Smile - You are on camera!!
London is activating Facial
Recognition. This article says:
“Live facial recognition cameras will
be deployed across London, with the city’s Metropolitan Police announcing today
that the technology has moved past the trial stage and is ready to be permanently
integrated into everyday policing.
“The cameras will be placed in
locations popular with shoppers and tourists, like Stratford’s Westfield
shopping center and the West End, reports BBC News. Each camera will scan for
faces contained in watch lists, which the Met says will predominantly contain
individuals wanted for serious and violent offenses.”
“When the camera flags an individual,
police officers will approach and ask them to verify their identity. If they’re
on the watch list, they’ll be arrested. “This is a system which simply gives
police officers a ‘prompt’, suggesting ‘that person over there maybe the
person you’re looking for,’” said the Metropolitan police in a press release.
“Operational use of the cameras will
only last for five or six hours at a time, says BBC News, but the Met makes
clear that the use of this technology is to be the new normal in London.”
*****
Some other cities (San Francisco in
particular) have debated facial recognition - and declined to implement
it. Privacy experts suggest this is an invasion of privacy.
Like many issues - there are two sides
to this issue. Crime and terrorism could be curbed through facial recognition.
Known criminals could be identified and questioned and possibly
apprehended. Safety for the citizens is important.
London, in recent years, has suffered
from terrorist attacks. It has become a political issue as one of the
British political parties have blamed one of the other parties of being ‘soft’
on terrorism.
Facial recognition has been around for
a few years - and gradually getting better. The concepts are that a
person’s basic face is like fingerprints - so grow (or shave) a beard; dye your
hair, add weight or lose weight the points on a face are still unique.
To humans, beard, dyed hair and different clothes will probably pass as a
different person. To computers with the
facial recognition software, the person is fully identified.
In effect, with enough computer power,
every human could be traced through facial recognition. The man with his
mistress could be identified for the wife.
The child playing hooky from school could be identified. The
person selling drugs on the street corner can be identified.
Civil liberty advocates want privacy
(and privacy over security). If a woman is escaping from an abusive
relationship (with a policeman), she could be found. The concept of ‘what I do
with my time is my own business’ is being trumped by the concept of identifying
potential safety, terrorist and dangerous issues before they
happen.
While I don’t do anything wrong (or
anything that is majorly wrong - whatever that means), I could be identified as
being in “the right place at the wrong time” and called in to testify.
Like the various red-light cameras that identify drivers who run the red
lights, this will keep people safe. But,
there have been (ahh) a few times, when maybe (just maybe), I entered an
intersection on yellow that (ahh) became red as I was in the middle of the
intersection.
So, security versus freedom again are
at odds with each other. If a person wants to have a tryst with a lover
on the sly, facial recognition could make that tryst public.
How do you feel about this issue?
For freedom of movement, go where you want to go - when you want to go - and
not worry about being on camera - or be watched wherever you go.
As the novel 1984 suggested “Big
Brother is Watching You”!!!
Hugs!!
Karen
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