Facial recognition, once a battlefield tool, lands in San Diego County

link

Well here we go. Once this pandoras box is opened. It will be near impossible to put it back in.
And btw if the cops have this now. For sure the NSA has had this for years now.
I wonder what the legality will be of this. Can the cops just walk up to you and say let me take your picture?
And what if the cops just put cameras everywhere with this software on it. If the camera gets a hit can they come after you?

It's a can o worms.

On a residential street in San Diego County, Calif., Chula Vista police had just arrested a young woman, still in her pajamas, for possession of narcotics. Before taking her away, Officer Rob Halverson paused in the front yard, held a Samsung Galaxy tablet up to the woman’s face and snapped a photo.

Halverson fiddled with the tablet with his index finger a few times, and – without needing to ask the woman’s name or check her identification – her mug shot from a previous arrest, address, criminal history and other personal information appeared on the screen.

Halverson had run the woman's photograph through the Tactical Identification System, a new mobile facial recognition technology now in the hands of San Diego-area law enforcement. In an instant, the system matches images taken in the field with databases of about 348,000 San Diego County arrestees. The system itself has nearly 1.4 million booking photos because many people have multiple mug shots on record.

The little-known program could become the largest expansion of facial recognition technology by U.S. law enforcement. Amid an international debate over collecting and sharing huge amounts of data on the public, this pilot program is putting that metadata to use in the field in real time.

reply to post by grey580

I'm just going to wear one of these from now on:


That shouldnt arouse any suspicion, right?

But yah, just like the LRAD, biometric scans and door to door gun confiscations, its all been tested overseas, specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Slowly but surely, its all showing up stateside.

The first step to safeguarding our own freedoms is to first ensure that our government isn't allowed to trample on the freedoms of others.

Your Local Cops Now Use Iraq’s Iris Scanners.

How's this work as people age? Cuz people in San Diego County age REALLY fast here. I've had people guess I'm 20 years younger than I am, because everyone else my age around here look like prunes. I've recently arrived after most of a lifetime spent in the NE under layers of winter clothes...

I wonder how many of the people with arrest records in SDC have only violated idiotic drug war laws? Probably at least half have done nothing more sinister than Pursue Happiness with a little Freedom on the side. Guess in the Land of Flagwavers, that's not allowed.

reply to post by grey580


any one can take your picture in a public place . the police have no special right - but conversely - no prohibitions

PS how is it a problem that the police can instantly identify that you have a prior conviction ?

grey580
And btw if the cops have this now. For sure the NSA has had this for years now.

Tablets with cameras on them? They've been around a while now. Mobile phones have had cameras on them a lot longer. Even wifi or cloud enabled cameras exist. I would expect the nsa has had cameras for a long time.

Facial recognition has been a concept sine the 60's. I think many places use facial recognition. Even the NSA, not sure that they hide the fact if they do.

Sending photos to a back end server for processing? Done all the time.

Yeah, safe to assume people have had the ability to take a photo with a camera, send it to a back end server and run it through facial recognition software, for a long time now.

?

reply to post by ignorant_ape


It's not.
However this brings up the murky possibility that you are now trackable.
Now imagine some creepy cop stalking some really hot girl and showing up where ever she goes.
Or if a cop wants to exact revenge upon you.
He can know where you are via camera hit.

While it's not a problem per se. And I don't see it as an issue when it's used properly.
I do have an issue that it could be abused.

Everyone should be concerned. Especially after the anal probing incident recently.