As if we needed to add any more urgency in our march to take back the reins of government this November…. this just crossed my desk via Mashable. A company, Clearview AI, has been scraping the internet for billions of images and identities and is quietly providing hundreds of law enforcement agencies with the ability to use even blurry pics to run down identities and criminal histories….. mashable.com/… has the NYT link as well.
They have also begun the process to link that with augmented -reality glasses [an unreleased prototype thus far] which would really bolster corporate and police power.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) staff attorney Nathan Freed Wessler spoke to that lax regulation. He wrote in an email statement, "This is a disturbing demonstration of the dangerous reality of face recognition technology today, and the urgent need for lawmakers to immediately halt law enforcement use of it." mashable.com/...
The temptation to weaponize this tech — especially in light of the Hate Igniter In Chief — is enormous…. DKossacks likely do not need to be reminded of the current push to quell public demonstration in this country by making them “illegal” …. and overseas we already see a too ready willingness by some governments to affix the label “terrorist” to any dissidents they find disquieting.
The Chinese version of this is already in place and has been used to keep a “social credit score” — the more points against you — for everything from felonies to participating in protests- the more privilege you lose: No airway travel, no nice schools for your kids, no bullet train tickets, etc….
The fact that Peter Thiel and a former Giulianni aide, Richard Schwartz are among the founder/backers of this enterprise certainly gives me zero comfort as to its future use in this country.
Folks- we will have our hands absolutely full as we try to stave off the Rethuglican push for power . I suspect even Masha Gessen would be surprised at how quickly her dire warnings are upon us