people search for other people using their photos). These new systems will be connected to hundreds of thousands of surveillance cameras in Moscow.
As Russian media Meduza reports, there are no analogues to this system in any city in the world. The algorithm can compare people on the streets with criminals database, but it’s not all. It can also detect individuals in any part of the city and match their images with social network accounts, which usually contain a lot of personal information”.
We should also point out that in the beginning of this year Russian Senate compelled Russian courts to consider photos and videos as legal evidence. Prior to that, the decision was at the court’s discretion.
2. Abuse by law enforcement
Facial recognition makes mistakes. People in charge of these systems misuse them — it’s a known fact. For example, in August, the New York Times reported that San Diego police gathered images of guilty and innocent people without their permission.
Aaron Harvey, a 27-year-old African-American living in San Diego claimed that police treated him with prejudice. Harvey lives in one of the most violent areas of the city. That is probably why the police stopped him more than 50 times and said he was a suspected gang member. When he refused to allow the officer to take his photo, the officer boasted that he could do so anyway.
— Kaspersky Lab (@kaspersky) July 1, 2016
“He said: ‘We’re going to do this either legally or illegally,’ and pulled me out of the car” — Harvey, describing the incident to the New York Times.
Earlier, in 2013, authorities in Boston also tested a facial recognition system. It was linked to surveillance cameras that covertly scanned people’s faces during concerts and other outdoor events. At the end of the testing period, the project was scrapped for ethical reasons. But Boston is one deal, and global implementation is quite another: Facial recognition systems are now being widely used by government agencies.
3. Corporations spying on everybody
Organizations own face databases that are much bigger than the FBI’s collection. Social networks top the list: Facebook, Instagram (which belongs to Facebook), Google (with its Google+), VC.com, and other social sites. The majority of these companies have their own facial recognition solutions that they constantly develop and improve.
Microsoft is now working on a similar technology for the FamilyNotes app that will enable the software to distinguish one user from another with the help of a camera built into a laptop or a tablet. Microsoft develops one of the most popular operating systems in the world, and this app will substantially supplement the company’s database of faces.
— Kaspersky Lab (@kaspersky) April 22, 2016
Facebook’s facial recognition system is one of the most accurate in the world. The company quietly launched this tool in 2012 and kept it on by default for the majority of users. Later, the company faced dozens of lawsuits — that number is still growing , and Google is also being pursued in court on similar charges. As a result Facebook had to disable facial recognition features in certain regions.
We should also note that Facebook has one-sided approach to this issue: For example, its knowledge base has zero articles on how to disable the facial recognition function — which, by the way, is not a one-click operation.
Even if you are not a member of any social network (or if you avoided uploading your real photos to any of them) your face can still get into a social media company’s database. Last year, a Chicago citizen sued photo-book service Shutterfly because the site added his photo to its database without his consent. A third party (a friend, most likely) had uploaded his photo to Shutterfly and signed the image.
4. Anybody can find you
Any facial recognition system that is available for everyone can be used as a powerful tool for lynch-law, or vigilante justice. This year, for example, two young men set a fire in a building lobby in Saint Petersburg. After they finished, the pyromaniacs caused a ruckus in the elevator of the