There were 210M licensed drivers in the US with an expected annual growth rate of 1.6% [1]. Extrapolating this data gives 231M licensed drivers in 2016. From the article: "...law enforcement in more than half of all states can search against the trove of photos stored for IDs like drivers’ licenses." Half that number and you get a number that's pretty close to the number of faces in the database.
I've got no issue with using law enforcement having access to these pictures for identity verification (i.e. checking to make sure the face on a license matches the face of the person in the database). Although automatic systems setup to identify people in crowds is a bit too Minority Report for me. I understand that I don't have any expectation to privacy when walking around in public but its a bit unnerving to have someone logging my every location and never needing a warrant, as publicly taken pictures wouldn't require one whereas cellphone tracking would.
It's my growing opinion that the aggregation of personal data (and "metadata") needs to be regulated. Individual sample points are fine, but analyzing the entire crowd all the time is too intrusive and should constitute a warrant-requiring search of private effects.
Maybe we need something like HIPPA for personal data. If you start fiddling with stuff that invades privacy of individuals, things should get touchy and messy legally. I have an expectation of privacy in public while in crowds and during my personal travels.
When someone follows you around constantly, against your will, it is called stalking. Even when in public places. And there are laws against this.
I think the government and businesses should be subject to the same limitations:
"Stalking" someone, even in public, is illegal and is a violation of their rights.
As one quick example of restriction of rights, constant, pervasive tracking may inhibit one's right to free speech by assembly and association.
Corporations so often insist they are "people", when such claim is to their legal and economic advantage. Well then, treat them like such. Capable of "stalking" and subject to punishment for same.
Next up, crazu EULA that are purposely onerously burdensome while, amidst all that mess, claiming to secure the right to e.g. "stalk".
I understand that I don't have any expectation to privacy when walking around in public.
Of course you have. Naturally anybody can see you, but it does not follow that anybody, especially a state representative can follow you and record your whereabouts.
Well, maybe in US you can, I do not know US law this much, but in many EU countries this constitutes as surveillance and requires a warrant.
And it recognizes who is in the photo. Often when viewing a photo it will give me a name of one of the people in the photo and ask me if I want to tag it or not. It has never given me a name of someone not in the photo yet.
Well, the thing is, your face isn't private information.
I'm usually all for paranoia when it comes to the police but knowing your identity based on your appearance isn't really a violation of your rights.
Facebook likely automatically builds a profile for every face it can recognize in a photograph, as well as approximate dates and times based on landmarks, shadow geometry and timestamps, building an ad-hoc and constantly updated dossier of travel times, places and associations, and feeds it into some kind of predictive machine learning algorithm designed to model, predict and influence the behavior of people who aren't even on Facebook yet.
And they're secret best buds with the NSA.
But the police actually knowing someone is who they they think they are might actually be a net positive in terms of public safety. It seems like a step up from "nondescript black male, 18-35, possibly wearing clothes."
law enforcement in more than half of all states can search against the trove of photos stored for IDs like drivers’ licenses.
Getting that data from Facebook is way more complicated, fraught with legal problems and lower quality than all of the systems that already exist in the legal system between all of the sources that utilize photo id: drivers license, passport etc
[+] [-] moftz|9 years ago|reply
I've got no issue with using law enforcement having access to these pictures for identity verification (i.e. checking to make sure the face on a license matches the face of the person in the database). Although automatic systems setup to identify people in crowds is a bit too Minority Report for me. I understand that I don't have any expectation to privacy when walking around in public but its a bit unnerving to have someone logging my every location and never needing a warrant, as publicly taken pictures wouldn't require one whereas cellphone tracking would.
[1] https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/pubs/hf/pl11028/c...
[+] [-] white-flame|9 years ago|reply
Maybe we need something like HIPPA for personal data. If you start fiddling with stuff that invades privacy of individuals, things should get touchy and messy legally. I have an expectation of privacy in public while in crowds and during my personal travels.
[+] [-] pasbesoin|9 years ago|reply
I think the government and businesses should be subject to the same limitations:
"Stalking" someone, even in public, is illegal and is a violation of their rights.
As one quick example of restriction of rights, constant, pervasive tracking may inhibit one's right to free speech by assembly and association.
Corporations so often insist they are "people", when such claim is to their legal and economic advantage. Well then, treat them like such. Capable of "stalking" and subject to punishment for same.
Next up, crazu EULA that are purposely onerously burdensome while, amidst all that mess, claiming to secure the right to e.g. "stalk".
[+] [-] eveningcoffee|9 years ago|reply
Of course you have. Naturally anybody can see you, but it does not follow that anybody, especially a state representative can follow you and record your whereabouts.
Well, maybe in US you can, I do not know US law this much, but in many EU countries this constitutes as surveillance and requires a warrant.
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cheiVia0|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gscott|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eveningcoffee|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cryoshon|9 years ago|reply
when do we see police departments sanctioned for tracking people not suspected of any crime?
when do we find out that the police arrested or killed the wrong person based off of a faulty algorithm?
when do we start wearing dazzle camo on our face to disrupt them?
[+] [-] krapp|9 years ago|reply
I'm usually all for paranoia when it comes to the police but knowing your identity based on your appearance isn't really a violation of your rights.
Facebook likely automatically builds a profile for every face it can recognize in a photograph, as well as approximate dates and times based on landmarks, shadow geometry and timestamps, building an ad-hoc and constantly updated dossier of travel times, places and associations, and feeds it into some kind of predictive machine learning algorithm designed to model, predict and influence the behavior of people who aren't even on Facebook yet.
And they're secret best buds with the NSA.
But the police actually knowing someone is who they they think they are might actually be a net positive in terms of public safety. It seems like a step up from "nondescript black male, 18-35, possibly wearing clothes."
[+] [-] rawfooddan|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zizzles|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sliverstorm|9 years ago|reply
(with some chance of error)
The government being able to figure out who you are, is not a story.
(Systematic & automatic use of ID information to continually track you, is)
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] _Marak_|9 years ago|reply
Point redacted.
[+] [-] AndrewKemendo|9 years ago|reply
law enforcement in more than half of all states can search against the trove of photos stored for IDs like drivers’ licenses.
Getting that data from Facebook is way more complicated, fraught with legal problems and lower quality than all of the systems that already exist in the legal system between all of the sources that utilize photo id: drivers license, passport etc