The onward march of facial recognition tech

[Rob Ray]

Thought I'd start this to keep a general track (and because it's a better use of my time than indulging Staker), now that mask wearing has declined and roll-out seems likely to accelerate.

Prior related threads: San Fran cam ban (2019) | 50% of US adults in facial recognition databases (2016)

Potted timeline

2017

• Met police trial at Notting Hill Carnival [2]
• South Wales Police use FR at public events in Cardiff
• Concerns raised about use by TfL
• Use of FR defined as an "operational decision" for police forces, bypassing Parliamentary scrutiny

2018

• Misidentification of young black man at Stratford, London by Met system
• Manchester Police secretly trial Trafford mass surveillance system

2019

• FR use surges across private sector in US
• Big Brother Watch investigation finds FR being used by major property developers, shopping centres, museums, conference centres and casinos in UK

2020

• Sports stadiums begin takeup of FR
• Met announces intent to roll out FR in London

2021

• FR introduced into school canteens in Ayrshire

2022

• Surveillance Camera Code of Practice update recommends human oversight, "strong justification of necessity," and compliance with data protection guidelines when using FR
• Big Brother Watch launches legal complaint over Southern Co-op's use of FR across 35 stores
• College of Policing outlines formal guidance on FR
• The Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner eviscerates "sinister" CoP guidance
• Met sets up FR in Oxford Circus
• Qatar is first fully FR-surveilled World Cup
• Ada Lovelace Institute review finds existing laws across human rights, privacy and equality are "inadequate", calls for moratorium on all FR use
• Cambridge University study concurs, noting live facial recognition tech breaks ethical standards and human rights laws
• Nearly half of all forces report using some form of facial recognition tech

2023

• Feb: Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner warns [pdf] that Surveillance Camera Code of Practice (2022) - the only attempt thus far to provide a best practice list for FR - is about to be effectively dropped as a result of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, with nothing to replace it. Warns police are not being transparent with its use and are overreaching by suggesting its use to track witnesses as well as suspects, also notes that police themselves could be doxxed using similar methods. Finds main data protection focus by government is inadequate.

Useful general links:

Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner

The Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s role is to encourage compliance with the surveillance camera code of practice. BSCC is an independent monitoring body of the Home Office .

www.gov.uk

Blog — Big Brother Watch

Explore all of the current and past privacy and civil liberties news: latest articles, press releases, videos, podcast and much more.

bigbrotherwatch.org.uk

 

[Rob Ray]

JFC what fresh hell is this?

Campaigners urge London food banks to end use of face scans

Exclusive: Charity that runs five distribution hubs has been told it is wrong to ‘trade sensitive biometric data for food’

www.theguardian.com

This is what the "government are coming for your freedoms" crowd should be obsessing over, but no it's all 15-minute cities fantasising while actual straightforward biometric databasing of the poor goes totally unheeded because it doesn't affect them personally. Fucking "Face Donate," barely a half-step from "sorry you can't come in the shop, you were scanned at the door and found to be a theft risk." Cunts.

 

[Dystopiary]

The system also allows food banks to see a user’s shopping receipts, to show for example if someone is buying a lot of confectionery and few vegetables. That means in principle they could offer the user advice if they were concerned about the pattern of purchases.

The co-founder of Face Donate, Alexandr Kulakov, said this would be done in the spirit of “there’s no judgment, but perhaps we can offer you some help”.

Just had a look at that guy's linkdin and don't see what qualifies him to make that decision - not that anything would, to be clear, but I mean he doesn't seem to have any background in eg, social care. I find it all very concerning to say the least.

“It is true that we could look at the receipts, but we don’t,” said Pat Fitzsimons, the chief executive of Hackney Foodbank. “We don’t have the capacity. We’re completely inundated with people needing food.”

Thanks for putting this thread together Rob Ray.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

The consequences and limitations of letting AI take over:

Police Facial Recognition Technology Can't Tell Black People Apart

Credit: Steffi Loos/Getty Images

Imagine being handcuffed in front of your neighbors and family for stealing watches. After spending hours behind bars, you learn that the facial recognition software state police used on footage from the store identified you as the thief. But you didn’t steal anything; the software pointed cops to the wrong guy.

Unfortunately this is not a hypothetical. This happened three years ago to Robert Williams, a Black father in suburban Detroit. Sadly Williams’ story is not a one-off. In a recent case of mistaken identity, facial recognition technology led to the wrongful arrest of a Black Georgian for purse thefts in Louisiana.

Our research supports fears that facial recognition technology (FRT) can worsen racial inequities in policing. We found that law enforcement agencies that use automated facial recognition disproportionately arrest Black people. We believe this results from factors that include the lack of Black faces in the algorithms’ training data sets, a belief that these programs are infallible and a tendency of officers’ own biases to magnify these issues.

Police Facial Recognition Technology Can't Tell Black People Apart

AI-powered facial recognition will lead to increased racial profiling

www.scientificamerican.com

This has been predicted for a while. The data being fed to AI isn't evenly distributed so you're going to get blind spots that resemble the same blind spots are the rest of society.

 

[skyscraper101]

I just wish they'd pull their finger out and introduce it on the tube and in shops so I don't have to keep getting my phone out to pay for things.

 

[Rob Ray]

Home Office secretly backs facial recognition technology to curb shoplifting

Covert government strategy to install electronic surveillance in shops raises issues around bias and data, and contrasts sharply with the EU ban to keep AI out of public spaces

www.theguardian.com

Shops are the heart of our communities, so bosses should be allowed to monitor your every movement and add you to their database for constant stalking. For the greater good

 

[Rob Ray]

Summary piece on what's what and what you should do about facial recognition cameras at protests, from Big Brother Watch via Netpol:

https://netpol.org/2023/07/31/facial-recognition-at-protests/

 

[Rob Ray]

Impressive that the Graun does this entire piece without mentioning which firms Facewatch is working with:

Revealed: Home Office secretly lobbied for facial recognition ‘spy’ company

Officials reflected policing minister’s enthusiasm to roll out controversial technology across the country, particularly in retail settings

www.theguardian.com

For reference in case you don't fancy adding to databases:

• Budgens
• Southern Coop
• Spar
• Costcutter
• Eat17
• Frasers Group (Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Flannels etc)
• Whitehall
• QD
• Londis

 

[Rob Ray]

I wrote a thing, as there's been a bunch of new interlocking Big Ideas brought up recently:

Stamped on a human facial recognition database, forever - Freedom News

Rob Ray writes on proposals to roll out facial recognition cameras across Britain, alongside the bringing of passport photos into police databases.

freedomnews.org.uk

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I wrote a thing, as there's been a bunch of new interlocking Big Ideas brought up recently:

Stamped on a human facial recognition database, forever - Freedom News

Rob Ray writes on proposals to roll out facial recognition cameras across Britain, alongside the bringing of passport photos into police databases.

freedomnews.org.uk

I mean I agree, but I think we're safe for a while yet. Like any UK government IT project they will probably fuck it up. It will take longer, be massively over budget and only deliver a fraction of what's promised.

 

[Aladdin]

I wear an n95 mask if I have to go into a shop ..(very rare for me)
Bonus for me then in the facial recognition failure stakes

 

[Throbbing Angel]

And in Booths supermarkets now

Privacy & Cookies Policy (Customer Promise) | Booths Supermarket

Use of Website(s) Booths Food to Order Booths Everyday Click & Collect Booths Card Online Customer Satisfaction Survey and Prize Draw Standard

www.booths.co.uk

near the bottom of that page

 

[GarveyLives]

"An anti-knife crime activist has launched a legal challenge against the Metropolitan Police after he was threatened with arrest due to a mistake by live facial recognition technology. Shaun Thompson, who volunteers with the Street Fathers youth outreach group, described the system as 'stop and search on steroids' following his 20-minute detention at London Bridge station in February ..."

(Source: Big Brother Watch)​

Anti-knife activist brings legal challenge to Metropolitan Police after he's detained in facial recognition failure

 

[ddraig]

Some detail here, thanks Pickman's model for posting in another thread

Video doorbells, CCTV, facial recognition: how the police tracked UK rioters

Using an array of technology and intelligence tools, police are hopeful of tracking down key perpetrators, even those who were masked

www.theguardian.com

Olisa, who was borough commander for Haringey in north London after the 2011 riots, said the volume of video had grown hugely since the disorder and looting that followed the death of Mark Duggan in Tottenham.

“You’ve got local authority CCTV, traffic CCTV, lots of business premises have it now, and the public has video doorbells,” he said. “That makes it easier for police to collect evidence and present evidence in court. People who have previous convictions will be in the Police National Computer.

“There will be masses of them. You’ve also got some officers who’ve got a brilliant memory for faces – the super-recognisers.”

Those wearing balaclavas or masks may feel safer, but Olisa said they could be detected by association. “You might have half a dozen young men and five are masked up and one isn’t. If you can find that one, say on the police database, then you can work your way back.”

 

[Wkdloz]

Like it or lump it - its here to stay and worse things will probably follow..

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

Like it or lump it - its here to stay and worse things will probably follow..

Yes. Musn’t grumble. It’s the British way. We are proud of being duped since forever.