As pressure mounts to stop the alleged rise of “domestic terror” the U.S. government and law enforcement are increasing their use of facial recognition technology. As TLAV previously reported, facial recognition is quickly becoming the most pressing threat to privacy, and the Trump administration is setting the stage for a Biden Surveillance State. I noted Read More...
The Biden Administration is set to inherit a massive facial recognition infrastructure which was set into motion by the Trump administration. In November, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) proposed a new rule that will exponentially expand the use of facial recognition surveillance at the border. The rule is now being opposed by several Read More...
By now it is no secret that COVID-19 is being used to justify profiteering, power grabs, and the incremental decimation of our right to privacy.
A team from the University of Harrisburg, PA, has developed automated computer facial recognition software that they claim can predict with 80 percent accuracy and “no racial bias” whether a person is likely going to be a criminal, purely by looking at a picture of them. “By automating the identification of potential threats without bias, our aim is to produce tools for crime prevention, law enforcement, and military applications,” they said, declaring that they were looking for “strategic partners” to work with to implement their product.
National police forces of 10 EU member states are calling to create a system of interlinked facial recognition databases in addition to Prüm, the EU-wide database-cross-referencing system that already allows for all-at-once scanning of individual DNA, fingerprint, and vehicle registration databases.
The chances for those seeking a world of solitude are rapidly run out. A good case can be made that this has already happened. Aldous Huxley’s Savage, made famous in Brave New World, is out of options, having lost to the Mustapha Monds of the world. State and corporate regulation of life, surveillance and monitoring, are reviled only in the breach. And, like Mond, we are told that it is all for the better.
The act of Palestinian activists covering their faces during anti-Israeli occupation rallies is an old practice that spans decades. The masking of the face, often by Kufyias – traditional Palestinian scarves that grew to symbolize Palestinian resistance – is far from being a fashion statement. Instead, it is a survival technique, without it, activists are likely to be arrested in subsequent nightly raids; at times, even assassinated.
