School face scanner to search for sex offenders; Civil rights groups raise concerns

CNN.com ^ | Friday, December 12, 2003 | No Name Given

[Clint Williams]

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- Face-scanning technology designed to recognize registered sex offenders and missing children has been installed in a Phoenix school in a pilot project that some law enforcement and education officials hope to expand.

Two cameras, which are expected to be operational next week, will scan faces of people who enter the office at Royal Palm Middle School. They are linked to state and national databases of sex offenders, missing children and alleged abductors.

An officer will be dispatched to the school in the event of a possible match, said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

"If it works one time, locates one missing child or saves a child from a sexual attack, I feel it's worth it," said Arpaio, a tough-talking sheriff who has previously gained notoriety for his chain gangs and prison-issued pink underwear.

Civil libertarians have raised red flags about the idea, pointing to potential privacy violations, and biometrics experts say facial recognition programs are not foolproof.

"There are huge privacy concerns. I'm also troubled by the fact that the technology is not proven," said Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union.

Chengjun Liu, a professor and researcher of facial recognition technology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said facial recognition software is promising but can have reliability issues.

...

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne came out in support of the pilot program Thursday, saying he would seek funding for the cameras, which cost roughly $3,000 to $5,000, to be placed in every school in the state.

[Clint Williams]

I've said it before : when you want to do something people would consider bad, start with the segment of the population that nobody will defend. Hitler started with the Jews. We start with sex offenders.

Already SCOTUS has ruled, in supporting Megan's Law, that your right to privacy (however that emanates from the Constitution) does not prevent anyone from posting your name, address, and other information online, as long as it appears in some public record somewhere.

Chickens have a way of coming home to roost. Arpaio's expressed goal is a worthy one, but I suspect this will in the end prove to be not only a waste of money but the introduction of a surveillence society.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Constitutional considerations aside, this "face recognition" technology is mostly a scam perptetrated by con-artists upon public officials with too much of other peoples' money on their hands.

[cyborg]

This stinks. Everyone always starts out with the intention to 'help the children'.

[misterrob]

How the hell you make that leap of comparing Hitler and the Jews with american society and child molesters is astounding. Talk about hysteria.

Did I log onto the ACLU web site today by mistake? Or did I get rerouted to NAMBLA?

[NMFXSTC]

OK..this face scanning thing probably isn't quite perfected yet, so I have a better idea (and it'll save the questions about who is who):

Convicted of child molestation/sex offender? No problem!

Brand these bastads! Yup...right on the forhead!

Or..maybe just remove every other finger and opposite arm and leg?

For sure, they should be castrated (less anesthesia!)

ID these perps and pervs and ther will be no questions about who is who!

Case solved, expenses alleviated, kids safe!

[DustyMoment]

Face recognition technology has proven to be an abysmal failure.

Tampa, which initially installed the technology in the tourist haven of Ybor City 2 years ago, abandoned it after making less than 20 legitimate arrests based on the technology and several hundred false arrests from the same source.

Privacy groups have nothing to worry about - this "technology" simply doesn't work.

[SAJ]

Quite right, but the real reason it was abandoned was not its lack of effectiveness, but the lawsuits it generated (and the settlements the city paid). Had it been a benign failed technology, Tampa and Ybor would still be using it, installing overpriced and underperforming ''upgrades'' as they came along.

Any technology generating error rates of upwards of 60% (in terms of results achieved) is a fraud to begin with...but don't bother telling the politicians that. Let 'em get their arses sued off.

[Clint Williams]

Follow the link. I know one of the policemen listed on that site. He's not very happy about being listed there, but there's nothing he can do. At least his Social Security # wasn't listed, like some others were. I'm no lawyer, but the legality of this apparently stems from a SCOTUS decision upholding Megan's Law.

[DustyMoment]

Good point. I had forgotten about the lawsuits this "wonderful" waste of money and time generated.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Ouch.