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Orlando Police Decide To Keep Testing Controversial Amazon Facial Recognition Program (gizmodo.com) 46

Despite previous reports that the program has been ended, the Orlando Police Department in Florida is planning to continue its test of Amazon's real-time facial recognition system. "News of OPD supposedly ending its use of Rekognition on footage captured by a number of CCTV cameras came just a day after the ACLU sent a letter to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer regarding the face recognition program," reports Gizmodo. "But the end date for the initial pilot period had already been selected -- it just happened to coincide with the ACLU's report and the ensuing backlash from civil rights groups." From the report: While the original test period ended, the OPD will soon sit down with Amazon representatives to outline the new pilot, the police department told the Orlando Sentinel. "It's really to prevent the next tragedy," Orlando Police Chief John Mina said. Now, with the program set to continue, Dyer says the practice is not as dystopian as it seems.

Details on the new pilot are sparse. OPD confirmed it will test Rekognition on at least eight cameras, as it did before, though their location isn't known. In the previous trial program, five Rekognition-enabled cameras captured footage at OPD headquarters, while three additional cameras were positioned in downtown Orlando. During its initial testing phase, Rekognition will scan officers' faces against a face database made up of volunteers. The plan, the OPD memo explains, is for officers themselves to walk in front of the cameras and record how accurately the technology recognizes them from different angles, with different clothes, or other variables. It's not known how long this initial testing phase will last, though the city plans to draft proposed regulations before any public rollout begins. It's worth noting that pilot itself requires no public approval and Dyer has wholeheartedly supported Rekognition. "No images of the public will be used for any testing," OPD said in a statement.

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Orlando Police Decide To Keep Testing Controversial Amazon Facial Recognition Program

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  • I think I know how to defeat this system...

    Dickishly [alicdn.com]

  • An instant real time visual "DNA test" for criminal people.
    Feed the system with people who do crime and wait for them to wonder around out in the community.
    People who have stayed in the USA past their allowed date on their visa.
    Non citizens who are illegal migrants.
    Illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants who trying to use gov services.
    Criminals. Non-violent and violent trying to get ready to do more crime.
    Criminals from another part of the USA.
    Groups of people who then riot. Their local support str
    • This was sarcasm, right?
      • It included a fairly good list of what facial recognition could be used for if taken to extremes. The big question is whether or not you have the expectation of privacy when walking around in public.

    • An instant real time visual "DNA test" for criminal people.

      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.

      With much less crime, no dumping of trash on clean streets, no parked RV, no tent cities any city can then attract new jobs and investment.

      I'm just waiting for your modest proposal for what we should do with the homeless, who are currently at numbers not seen since the great depression.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • In principle I am in favor, but will this make us safer? I doubt it. They aren't going to arrest any dangerous criminals with this .. they will waste their time catching people with traffic citations. Think about it, who would YOU rather waste time arresting?

  • All your faces are belong to us.
  • This project isn't about improving the police, it's about spending "Other People's Money" on campaign contributors.

  • After all of whats happened, who is the program still continuing?

If all the world's economists were laid end to end, we wouldn't reach a conclusion. -- William Baumol

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