Welcome to the rise of the algocracy.
Police in Orlando, Florida, are using a powerful new tool to identify and track folks in real time. Video streams from four cameras located at police headquarters, three in the city’s downtown area, and one outside of a recreation center will be processed through Amazon’s Rekognition technology, which has been developed through deep learning algorithms trained using millions of images to identify and sort faces. The tool is astoundingly cheap: Orlando Police spent only $30.99 to process 30,989 images, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). For now the test involves only police officers who have volunteered for the trial.
But the company has big plans for the program. In a June meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Amazon Web Services pitched the tech as part of a system of mass surveillance that could identify and track unauthorized immigrants, their families, and their friends, according to records obtained by the Project on Government Oversight.
Once ICE develops the infrastructure for video surveillance and real-time biometric monitoring, other agencies, such as the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and local police, will no doubt argue that they should be able to access mass surveillance technologies too.
Amazon boasts the tool is already helping with everything from minimizing package theft to tracking down sex traffickers, and the company points to its terms of use, which prohibit illegal violations of privacy, to assuage fears.
Denne historien er fra January 2019-utgaven av Reason magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January 2019-utgaven av Reason magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Gimme Shelter - The U.S. confronts a growing homelessness problem. Does Miami have the answer?
The U.S. confronts a growing homelessness problem. Does Miami have the answer?
AI Is Coming for Hollywood's Jobs
But so is everyone else.
AI Can Do Paperwork Doctors Hate
With help from AI, doctors can focus on patients.
Antitrust May Smother the Power of AI
Left alone, AI could actually help small firms compete with tech giants.
A Brief, Biased History of the Culture Wars
THE FIRST PAR AGR APH of the book jacket lays it out: “There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past.
FAMILIES NEED A VIBE SHIFT
THE AUTHORS OF FOUR NEW BOOKSWITH 24 KIDS BETWEEN THEM-SAY THE AMERICAN FAMILY NEEDS A COURSE CORRECTION.
"The Past Is There To Teach Us What Can Happen'
Hardcore History's Dan Carlin on hero worship and moral assumptions in the study of the past
Cutting Off Israel
ENDING U.S. AID WOULD GIVE WASHINGTON LESS LEVERAGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THAT’S WHY IT’S WORTH DOING.
WHAT CAUSED THE D.C.CRIME WAVE?
GOVERNMENT MISMANAGEMENT, NOT SENTENCING REFORM OR SPARSE SOCIAL SPENDING, DESERVES THE BLAME.
States Turn Their Backs on Criminal Justice Reform
IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to avoid the “strange bedfellows” cliché when reading about the criminal justice reform movement in the 2010s.