thwarting facial recognition software

[Lisa]

can one opt out of that crap, like the body scanner? (link wont open for me, and i refuse to turn off my adblocker)

Didn’t seem like it with this paragraph
“With the exception of Southwest, most major airlines in the U.S. are taking steps to include the CBP facial recognition technology as part of their security processes.”

Actually, the United, American and Delta say it’s optional but think it will make things easier if you opt in.

 

[polymoog]

Actually, the United, American and Delta say it’s optional but think it will make things easier if you opt in.

the airlines can opt this:

 

[Lisa]

the airlines can opt this:

View attachment 26229

I have a feeling it will be very popular, people already have facial recognition on their phones..at least iPhones have it, not sure about other ones.

 

[polymoog]

I have a feeling it will be very popular, people already have facial recognition on their phones..at least iPhones have it, not sure about other ones.

it will be wholeheartedly embraced by the "i have nothing to hide!" crowd and the mentally enslaved who think all of this surveillance will make them safer.
the people who are awake to the increasing surveillance state will avoid or fight it.

 

[Lisa]

it will be wholeheartedly embraced by the "i have nothing to hide!" crowd and the mentally enslaved who think all of this surveillance will make them safer.
the people who are awake to the increasing surveillance state will avoid or fight it.

I’m sure if you don’t fly you can avoid it. However, this may be something they have been planning to add for awhile, so it may be permanent like the dreaded tsa. I can see it happening.

 

[saki]

.....good one, HK freedom fighter!... hope LeBron sees this one.....

 

[saki]

....not facial recognition'... but 'license plate scanning'... coming soon to a police department near you!.... if Axon gets its way...

https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/33852-license-plate-readers-could-soon-be-on-dashboards-of-every-police-car

License-plate Readers Could Soon Be on Dashboards of Every Police Car
Friday, 25 October 2019

Written by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.


Axon (formerly known as Taser) is branching out into another lucrative business involved in the strengthening of the surveillance net that covers the country. This time, the company is looking to license-plate readers.

In a publicly available report, Axon pledges to put automatic license-plate readers (ALPR) on the dashboard of every police car in America.

Here’s how the report describes the scope and sophistication of its dash-mounted license-plate readers:

ALPRs represent one of the most widely used surveillance systems in existence. ALPRs are computer-controlled camera systems that read passing license plates.

As used by law enforcement, ALPRs alert officers when they encounter a license plate of interest — such as the license plate of a vehicle that has been reported stolen. ALPR systems typically store data on all of the license plates they read, creating extremely large databases of vehicle information over time (also known as “historical data”).

The use of ALPRs has become common across the private and public sectors — in everything from public toll collection to private surveillance and security….

The Verge explains how Axon plans to put its products in police cars:

Axon provides dashcams under a brand of products called Axon Fleet, and the company told the board that the next generation of its cameras will include the readers.

The cameras will be able to process video of license plates through a laptop in an officer’s car.

While some police departments already use readers mounted to their cars, Axon believes that a camera sitting on a dashboard “will enable agencies to deploy ALPRs more broadly than before, potentially across an agency’s entire fleet of cars,” according to the board’s report.

Under “ideal conditions” — based on lighting, distance, and vehicle speed — Axon says its camera “approaches” 100 percent accuracy, but will register a scan if it is 90 percent confident in its accuracy. The board’s report notes that the cameras will likely also be able to recognize vehicle characteristics.

That is certainly impressive! The technology to track drivers and their cars with nearly “100 percent accuracy” will be available to patrol cars in every neighborhood, putting at the fingertips of police officers — officers of the government — the ability to track every car that comes within the range of its dash-mounted detectors.

<<<article continues... link above for full story>>>

 

[saki]

...here's the 'money shot':
The Real ID also represents the “last mile” in the ability of the state to track individuals in real time. With various electronic, social media, and cellphone tracking measures, there is always a delay; and one can choose not to use social media, not to own a cellphone, and opt into other methods of extricating oneself from the prying eyes of the NSA or other government agencies. But the Real ID — in particular, coupled with biometrics — fulfills Orwellian conceptions of the total surveillance state.

https://thewashingtonstandard.com/papers-please-government-creates-internal-passports-effective-no-later-than-october-2020/
“Papers, Please”: Government Creates Internal Passports – Effective No Later Than October 2020
TIM BROWN
NOVEMBER 5, 2019

So you were worried about a national ID card, but forgot that basically you have that in a Social Security card, albeit a little outdated? Well, not to fear, Big Brother is here and beginning next year, the feds are going to be requiring you to have your papers ready to board a plane or enter a Federal government facility.

The American Institute for Economic Research has the story. Peter C. Earle writes:

The deadline of yet another, and perhaps the most insidious, element of the post-9/11 initiatives (a partial list of which includes the establishment of the Transportation Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and a never-ending international war against a nebulously-defined, noncorporeal enemy, “terror”) is less than one year from coming to fruition. Beginning no later than October 1, 2020, citizens of all US states and territories will be required to have a Real ID compliant card or US passport to board a commercial plane or enter a Federal government facility. Pundits citing the inevitability of what amounts to a national ID card have, regrettably, been vindicated.

To be sure, some states have resisted, but dependence upon Federal aid and other programs administered from Washington D.C. makes their ultimate surrender and compliance inevitable.

Looking back, Social Security Numbers and the cards bearing them broke ground for the path to a national identification system — thank you, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For decades there have been pointed reminders that the cards were intended to be account numbers and not integrated into a government registry of American citizens.

Repeated efforts, starting in the 1970s, to forge identifiers from the Social Security system have been rebuffed: in 1971, 1973, and 1976. The Reagan Administration indicated its “explicit oppos[tion]” to a national identification system. Both the Clinton healthcare reform plan (1993) and a provision of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 requiring Social Security Numbers on driver’s licenses were rejected (the latter in 1999) to some extent upon the basis of tacitly constituting national identifiers for Americans.

There are any number of reasons why the alleged tradeoff between liberty and security that a national ID card represents are being misrepresented. Any system designed, maintained, and run by human beings is ultimately flawed, and in any case corruptible. The existing documents from which the information fed into the Real ID program are eminently vulnerable to forgery. To provide just one example: tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of Americans don’t have verifiable, “official” birth certificates.

And people can become radicalized after being issued their Real ID card.

The Real ID also represents the “last mile” in the ability of the state to track individuals in real time. With various electronic, social media, and cellphone tracking measures, there is always a delay; and one can choose not to use social media, not to own a cellphone, and opt into other methods of extricating oneself from the prying eyes of the NSA or other government agencies. But the Real ID — in particular, coupled with biometrics — fulfills Orwellian conceptions of the total surveillance state.

The irony here? Conservatives used to oppose this kind of tyranny and government manipulation. Not anymore.

They often side with their political idol in favor of tyranny believing that their guy won’t use it against them and that it will only be the “other” party’s guy that will do that.

Therein lies the trap that is set for Americans.

So, how did we get here? Jason Litalien writes at Iapp:

On May 11, 2005, the ‘‘Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005,” Public Law 109-13, was enacted. The law appropriated funding for the “Global War on Terror,” addressed various topics concerning the State Department, allocated funding for tsunami relief, and created a requirement that states comply with the Real ID Act of 2005.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security website states that REAL ID is a coordinated effort by the states and the federal government to improve the reliability and accuracy of state-issued identification documents, which should inhibit terrorists’ ability to evade detection by using fraudulent identification. The Secretary of Homeland Security reviews each state’s IDs and determines if they meet the minimum standard, and then the Secretary certifies the state as compliant.

The requirements include things we expect to see on an ID, like name, address, gender, signature, and a digital photo. The Act also requires that before a state issues an ID, they must verify the person’s lawful status in order to prevent undocumented aliens from receiving IDs. States are required to use a federal system called the “Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements” to verify a person’s status.

The Act also lists specific requirements the states must adhere to in order to have their IDs certified: States must take digital photos and store an electronic copy of the photo in a transferable format. They must retain paper source documents for seven years and electronic copies for 10 years. It is now mandatory to use facial recognition image capture for all applicants and the image will be stored even if the applicant is denied an ID. States must verify Social Security numbers, verify that applicants gave up their driver’s license in their prior state of residence, ensure physical security of the location where IDs are produced, and require appropriate security clearances for anyone who produces the IDs.

That was only the camel’s nose under the tent.

While the Associated Press’ Ted S. Warren writes that you won’t need one of these domestic passports to travel by car, the qualifier for that is “yet.”

You can be sure that once people are comfortable settling into this, which will only take a couple of years, it will then go into effect in trains and buses and eventually your personal vehicle.

Earle warns:

Expect it, over time, to be leveraged against individuals with outstanding traffic tickets, tax disputes, child or spousal support arrears, or behind on loan payments. Access to national parks and historic sites may be tied to it. Recent proposals pushing compulsory voting are a step closer to realization and enforcement with the establishment of a mandatory government ID card.
…
Indeed: the worst US government infringements upon the life, liberty, and the much referred to “pursuit of happiness” of American citizens over the last two centuries — and mostly within the last two decades — will be vastly easier and more efficient to accomplish with the imposition of a mandatory identification requirement.​

The fact that a domestic travel passport is being forced on the populace without even a burp is a tale-tell sign that America is not the land of the free nor is it home to the brave anymore. It has become an ignorant, group of sheep ready to be sheared.

 

[saki]

...I once ordered in one of the '23andMe' DNA kits... but I stopped short of following thru and sending in my sample.... really glad I paused and reconsidered.... we're all for criminals being brought to justice... but I have to wonder how happy the 23&Me and Ancestry.com customers are with this report...
...really hoping that any VC Forums people who have done the DNA testing will weigh-in here and let us know if the results were worth it...

https://news.yahoo.com/game-changer-warrant-let-detective-125158273.html
'Game-Changer' Warrant Let Detective Search Genetic Database
Kashmir Hill and Heather Murphy,
November 6, 2019

For police officers around the country, the genetic profiles that 20 million people have uploaded to consumer DNA sites represent a tantalizing resource that could be used to solve cases both new and cold. But for years, the vast majority of the data have been off-limits to investigators. The two largest sites, Ancestry.com and 23andMe, have long pledged to keep their users’ genetic information private, and a smaller one, GEDmatch, severely restricted police access to its records this year.

Last week, however, a Florida detective announced at a police convention that he had obtained a warrant to penetrate GEDmatch and search its full database of nearly 1 million users. Legal experts said that this appeared to be the first time a judge had approved such a warrant, and the development could have profound implications for genetic privacy.

“That’s a huge game-changer,” said Erin Murphy, a law professor at New York University. “The company made a decision to keep law enforcement out, and that’s been overridden by a court. It’s a signal that no genetic information can be safe.”

DNA policy experts said the development was likely to encourage other agencies to request similar search warrants from 23andMe, which has 10 million users, and Ancestry.com, which has 15 million. If that comes to pass, the Florida judge’s decision will affect not only the users of these sites but also huge swaths of the population, including those who have never taken a DNA test. That’s because this emerging forensic technique makes it possible to identify a DNA profile even through distant family relationships.

Using public genealogy sites to crack cold cases had its breakthrough moment in April 2018, when California police used GEDmatch to identify a man they believe is the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo.

After his arrest, dozens of law enforcement agencies around the country rushed to apply the method to their own cases. Investigators have since used genetic genealogy to identify suspects and victims in more than 70 cases of murder, sexual assault and burglary, ranging from five decades to just a few months old.

Barbara Rae-Venter, the genetic genealogist who helped crack the unsolved Golden State Killer case, at home in California, Aug. 26, 2018. (Brian L. Frank/The New York Times)

Most users of genealogy services have uploaded their genetic information in order to find relatives, learn about ancestors and get insights into their health — not anticipating that police might one day search for killers and rapists in their family trees. After a revolt by a group of prominent genealogists, GEDmatch changed its policies in May. It required law enforcement agents to identify themselves when searching its database, and it gave them access only to the profiles of users who had explicitly opted in to such queries. (As of last week, according to GEDmatch co-founder Curtis Rogers, just 185,000 of the site’s 1.3 million users had opted in.)

Like many others in law enforcement, Detective Michael Fields of the Orlando Police Department was disappointed by GEDmatch’s policy shift. He had used the site last year to identify a suspect in the 2001 murder of a 25-year-old woman, a case he had spent six years trying to solve. Today, working with a forensic consulting firm, Parabon, Fields is trying to solve the case of a serial rapist who assaulted a number of women decades ago.

In July, he asked a judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida to approve a warrant that would let him override the privacy settings of GEDmatch’s users and search the site’s full database of 1.2 million users. After Judge Patricia Strowbridge agreed, Fields said in an interview, the site complied within 24 hours. He said that some leads had emerged but that he had yet to make an arrest. He declined to share the warrant or say how it was worded.

Fields described his methods at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago last week. Logan Koepke, a policy analyst at Upturn, a nonprofit in Washington that studies how technology affects social issues, was in the audience. After the talk, “multiple other detectives and officers approached him asking for a copy of the warrant,” Koepke said.

DNA policy experts said they would closely watch public response to news of the warrant, to see if law enforcement agencies will be emboldened to go after the much larger genetic databases. “I have no question in my mind that if the public isn’t outraged by this, they will go to the mother lode: the 15-million person Ancestry database,” Murphy said. “Why play in the peanuts when you can go to the big show?”

Yaniv Erlich, chief science officer at MyHeritage, a genealogy database of around 2.5 million people, agreed. “They won’t stop here,” he said.

Because of the nature of DNA, every criminal is likely to have multiple relatives in every major genealogy database. Without an outcry, Murphy and others said, warrants like the one obtained by Fields could become the new norm, turning all genetic databases into law enforcement databases.

Not all consumer genetics sites are alike. GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA make it possible for anyone to upload their DNA information and start looking for relatives. Law enforcement agents began conducting genetic genealogy investigations there not because these sites were the biggest but because they were the most open.

Ancestry.com and 23andMe are closed systems. Rather than upload an existing genetic profile, users send saliva to the companies’ labs and then receive information about their ancestry and health. For years, fearful of turning off customers, the companies have been adamant that they would resist giving law enforcement access to their databases.

Both sites publish transparency reports with information about subpoenas and search warrants they receive. 23andMe says it has received seven data requests relating to 10 customers and has not released any data. Ancestry.com said in its 2018 report that it had received 10 “valid law enforcement requests” that year and complied with seven, but that all the cases involved “credit card misuse, fraud and identity theft,” not requests for genetic information.

Genetic genealogy experts said that until now, the law enforcement community had been deliberately cautious about approaching the consumer sites with court orders: If users get spooked and abandon the sites, they will become much less useful to investigators. Barbara Rae Venter, a genetic genealogist who works with law enforcement, described the situation as “Don’t rock the boat.”

FamilyTreeDNA permits law enforcement searches of its database of 2 million users for certain types of crimes.

Ancestry.com did not respond to a request for comment on the Florida search warrant. A spokesman for 23andMe, Christine Pai, said in an emailed statement, “We never share customer data with law enforcement unless we receive a legally valid request such as a search warrant or written court order. Upon receipt of an inquiry from law enforcement, we use all practical legal measures to challenge such requests in order to protect our customers’ privacy.”

Fields said he would welcome access to the Ancestry.com and 23andMe databases. “You would see hundreds and hundreds of unsolved crimes solved overnight,” he said. “I hope I get a case where I get to try.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

 

[saki]

....this does not have to do with facial recognition.... but it's a 'monitoring' system which nobody knows about within our daily commerce lives...

https://www.ksl.com/article/46670044/ksl-investigates-the-secret-score-that-determines-how-a-company-will-treat-you
KSL investigates the secret score that determines how a company will treat you
By Sloan Schrage and Mike Headrick, KSL TV | Posted - Nov 8th, 2019 @ 9:30am

SALT LAKE CITY — If you have ever owned a smartphone, shopped online, bought an airline ticket or used a credit card, you are being secretly scored in ways that can impact your wallet. The scorers are businesses we buy products and services from every day.

They are called Customer Lifetime Value or CLV scores. All sorts of retailers and businesses use them to judge our value as consumers.

“They have detailed information on every single transaction,” said Andrea Thomas, a marketing professor at the University of Utah.

“They have algorithms that show how people like you have acted in the long term. So, then they can assign a customer lifetime value score to you individually and then act on that,” she said.

The scores can determine what products and ads we see online, the prices we pay, even how long we are put on hold when we call customer service. And the best treatment goes to those with the best scores.

“People with a certain CLV score will get popped to the top if you’re calling. You’ll be the next call we answer. Or, we look at you and say, ‘Ok, we’re actually going to give you a deeper discount or more flexible terms because of the value that you are as a consumer,’” Thomas said.

While CLV scores are specific to each company, here is how they work in general: Retailers link transactions to individuals, add a dash of demographics like age, marital status and zip codes, then pepper in some proprietary algorithm and voila – a score to measure our reputations.

“They can tell whether you are being too expensive for them,” Thomas said. “Whether it’s fraudulent or not, you start to get a reputation as a consumer, as being somebody that isn’t worth the customer service hassle.”

“They have detailed information on every single transaction,” said Andrea Thomas, a marketing professor at the University of Utah. Photo: KSL TV

If you shop often without being enticed by deals, your CLV score is probably higher. But, if you complain often, buy things only when they’re deeply discounted or return items often, your score probably stinks. We say probably because most businesses will not tell you what your score is.

“It’s not your right as a consumer right now,” Thomas said. “Nobody has legislated that it’s your right to see it and to have input into it like they have other scores like your credit score.”

That did not sit well some of the consumers we spoke to on the street.

“It’s maddening,” said Laurie Hewitt. “It’s not a fair shake, really. I mean, we’re doing them a favor.”

Vicki Smoot expressed a similar sentiment. “If they’re tracking us and taking data on us, then we should be able to ask for our score,” she said.

“That’s something that you should be able to check up on and see how you are doing,” said Chase Laser.

Privacy advocates said the same thing. Some compare the use of CLV scores to China’s developing social credit system that scores people’s reputations on their good and bad deeds.

Bad deeds like walking your dog without a leash, littering, bad driving or even gossiping will bring down your social credit in China. If it drops too low, forget about dining at the best places, landing the best jobs — even buying airline or train tickets may be out of reach.

A key difference is that China’s social credit system is government-run and people know where they stand — good or bad. In America, consumers are tracked and scored by private companies who don’t share that score.

Uber is a rare exception. A passenger’s score is visible right in the rideshare company’s app.

Driver Marlea McKinstry has given over 7,000 rides. She showed us how Uber’s scoring system works.

“I very seldom give out less than a five (star),” McKinstry said. “You just have to be somewhat considerate.”

Uber driver Marlea McKinstry showed us how the company’s scoring system works. Photo: KSL TV
Translation: be polite, don’t leave trash behind and being ready to go at pickup time.

“The driver doesn’t begin to get paid until you get in the car and they start the ride,” said McKinstry.

Drivers rate riders from one star on up to five. If your average score falls below four stars, McKinstry said you can get the boot.

“They’re deactivated and they can’t ride anymore,” she said.

“I’d been using Uber for months before I realized, just like I was rating the drivers, the drivers were rating me as a rider. And, I have to say, I was shocked when I found that out,” said Ed Carter, director of Brigham Young University’s Communications Department.

Carter researches and writes about digital privacy. He is worried that since most companies will not let us see our CLV scores, there is no mechanism to ensure their decision making in how to treat us as consumers is fair.

“I think that is scary because a lot of these decisions actually do affect our lives in real ways,” Carter said.

He was also troubled by the lack of oversight as companies keep tucking permission to use our personal data this way in user agreements no one reads.

“In this case, there is no guarantee of due process as far as our data and companies are doing with that,” Carter said.

Privacy advocates like Carter are urging the government to step in with stronger protections on how companies use our data. But given the huge growth in both e-commerce and data collection, expect the use of CLV scores to keep growing.

 

[KingPinx]

Do you guys really consider running around with masks that are showing some other face? Weird stuff.

I actually feel safer with cameras around. From personal experience I can state that those cams are there to help when needed and thats about it.

 

[Awoken2]

Just get a pixled out head.... or just don't leave your house....simple

 

[saki]

https://www.disrn.com/2019/11/11/some-chinese-citizens-are-submitting-to-fingerprint-facial-scans-to-enter-church/
Some Chinese citizens are submitting to fingerprint, facial scans to enter church
by Daniel Payne
November 11, 2019, 4:44 pm

Some state-sanctioned churches on the Chinese mainland are requiring attendees to scan their fingerprints and faces before entering service, a policy that has raised fears of government tracking and data-gathering.

Parishioners at “three-self” churches, which are controlled by the state and remain one of the few official religious options for Christians in China, have reported that they are being forced to scan their fingers and submit to facial scans before being allowed to attend church.

An official with a local Christian council said that anyone who does not submit their bodily data to the new systems will be barred from attending church services in the future. A local church leader said that the sign-in systems function “just like employees punch in at work.”

 

[saki]

...Emphasis is mine... (saki)

https://q13fox.com/2019/11/25/facial-recognition-technology-coming-to-sea-tac-airport-as-early-as-the-close-of-2019/
Facial recognition technology coming to Sea-Tac Airport as early as the close of 2019
POSTED 6:03 AM, NOVEMBER 25, 2019, BY JENNIFER LEE

SEATTLE – Facial recognition technology could be coming to Sea-Tac International Airport as early as the close of 2019.

Delta Airlines is hoping to implement Biometric Boarding for international travel after a December 10 Port of Seattle Commission meeting.

Delta has already launched the facial recognition technology in major cities like Atlanta, Detroit and New York.

The technology uses a person’s biological measurements, or physical characteristics, to identify them. Delta travelers have the choice to opt-in to use the technology where it’s available right now, or use traditional travel documents and boarding passes.

The Commission says it can make travel safer and more efficient during check-in. Locals at the airport said they believe it’s worth bringing to Seattle.

“It was like so simple,” says Margarito Ramirez, who travels to Mexico once a year. “It was like walking through, they check your face.”

“We’re living in different times now, so anything that would be helpful to make the whole process and the airport experience better would be good,” said Philip Strnard of Port Townsend.

During a pilot program at LAX, cameras used biometric facial recognition to match people’s unique features to federal pictures already on file.

The Commission has been discussing the technology in public study sessions since September, also raising concerns that include privacy, racial equity, cyber security and civil liberties.

Kent and Marcia Martin of Sammamish are frequent travelers who say those concerns don’t phase them during travel.

“We’re both Clear members so that’s kind of what they use for that now anyways,” said Kent.

“I think all of our information is in a technology cloud somewhere, so does this seem more invasive than any other application that we’re using as a frequent traveler? No, it doesn’t freak me out,” said Marcia.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will start using facial recognition for international travelers flying into Sea-Tac by the end of 2020.

The federal agency says the software is secure.

 

[saki]

Systems that use facial recognition are fooled by a 3D-printed mask

Researchers found that facial recognition can be fooled by using a 3D-printed mask depicting a different person's face, which tricked payment a systems and passport-control gates at airports.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Airport security and payment systems that use facial recognition can be fooled by using a 3D-printed mask of a different person's face, researchers find
By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com16:50 16 Dec 2019, updated 16:50 16 Dec 2019

***excerpt*** more + pics at link......
However, what was found to be the most alarming was when the team was able to bypass at a self-boarding terminal in Amsterdam.

The team also says it was able to gain access in this way to rail stations in China where commuters use facial recognition to pay their fare and board trains.

This shows the threat to the privacy of users with sub-par facial recognition that is masquerading as 'AI',' Liu said.

Systems that use facial recognition are fooled by a 3D-printed mask

Researchers found that facial recognition can be fooled by using a 3D-printed mask depicting a different person's face, which tricked payment a systems and passport-control gates at airports.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[UnderAlienControl]

 

[saki]

...not facial recognition.... this is an attempt to confound and 'junk-up' the databases of the license plate readers which are being adopted all over the USA..... feeding the readers 'junk' information.....

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