Posted on 06/11/2020 8:00:39 AM PDT by ro_dreaming
Amazon says it will place a "one-year pause" on allowing police to use its facial-recognition tool, one day after IBM said that it's exiting the business. While IBM will no longer offer, develop or research the software, Amazon is using a moratorium in the hope that Congress will "put in place appropriate rules for ethical use of facial recognition." Amid crackdowns on protests against police racism and brutality across the country, tech companies are facing increased scrutiny over their contracts with law enforcement agencies, with studies showing that the technology is inferior at identifying the gender of people with darker skin.
But stores will still use facial recognition to track how long you linger in front of the baked bean section of the shelf. Got to have priorities.
Apparently their AI is embarrassingly bad at identifying black people.
Most likely there are a lot of tech workers in these riots too which would absolutely be embarrassing and would be the final straw for the regulatory free ride these guys have gotten.
Interesting....it’s color blind....that would seem to be a good thing.
Do these same companies have qualms about helping China’s government?
The issue is not AI, but that it revealed there are racial differences, and we can’t have that..
Really? Private contractors get to decide whether or not they want to fulfill a government services contract? What could possibly go wrong?
On the plus side, if AMZN goes through with this, declare a breach and throw their commie asses out the door and bar them from biudding on govt contracts for a couple of years.
They don’t use facial recognition for that, just proximity sensors / BLE sensors. I installed about 4,000 of the BLE sensors in a hospital in Indiana last year as they had contracted to develop a phone app (Apple IOS and Android) to include location detection, way-finding, and points of interest throughout the hospital complex. It was pretty neat - but doesn’t do “facial” profiling, it does do “device” profiling, because it knows the MAC address of your device as it travels through the map, and moves you along your route.
That, but not how long one lingers in front of the ethnic hair care products...
Target uses AI to identify people previously noted for shoplifting and banned from the store.
Bar any company that retains or hires the individuals who made this decision from bidding on any government contracts.
Those individuals have demonstrated that they cannot be counted on to be people who honor their word.
Even if your device is not ‘discoverable’ for Bluetooth? Or does ‘discoverable’ only mean your device is open for pairing?
I know very little about today’s technology, but even I think there are many ways around that ‘ban’ if the officer is determined. Let’s just say, you can wear a lot of different masks while online.
Yet more reason why I turn off wifi and location services except when I am actively using them. I've had apps refuse to install when I wouldn't allow them permission for location services.
Does an app interfacing with a bluetooth thermometer need my location? Nope so it doesn't get to run and gets a bad rating on Amazon.
jeff the hungarian should have been against this long ago! He’s against it now, but for the wrong reason. I oppose it.
I doubt Amazon realizes that us Fascists are more worried about being tracked than Leftists, as we’re actually held accountable if we violently ‘resist’.
No, you have to have bluetooth on - which the hospital app that you’ve purposely downloaded will do - to be “seen” by the BLE markers to help you with finding your way around the complex.
Again, for grocery stores, it’s just a proximity sensor that “sees” someone cross a beam/reflection of the IR that triggers the freezer section lights to come on, and/or an ad to be played because you’re near that product.
Thanks, agreeing to be tracked is FAR better than what I was thinking.
Feepmail.
FReepmail. Damn you Otto Kor Wrecked!
Well, if Wi-Fi is on, and/or Bluetooth is on, your phone will periodically send out “beacons” - essentially little “Hey, who’s there?” messages. This typically includes the MAC address of your device - and that MAC address is solely on your device - and no other device. Now, there are ways to spoof or fake that, but their above “basic” level.
If location services is on, any app on your phone that wants to use (or needs to), will use it. Many require it to be on to even start up (Waze, for example, won’t do much with it turned off).
So, basically, when you’re out and about in public, turn off wi-fi, turn off bluetooth, and turn off location services.
Now, I leave bluetooth on, but have my phone paired with my headphones. It’s not going to pair with anything else - because I’ve not asked it to do so. I’m sure there are ways to remotely MAKE it pair, but again, that’s above a basic level.
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