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Police in Several US Cities Used Facial Recognition To Hunt Down and Arrest Protesters (arstechnica.com) 254

An anonymous reader quotes Ars Technica: Law enforcement in several cities, including New York and Miami, have reportedly been using controversial facial recognition software to track down and arrest individuals who allegedly participated in criminal activity during Black Lives Matter protests months after the fact. Miami police used Clearview AI to identify and arrest a woman for allegedly throwing a rock at a police officer during a May protest, local NBC affiliate WTVJ reported this week...

Similar reports have surfaced from around the country in recent weeks. Police in Columbia, South Carolina, and the surrounding county likewise used facial recognition, though from a different vendor, to arrest several protesters after the fact, according to local paper The State. Investigators in Philadelphia also used facial recognition software, from a third vendor, to identify protestors from photos posted to Instagram, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

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Police in Several US Cities Used Facial Recognition To Hunt Down and Arrest Protesters

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  • Finally! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by haunebu ( 16326 )

    Sick of these entitled crybabies ruining our cities.

    • Re:Finally! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @02:26AM (#60431123)

      There is a big difference between using FR to identify a known criminal, and using FR to scan crowds of mostly innocent people.

      In this case, the police have photos of rioters and need to ID them. I don't see a problem with that. They should be identified. FR just makes the process more efficient.

      • Sure, but now these poor snowflakes who have their mugs all over FB modelling the latest fashion accessories, can never toss a rock or a molov coktail at police, since they will be identified. That is so unfair. Their parents were allowed to to have summers of love protesting jumping on police cars and burning down schools. These poor neglected and deprived children cannot do the same and are missing out on a key part of the American dream.
    • Re:Finally! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mrwireless ( 1056688 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @05:23AM (#60431391)

      The issue here are the chilling effects this could have on protesting in general. There are many times where society deems a protest justified, but politics does not. In those cases, knowing that it's no longer possible to protest anonomously could make people fearful of repercussions, and thus less likely to protest.

      When people are less willing to fight injustice, society suffers.

      • Agreed. But the arrested "protesters" were throwing rocks at the cops. That's not peaceful protest, that's violence. In plenty of other places they'd have been shot. On balance, I'll come down on the side of FR although the potential for abuse is clear and should be subject to scrutiny..

    • Same here.. Over 90 days of "protesting". Gimme a break!

      Who wants to visit Seattle or Portland? I won't get near the place because the police aren't allowed to maintain law and order in those cities.

      I have zero sympathy for their cause. They've protested way too long to be constructive. They are destructive.

  • Erm, "protesters"? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Orgasmatron ( 8103 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @12:46AM (#60430983)

    The headline says "protesters", but the summary describes people who would normally be classified as "rioters". It mentions "individuals who allegedly participated in criminal activity", including "throwing a rock at a police officer".

    The Philadelphia Inquirer article? Smashed a cop car.

    The South Carolina article? Arson, robbery, rioting, etc.

    Actual protesters tracked or arrested by facial recognition? I think zero, or very close to zero.

    • by _Sharp'r_ ( 649297 ) <sharper@TWAINboo ... com minus author> on Sunday August 23, 2020 @01:04AM (#60431027) Homepage Journal

      Agrred. A better headline: "Police use facial recognition to find and arrest criminals".

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Only if you believe the police. We have seen them lying about this stuff repeatedly. Standard advice when interacting with a cop is not to say anything because they could twist it into a charge. If you do anything to slightly inconvenience them, like asking if you are free to go, that's "resisting arrest".

        Did a judge approve putting people on the facial recognition database or can the police just put anyone they like on there, brutalize them and lock them up for a bit and then drop any potential charges? Or

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Kohath ( 38547 )

      Actual protesters tracked or arrested by facial recognition? I think zero, or very close to zero.

      Because why would the police bother? It's extra work, and protesting is completely legal, and they're obviously using video as evidence which would only show the person is not guilty of anything illegal.

    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @01:17AM (#60431057)
      on the condition that they no longer protest. There's a video out there of them arresting a protestor who was sitting down pleading with them. Then there's this [outline.com] and This [duckduckgo.com] and this [bbc.com].

      Oh and literally hours of footage of them pepper spraying & shooting peaceful protestors or sometimes just people sitting on their poaches.

      Yeah, they'll pick off a few rioters after that fact, but always after the fact. Cops love rioters because they give them an excuse to clamp down, get more power and more funding from scared suburban voters.
      • So lets say that is all true (I am sure at least some of it is) however did you see any videos of "Protesters" burning shit, attacking police and police vehicles and looting, assaulting, killing. Some of the protesters need to think if they want their protest taken over by criminals and if it does then they get some feedback from the police perhaps they could think that they are creating cover for criminals. I suggest that you stop protesting.

        To put it another way if you hung out with terrorists and then
        • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @10:08AM (#60431911)
          maybe intentionally.

          The media focuses on the rioters. The Cops focus on the protestors. The Cops don't go after the rioters until after they've done their damage. That way guys like you get angry and it derails any attempts at police reform.

          Remember, the goal here is to fire a lot of these guys and replace them with non violent social services. That means a lot of bad cops out of the job.

          Ask yourself this, if a few rioters in the midst of the protestors means all protests are bad, what does that say about the police?
          • right now if you're a bad cop (not juts a violent one, I mean you're just not very good at your job) you're still pretty much guaranteed employment. Why? Because it's motherfucking expensive to train you, and that training is necessary to avoid lawsuits.

            Ever wonder why a cop can have a wrap sheet longer than any perp and still manage to kill an unarmed black man who's begging for his life? That's how.

            If we suddenly and drastically reduce the number of police officers then the shitty ones will wash o
      • and This [duckduckgo.com] and

        I wild conspiracy theory has appeared:
        https://www.snopes.com/fact-ch... [snopes.com]

        Yes, bricks have been used during uprisings since historical times.

        But nope, the bricks haven't been planted by police force trying to push protesters into giving them excuses for violence, nor are a big coordinated effort by Antifa Corporation (inc) to prepare stashes of ammunitions for rioters.

        • Ok holy shit. I went to the snopes site, and the ads were for freaking shipping containers. I just watched yesterday the episode of Dexter on Netflix with the famous "Surprise, mothereffer!", which was shipping container-heavy.

          Has Netflix parsed out out all the stuff in its shows, and sends that off to your AI-generated advertising profile?

          There is no reason for tailored ads to me to show that, and there is certainly no reason for generic ads to be pushing for shipping container sales to randos on the Int

    • by Toad-san ( 64810 )

      True that. Very poor subject indeed.

  • by mveloso ( 325617 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @12:50AM (#60430995)

    The police used facial recognition technology to find people who may have been involved in criminal activity.

    What's the problem? It's not sporting?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Noishkel ( 3464121 )
      I ain't a big fan of the cops or facial recognition for a lot of reasons, but I'm far less of a fan of jumped up left wing morons LARPing as revolutionaries as they beat the piss out of people, steal stuff, and burn buildings down.
      • by Chas ( 5144 )

        Wish I could dump a few quadrillion mod-ups on you....

      • by lessSockMorePuppet ( 6778792 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @08:58AM (#60431775) Homepage

        So when the cops beat people, steal their shit, and burn buildings down, it's more okay than "left wing morons"?

        I don't think you understand the rule of law, at all.

        Philadelphia would like to have a word with you about that (literal) bomb they dropped in 1985. [www.witf.io]

        This isn't whataboutitism. This is the group you're actively comparing to another group, so why do you like police more when they commit those activities than yoi do "left wing morons?"

        Now, I'm picking an old and brutal incident to drive my point home, but there's no shortage of more recent violence by police officers.

    • by PinkyGigglebrain ( 730753 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @01:41AM (#60431087)

      Sure, used against looters and vandals it sounds good.

      But what about when it is used to suppress peaceful demonstrations? In many totalitarian regimes they go after those demonstrating against the government after the protests, making them disappear in the night.

      The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
      - H. L. Mencken

      • by Chas ( 5144 )

        You''re basically arguing "What if".
        We burn that bridge when we come to it.

        So far, it hasn't happened.

      • Is it being used to suppress peaceful demonstrations in the US?

        If it is, it's doing a pretty shitty job.

        Also: Do you think using a quote from a virulent, life long anti-Semite is persuasive?

        • Whoooooosh.

          You entirely missed GPs point. You label someone a scoundrel and then any action you take seems eminently justified.

          Authorities know that people protesting authorities' illegal acts can be labeled scoundrels, incarcerated, deprived of their rights. Then the authorities can get on with business as usual, protecting property for the ultrarich, by any means "necessary", illegal or otherwise.

          Subhuman, criminal, scoundrel...don't you see how these are terms used to dehumanize people so that you don't

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @05:17AM (#60431381) Homepage Journal

      Strangely though the cops didn't seem to like it when protesters used facial recognition on them. A few months back at one protest someone with a megaphone started googling the cops in attendance and reading out the list of complaints against them. Surprising how many had previously been investigated for violence.

      • 'Investigated' is not the same as 'charged' or 'found guilty'. Any self-righteous idiot can issue a complaint. Thankfully, today's use of body cameras is making it a lot easier to determine when a charge is frivolous or not.

        The problem with social media is there are too many lynch mobs willing to pass judgment before all evidence is considered. I find it easiest to understand people when I replace the word 'justice' with 'revenge' in social media posts.
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @08:02AM (#60431669) Homepage Journal

          Derek Chauvin had a long list of complains against him, many of which were investigated and found to be true.

          You would have a point if genuine complaints actually had some effect but it seems that often they are just ignored even when people are being murdered.

        • I find it easiest to understand our 98% guilty plea rate (with only 2% going to trial federally) when I replace "justice" with "slavery" in our economically driven ptison system.

          We have a total of about 7 million people sucked into the machine. It needs to stop. 2.3 are actively incarcerated, and the rest are paroled or probationed, generally with a stipulation to participate in a particular "community service program", such as the people forced to sort clothes for the Salvation Army so that they can undere

  • by Cylix ( 55374 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @12:54AM (#60431001) Homepage Journal

    I believe you were looking for the word rioters. You know, the people burning down those cities.

  • by Kohath ( 38547 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @12:57AM (#60431009)

    Do you guys really want the word "protest" to be understood to include arson, looting, and destroying property? Protect the right to protest by refusing to redefine "protest" to mean obvious criminal activity. We don't want to lose our rights.

  • Why do that when you have 4chan?

  • I have no problems with using facial recognition to get rioters and looters as long as they make double sure they have the right person before acting on the info.

    • by Chas ( 5144 )

      Thing is, there HAVE been cases of mistaken identity.

      Once that's verified, the people are let go.

      It's not like they're kept in prison for crimes they didn't commit.

      They are not the A-Team.

  • by nehumanuscrede ( 624750 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @02:06AM (#60431103)

    Had the message been:

    " Wearing a mask while protesting helps protect against the use of facial recognition technology. "
    vs
    " Wearing a mask while protesting helps prevent the spread of CoronaVirus. "

    We would have been hard pressed to find a person who wasn't wearing a mask I think.

  • * If you assault police [battleswarmblog.com], you're not a protestor.
    * If you commit arson [battleswarmblog.com], you're not a protestor.
    * If you loot a store [battleswarmblog.com], you're not a protestor.

    These are not subtle distinctions, these are bright clear lines.

    #BlackLivesMatter is a radical Marxist organization [battleswarmblog.com]. dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism and American constitutional order. This remains true no matter how politically inconvenient it is for the left to admit it.

    • by Chas ( 5144 )

      Bingo.

      The only reason this has gone on is because it's politically convenient for these quisling public officials.

      Hope they remember that when they've ejected from office and prosecuted.

    • by msk ( 6205 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @08:34AM (#60431745)

      What if, while protesting peacefully, police attack you, and you defend yourself with equal force?

      • What if, while protesting peacefully, police attack you, and you defend yourself with equal force?

        Then you are no longer peaceful and have just given the police justification. You have proven to the public that the rhetoric about you is correct and you have lost their sympathy. You have become the thing you say you are against; a lawless thug.

        MLK knew this and the protests he organized behaved in a way to show they were better than those they were protesting.

        BLM and Antifa aren't interested in changing the course of society. They literally want to overthrow the current regime and install themselves a

  • Riots and reasons (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SimonInOz ( 579741 ) on Sunday August 23, 2020 @04:08AM (#60431283)

    Hunting down criminals is the job of the police. It seems reasonable that they use all available tools.
    But the deeper reasons remain. Why are there protests, why are there riots?
    I don’t think there’s any question that the USA suffers terribly from racism, both current and historical. The very organisation of the education system seems designed to maintain this. The police system is busily converting itself into a military force, aligned against “the enemy”. Which, oddly , seems to be the very citizens it is sworn to defend.
    None of this sounds good unless you are in the rich one percent, or point one percent. And it sure as heck isn’t good if you are born black, poor, and in a ghetto, with no obvious means to escape or better yourself. Rioting is perhaps hardly surprising.
    I’d be happy to see the brilliant work done by the countless genius geeks of this world, and indeed the USA, being put to work to better society.
    Chasing down criminals and rioters is all very well, but making a better society that doesn’t feel the need to riot would be gold.

  • Think about it a little, even a pair of nanoseconds will do. Every crime that proceeds into eye witness or victims reporting they recognize the perp is relying on Facial Recognition. The only new thing is the already higher reliability of machine facial recognition as compared to the average person's personal recognition. I am not in bed with the recent trend one could summarize as, "Let's make crime safer for the criminals."

    {^_^}

  • Police in Several US Cities Used Facial Recognition To Hunt Down and Arrest People Breaking the Law During Protests There .. that's more accurate.
  • for property damage and looting they deserve to be arrested and if they resist arrest they deserve to be beat down until they can be cuffed and put in jail and if they resist severely enough they deserve to be shot and killed and die like a dog in the street, fuck em, the so-called protesters went way beyond making a point and now they are just a gang of lawless hoodlums
  • Is it because the protestors in question won't associate the arrest with what they did, like we are told is the case with pets?
    This is an important application of the technology because while there is concern by some that Pres. Trump won't relinquish the office if he loses the next vote, you can be sure that his opponents will not accept if he wins. They can be counted on to violently riot in the streets and so this kind of technology will see a lot of use.

  • How intellectually dishonest can you be? Protestors don't loot, destroy and burn down over 1500 homes and small businesses just in one metropolitan area. Here's a citation from a quite liberal news source. By the way the vast majority of these victims were minorities, and a significant portion were immigrants.
    https://www.startribune.com/mi... [startribune.com]
    https://www.joplinglobe.com/op... [joplinglobe.com]

    As for those who claim it was okay because insurance covers their damages, standard insurance does not cover civil unrest, especially f

  • The summary nearly misinforms in order to try to get a political point across.
    These were not simply "protesters" but people behaving criminally at a protest, whose actions were harming property or other people, and which could have led to escalation by law enforcement that could have hurt far more people.

    I believe this misinformation is deliberate.

    Lying is wrong, whether a president does it, or some poster on a meaningless tech board.

  • Actually surprised that swathes of the protesters didnâ(TM)t self-convict themselves by means of selfies.

  • Using photographs and fingerprints (or whatever evidence can be collected) to identify and prosecute people who have committed crimes seems reasonable to me.

    These aren't "protesters" being tracked down; these are people who committed crimes. Crime is not a protest; it's just crime.

    It is disappointing to see the typical extremist drivel show up on this thread, though.

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