[BenLurkin]

one in two American adults are already enrolled in a law enforcement facial recognition network

"Enrolled" how?

Nobody asked me if I wanted to be "enrolled."

[Menehune56]

I believe your photo is now automatically enrolled your state’s facial recognition database as a condition for getting or renewing your driver’s license. I know last time I renewed I wasn’t allowed to wear my glasses for the photo even though I’m rather blind without them.

[House Atreides]

To conflate “spying” with Apple’s new facial recognition is a joke. I wish more companies would adopt Apple’s “hardcore” dedication to their customers’ privacy.

[Newbomb Turk]

I will just stick with my iPhone 6 and its now antiquated technology and save myself a grand plus no facial recognition.

[SamAdams76]

Horse is out of the barn. All our major cities have street cams that are monitored by law enforcement - or rather, store footage that can be called up later if needed as I doubt they have the resources to personally monitor the tens of thousands of street cams out there. They are in the subways, in the retail stores and at the coffee shops. These cameras are already incredibly cheap and they are getting cheaper. They are connected to the Internet with their unique MAC addresses mapped to static IP addresses, so any law enforcement with the rights can access them.

Ditto for our highways which are being taken over by these cams, which can snap a sharp picture of your license plate at 90 mph. This is same technology that is making tollbooths relics of the past. Soon there will be no need for police chases. The car will simply be followed electronically until it reaches its destination.

The Boston Marathon bombers were caught with these street cams. The looters down in Florida in the recent hurricane were identified and arrested thanks to these cams. So while there is an Orwellian dark side, there are also benefits.

[Swordmaker]

FUD article on suspicion that Apple's FaceID could be used for "mass spying" on iPhone users. Absolutely not possible. Like the fingerprint system, the face ID data of FaceID is retained not as an actual photo of the user, but instead as a mathematical map of the user's face, with that data kept in a one-way HASH inside the "Secure Enclave" in the "Encryption Processor Memory" which is, by hardware design, inaccessible to the data processor of the iOS device. This means that it can only be used for unlocking the iOS device and that any App, no matter how it may be inserted into the iOS device, cannot access that data because the processor that has access to storage and the data bus has ZERO access to the Secure Enclave.

The article is filled with hypothetical scare tactics of the FUD artistes. "Apple doesn't currently have access to the faceprint data that it stores on iPhones. But if the government attempted to forced Apple to change its operating system at the government's behest—a tactic the FBI tried once already in the case of the locked phone of San Bernardino killer Syed Rizwan Farook—it could gain that access. And that could theoretically make Apple an irresistible target for a new type of mass surveillance order." Wired then postulates they could then order Apple to scan all iOS devices to find a specific person by his or her image. Such a feat would require a complete re-design of the HARDWARE to allow the data processor to actually access the Secure Enclave, something that is not possible with any current iOS device.

They also raise the specter of police warrantless searches of user's iOS devices by FaceID by merely pointing it at users' faces to unlock. However, the user has to actually look at the iOS device for it to work. FaceID also will not work without the user entering his or her passcode after just five hours of not being used. While they may get you to look, it would still most likely be an illegal search. — PING!

Apple FaceID FUD Article From Wired
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[discostu]

Pretty much all technical advances since the invention of the microchip can be used for mass spying.

[SueRae]

Ya think? I don’t do Apple..but it won’t take much before it’s commomplace..

[I want the USA back]

Like every other technological development, some people will use it for illegal purposes, and law enforcement will be unable to resist the vast database at their fingertips.

[TexasFreeper2009]

and the fingerprint scanners weren’t ?

lol

people need to get over it.

[for-q-clinton]

This is bullcrap.

First Microsoft has been doing this for years with Kinect and even with their windows phones.

Second, the ID is stored on device. I was about to go with an iPhone, but not now. It’s not because of security—that’s the one thing I like about Apple...they do take privacy seriously. Google doesn’t because they make money on selling your personal info. The reason I can’t go with iPhone is because they got rid of the fingerprint reader. Looking at your phone to unlock is sucks. Try driving and unlocking your phone. I have tried it and it stinks. Even when it works perfectly—it is way to distracting.

So now I’m looking at the LG V60. It’s not perfect but I can tweak it to make it better. Android is a hot mess of an OS, but at least it’s customizable.

I really wish Windows Phone was successful because it truly is the best interface. But it didn’t so now I have to settle for issues in ios or android.

[Swordmaker]

An almost identical article, just substitute TouchID, was written several years ago by the same author and published in the same journal, when Apple came out with its subcutaneous non-fingerprint scanning system.

A footnote from WIRED on this article indicates this article was not generated by one of their staff writers but was submitted by an outside source. I suspect it was likely sourced from an Apple competitor, perhaps Samsung, a company whose financial papers indicate their yearly marketing expenses are four to five times larger than their advertising expenses due to paying for such things as astroturfing, social media trolling, spiffing their products with sales people, and product give-away programs.

[montag813]

NOOOO....REALLY???

[montag813]

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Apple really should have stuck a fingerprint scanner on the back of the case. I'm all in favor of biometric security systems, I currently have to keep track of dozens of passwords, but facial recognition should be an option, not the only way. Until Apple finds a way to put a fingerprint scanner on their new front screen, I'll pass on the iPhone X.

And if Apple doesn't stop tearing up and blocking Tantau Avenue and finally conclude their endless construction, I might just pass on their products altogether. They're lousy neighbors and they have been for several years now. I really miss being able to take Pruneridge to get to the 280.

[PreciousLiberty]

The iPhone’s facial identity data is stored in a “secure enclave” on the device, inaccessible to regular law enforcement. Nor is it compatible with any other facial recognition software.

This is way down on the list of concerns. It’s much more likely that the government would just use pictures from Facebook to build up a recognition database. People sure post enough of ‘em...