zlacker

Yeah, facial recognition can be useful in law enforcement, as long as it's used responsibly. There was a man who shot people at a newspaper where I lived, and when apprehended, he refused to identify himself, and apparently their fingerprint machine wasn't working, so they used facial recognition to identify him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Gazette_shooting

>>dx87+(OP)
> as long as it’s used responsibly

At what point can we decide that people in positions of power are not and will not ever be responsible enough to handle this technology?

Surely as a society we shouldn’t continue to naively assume that police are “responsible” like we’ve assumed in the past?

>>YPCrum+x2
> Surely as a society we shouldn’t continue to naively assume that police are “responsible” like we’ve assumed in the past?

Of course we shouldn't assume it, but we absolutely should require it.

Uncertainty is a core part of policing which can't be removed.

>>YPCrum+x2
Agreed, I'm not saying we can currently assume they are responsible, but in some hypothetical future where reforms have been made and they can be trusted, I think it would be fine to use. I don't think we should use current bad actors to decide that a technology is completely off limits in the future.

>>dx87+(OP)
From the wiki article and the linked news articles, the police picked him up at the scene of the crime. He also had smoke grenades (used in the attack) when they found him.

> Authorities said he was not carrying identification at the time of his arrest and was not cooperating. … an issue with the fingerprint machine ultimately made it difficult to identify the suspect, … A source said officials used facial recognition technology to confirm his identity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Gazette_shooting#Suspe...

> Police, who arrived at the scene within a minute of the reported gunfire, apprehended a gunman found hiding under a desk in the newsroom, according to the top official in Anne Arundel County, where the attack occurred.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/heavy-pol...

This doesn't really seem like an awesome use of facial recognition to me. He was already in custody after getting picked up at the crime scene. I doubt he would have been released if facial recognition didn't exist.

>>dx87+(OP)
I don't think there is such a thing as responsible use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement.

The technology is certainly not robust enough to be trusted to work correctly at that level yet. Even if it was improved I think there is a huge moral issue with the police having the power to use it indiscriminately on the street.