It could be useful to protect people from relatiation under an authoritarian government, such as in Hong Kong. I dislike the idea of a government using mass automatic identification, that could be used again by authoritarians for terrible goals. I also dislike the idea of the opposite and using automatic anonymizing to protect criminals during riots. We're probably going to keep seeing an arms race in this, with good and bad actors on all sides.
Showing the face of a protestor smashing in a window will not lead to that protestor being brought to court and handed a sentence for community service, a fine, or some light jail time. It will lead to extrajudicial retaliation and possibly death.
Again, it would be nice if that weren’t the case and we could trust law enforcement to behave appropriately. But given that they and their supporters are known to hunt down and kill people who protest against them, we cannot in good conscience make it easier for them to do so.
If we are to trust the cops again, they need to show us they are worthy of trust. And they sure aren’t doing that right now.
What? I’m not sure what country you’re talking about. Are you talking about America? Our police find rioters and shoot them dead in the street?
Man, I feel like you live in a different country than me, and I’ve lived in 9 states in every part of the country, and across nearly every income brackets (save extreme poverty or extreme wealth) and feel like your perspective is so disconnected from reality.
This is the country you live in, if you want ignore that fact its on you.