Letters to the Editor: Racist facial recognition — who’s writing the code?
The issue here is not that facial recognition technology is problematic but that these technologies are used by all levels of government agencies and private companies all over the world.
The issue is that government agencies and private groups use these facial recognition technology without appropriate and informed consent to target the general public as well as private industry.
It is not clear when the technology began to be used for civil and non-criminal purposes, such as facial recognition for military identification purposes, the identification of persons suspected of crimes, and the identification of persons involved in political protests. I am not aware of any examples of such practices taking place on municipal streets or in public places or on private property in the United States.
It should be noted that facial recognition technology is also used by many corporations to identify customers as well as employees in the United States. In many countries across the world, this technology may also be used for surveillance purposes. For example, police departments that use the facial recognition technology have been shown to have a “higher incidence of use of force and bias. (Molina, et al. 2015)”
I have no reason to believe the New York Police Department (NYPD) is using facial recognition technology for surveillance purposes. There are also some who claim that the technology has been misused for surveillance purposes, and that this is the issue at hand.
On the other hand, I have witnessed many cases of New Yorkers being surveilled by the police in this fashion. For example, I witnessed New Yorkers being recorded by police on video cameras, and some of these videos were released through Google and YouTube. At times, I have witnessed the video cameras of NYPD and other law enforcement, and private security personnel being mounted on police cruisers in public and private spaces. This is in the United Sates, in New York City, and many other cities.
I have witnessed many New Yorkers, myself included, being observed by the police multiple times in public and