Amazon-Powered AI Cameras Used To Detect Emotions of Unwitting UK Train Passengers (wired.com) 28
Thousands of people catching trains in the United Kingdom likely had their faces scanned by Amazon software as part of widespread artificial intelligence trials, new documents reveal. Wired: The image recognition system was used to predict travelers' age, gender, and potential emotions -- with the suggestion that the data could be used in advertising systems in the future. During the past two years, eight train stations around the UK -- including large stations such as London's Euston and Waterloo, Manchester Piccadilly, and other smaller stations -- have tested AI surveillance technology with CCTV cameras with the aim of alerting staff to safety incidents and potentially reducing certain types of crime.
The extensive trials, overseen by rail infrastructure body Network Rail, have used object recognition -- a type of machine learning that can identify items in videofeeds -- to detect people trespassing on tracks, monitor and predict platform overcrowding, identify antisocial behavior ("running, shouting, skateboarding, smoking"), and spot potential bike thieves. Separate trials have used wireless sensors to detect slippery floors, full bins, and drains that may overflow. The scope of the AI trials, elements of which have previously been reported, was revealed in a cache of documents obtained in response to a freedom of information request by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch. "The rollout and normalization of AI surveillance in these public spaces, without much consultation and conversation, is quite a concerning step," says Jake Hurfurt, the head of research and investigations at the group.
The extensive trials, overseen by rail infrastructure body Network Rail, have used object recognition -- a type of machine learning that can identify items in videofeeds -- to detect people trespassing on tracks, monitor and predict platform overcrowding, identify antisocial behavior ("running, shouting, skateboarding, smoking"), and spot potential bike thieves. Separate trials have used wireless sensors to detect slippery floors, full bins, and drains that may overflow. The scope of the AI trials, elements of which have previously been reported, was revealed in a cache of documents obtained in response to a freedom of information request by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch. "The rollout and normalization of AI surveillance in these public spaces, without much consultation and conversation, is quite a concerning step," says Jake Hurfurt, the head of research and investigations at the group.
Minority Report (Score:5, Informative)
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John Anderson, you could use a Guinness!
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John Anderson, you could use a Guinness!
Wrong movie? You mean John Anderton (with a "t".)
Re:Minority Report (Score:4, Informative)
It made me think of this billboard. [reddit.com]. More closely relevant, too.
just pull and covid mask on to bypass it! (Score:4, Insightful)
just pull and covid mask on to bypass it!
Re:just pull and covid mask on to bypass it! (Score:5, Insightful)
just pull and covid mask on to bypass it!
I was thinking of a Guy Fawkes mask - that's a more appropriate response to the Orwellian nightmare which is unfolding before our eyes.
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just pull and covid mask on to bypass it!
I was thinking of a Guy Fawkes mask - that's a more appropriate response to the Orwellian nightmare which is unfolding before our eyes.
Only if you're an American and your only knowledge of Guy Fawkes is the V for Vendetta movies/comics.
The actual Guy Fawkes was a theocratic extremist who wanted to assassinate King James I and replace them with a catholic who would be subservient to Rome. He wasn't even that high up, he was a guard who was caught alive. The actual leader of the conspiracy was Robert Catesby who was killed in a shoot out 2 weeks after Fawkes was caught. As they got Fawkes alive, they made a spectacle of his death (Catesby
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I'm Canadian, and I'm roughly familiar with the original Gunpowder Plot, although I had never paid much attention to the details you mention. But as you noted, for most people a Guy Fawkes mask immediately calls to mind Hugo Weaving's character; and I'm perfectly fine with that re-appropriation.
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I just wear a Putin mask. Passengers give me plenty of room. Except for that strange orange dude who keeps pinching my booty.
UK train passengers (Score:3)
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Eye geometry is sufficient (Score:2)
Advertising surveillance and Precrime (Score:3)
Two great assaults on freedom that go great together
It ought to be legal to destroy such cameras and force-feed the jagged bits to those involved in their design, marketing, or approval.
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Two great assaults on freedom that go great together
It ought to be legal to destroy such cameras and force-feed the jagged bits to those involved in their design, marketing, or approval.
You have been found in violation of the principals of profit before all. Please remain in your seat and a citizen enforcer will be by momentarily to remind you of your duty to profit before self, profit before family, profit before all. If you do not see the wisdom in profit before all, expect to be returned to your nearest relearning center, where you will be reprogrammed to properly respect profit and greed as our highest values. Thank you for your cooperation citizen. We will check back with you after yo
Are you happy, citizen? (Score:2)
Remember that The Computer wants you to be happy. Failure to be happy is treason.
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Remember that The Computer wants you to be happy. Failure to be happy is treason.
Respect and enjoy the Peace!
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When you open your front door (Score:2)
Alexa has detected you were unhappy on your commute home. Would you like to order prozac from the Amazon pharmacy?
Re:When you open your front door (Score:4, Insightful)
And? (Score:2)
Transportation, like trains and buses and taxes are exempt from data protection.
Scanning and Predicting (Score:2)
Remember when "Minority Report" was science fiction?
Pepperidge Farms remembers.
"Pepperidge Farms" is of course a googleplexing AI computer housed in a series of data centers near Manassas, Virginia. It remembers everything you did. And it knows what you'll do next.
Oh passengers are quite safe then (Score:2)
No cameras on replacement buses.
Run (Score:2)
(...) detect people trespassing on tracks, monitor and predict platform overcrowding, identify antisocial behavior ("running, shouting, skateboarding, smoking")
Great! Now running to catch your train is antisocial.
The English way (Score:2)
In a development not expected by Amazon scientists, the cameras kept returning "quiet desperation" for all subjects...