering around in a crowd. Don’t believe me. Go to Rio, stay in a fancy hotel, and wander around on a Saturday night. How long before you are robbed? Maybe never, but maybe within 15 minutes. Give this test a try.
Software, like humans, makes errors. However, it seems to make sense to use available technology to take actions required by government rules and regulations. That means that big companies are going to chase government contracts. That means that stopping companies from providing facial recognition technology is pretty much impossible.
I would suggest that the barn is on fire, the horses have escaped, and Costco built a new superstore on the land. Well, maybe I will suggest that this has happened.
Facial recognition systems are tools which have been and will continue to be used. Today’s systems can be fooled. I showed a pair of glasses which can baffle most facial recognition systems in my DarkCyber video a couple of months ago.
The flaws in the algorithms will be improved slowly. The challenge of crowds, lousy lightning, disguises, hats, shadows, and the other impediments to higher accuracy will be reduced slowly and over time.
But let’s get down to basics: The facial recognition systems are here to stay. In the US, the UK, and most countries on the planet. Go to a small city in Ecuador. Guess what? There is a Chinese developed facial recognition system monitoring certain areas of most cities. Why? Flipping through a book with hundreds of thousands of images in an attempt to identify a suspect doesn’t work too well. Toss in Snapchat and YouTube. Software is the path forward. Period.
Facial recognition systems, despite their accuracy rates, provide a useful tool. Here’s the shocker. These systems have been around for decades. Remember the Rand Tablet. That was in the 1960s. Progress is being made.
Outrage is arriving a little late.
Stephen E Arnold, July 30, 2018
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3 Responses to “Facial Recognition: Not for LE and Intel Professionals? What? Hello, Reality Calling”
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