> In twenty years, at current rates of progress, it will be feasible for the Chinese government to use face recognition to track the public movements of everyone in the country.<p>When this note was published in 2001, I didn't expect the tech to become that good that fast. I was wrong. (Not that I thought it wouldn't happen, just that there'd be more time.)
I’m of the opinion that identification should be the individual’s choice, ie supplying credentials.<p>When organizations gain the ability to identify without consent, the door is opened for some very malicious practices.
> A free society is a society in which there are limits on what the police can do. If we want to remain a free society then we need to make a decision<p>I think the amount of legislation that effectively limits privacy / freedom in the past years shows that western societies no longer want to. It includes increased bank regulations / attempts to abolish cash / hate speech regulations / surveillance regulations / GDPR etc. The question is no longer whether the private information of people should be owned by others, but about who should own it, businesses or the State.
Average end user doesn't care as long as Instagram, Facebook, et. al. keep them engaged constantly with their devices.<p>Smartphone's are the new crack.