I think the big thing people forget when they automate systems is that they make them too strict. As in you're always expected to fit within the parameters and pattern of behaviour that the system was built with. It tolerates no deviation.<p>However as with all human things, it is better and less trouble to be able to take shortcuts rather than have to stick to the rules 100%. For example people crossing the road in the middle of the night with not a car in sight. People reversing down the road a little bit to turn or get a parking spot. Being able to cross the centre green patch on a high way at night because there won't be a u-turn available for many kms. The issues with identical twins and not being able to get IDs (basically the inability to override a system).<p>These sort of issues help remove stress and simplify things in our daily lives, and help make the world function.
Let me wave my hand around a crystal ball and peer into our future...<p>"Cameras are everywhere and record every crime. Somewhere in the city a man commits a murder. Computers register the crime. Later that same man steps into a self-driving car. The man explains to the car that he wants to travel to the other side of the city. The car doors lock and the vehicle takes off. But the car is not going to where he thinks. Slowly the man realizes that he is being taken directly to the nearest police precinct for booking. Desperately the man tries to exit the car but the doors are locked. He lays down in the seat and frantically kicks at the windshield but there is no time. The car has been given emergency priority and begins traveling over 90 mph. The precious seconds tick by...<p>Back at the precinct the cop takes another bit of his doughnut and reminisces about the time when policing was not just a desk job."<p>That's enough of the crystal ball for today.
So when a crime happens in public: in addition to a dump of all cellphones in the area they'll also have access to all scanned faces and license plates (via lidar) to reconstruct what happened. Plus potentially an always-on eye in the sky via drones/planes which allows them to "rewind" peoples and cars movements up until that point. Pretty scary to think how easy their jobs will be.
> In the same statement, the police force turns a little more towards pre-crime. South Wales police and crime commissioner Alun Michael said: "Our approach to policing is very much centred upon early intervention and prompt, positive action; the introduction of facial recognition helps to support these aims by allowing us to identify vulnerability, challenge perpetrators, and reduce instances of offending within environments where the technology is deployed."<p>As spooky as automatic facial recognition is for finding and arresting criminals, it's like they're parodying themselves with this statement. You couldn't sound more evil if you tried.
I think the real battle is in Judicial reforms. Honestly we are at a stage where the face recpgnition technology is just too easy to deploy. [1, 2]<p>There are also several legitimate use cases, e.g. Amber alerts, Public right to record, etc. The society can delay dealing with technology for only so long. Over the next decade we will see huge adoption of Autonomous cars, robots, cheap drones essentially "Mainstreaming" of surveillance technology. At this point the legal system would have to decide a sane framework to resolve the challenges posed by technology. However given the paralysis in Washington, and inability to deal with even the most basic questions of algorithms and law (No-fly lists being the prime example) I am not too hopeful.<p>[1] <a href="https://github.com/search?q=topic%3Aface-recognition&type=Repositories" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/search?q=topic%3Aface-recognition&type=Re...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/rekognition/" rel="nofollow">https://aws.amazon.com/rekognition/</a>
Last night I watched the 'Total Recall' remake with he kids. I couldn't help making connections between the film and the way technological policing is progressing. I keep noticing that in dystopian sci-fi films there are far too many parallels with the UK. I should stop watching sci-fi and finish some coding...
Anyone know what the false positive and false negative rates are with current tech?<p>Edit: Assuming real world conditions where people don't pose for you.