
We underestimate the threat of facial recognition technology at our peril - rapnie
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/17/we-underestimate-the-threat-of-facial-recognition-technology-at-our-peril
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rapnie
Taken from the comments (a Guardian pick):

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" Parliament should refuse to expand its use until the government can
demonstrate it won’t be used to violate human rights or turn us all into
criminal suspects."

Which obviously they will not and cannot do. The problem with these types of
laws and systems- is that even if you 'trust' the government that installs
them (you shouldn't)- you may not be able to trust the next government. They
call it 'turn key' tyranny. The idea being that their is a system in place-
and all it will take is for a fascist authoritarian government to come to
power and 'turn the key'\- using this mass surveillance to control,
intimidate, police, terrorise, imprison, or kill their enemies.

In this context the technology can be likened to Pandoras Box. Once it has
been opened it cannot be closed. Also- it is potentially so powerful that it
will prove irresistible to an entire class of Authoritarians and Corporate
interests.

As AI evolves, linked with these mass surveillance technologies- we face a
future worse than Gattaca- a place where the machines can see if you are
depressed, antisocial, lying, or just conscientiously objecting to an immoral
government. You can be denied a job- merely because of your facial expression-
and you will never know or be told what happened. Once this type of power gets
into the hands of corporations they could deny you insurance based on your
'personality profile' or 'disease markers' they read off your face... and you
will never know it's happened.

And NONE of this is new: in the 1960's ASIO routinely vetted applicants for
jobs at the ABC and denied them- on the basis of their political affiliations
or activism- and the applicants were never told- and had no right of reply.
These types of powers have been abused in the past- and they will be abused in
the future.

As we saw in the USA- many many people in Government were happy to approve
such mass surveillance- and denounce Snowden for revealing the extent of such
programs- right up until the point they found out that they themselves had
been targeted. Suddenly they developed a belief int he right to privacy.

With systems like this in place- the machines and databases themselves will
make resistance useless- as we will all potentially be blackmailed by our own
data. All will fear that the power can be turned on them- and all will be
silenced. Self-policing: the Pa-Opticon dystopian dream made reality.

And any fool who says only those with something to hide have something to
fear: recall that ASIO has been given the power in Australia to go into
someone computer and implant documents and data covertly- and that any
journalists who reports on such an action faces years in prison. That's right:
In Australia ASIO has the power to plant evidence!

They will say- it is only to be used against the 'terrorists and pedophiles'
so we mustn't worry our little heads... which brings me back to Turn key
Tyranny...

The only question left is: has the Key already been Turned?

