Amazon Pushes ICE to Buy Its Face Recognition Surveillance Tech

I admit it when it comes to Amazon, I use it frequently but ICE getting involved with Amazon is a bit much. A little 1984 for me. So on the one hand it's smart technology but on the other, a bit over the edge, for me anyway being used in this way.

Where should they draw the line on personal freedom and privacy is what I ask. I mean online purchases and it's not iron clad stuff it's got a lot of flaws still.

www.thedailybeast.com...

Arming ICE with real-time facial recognition surveillance technology could supercharge the agency’s enforcement power, and make undocumented immigrants afraid to seek out vital services in places where cameras could be located.

In an email to ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office dated June 15, 2018, an Amazon “sales principal” described the meeting and spelled out follow-up “action items.” One was setting up a tech briefing for ICE officials about tools including the tagging and analysis capabilities of Amazon’s real-time facial matching system, dubbed “Rekognition.”

I'm so confused about this "complaint" listed:

Arming ICE with real-time facial recognition surveillance technology could supercharge the agency’s enforcement power, and make undocumented immigrants afraid to seek out vital services in places where cameras could be located.

It might make them afraid to go somewhere they might get caught?

Isn't that the whole purpose of the technology? To catch them?

Well I'd like to complain about our whole law enforcement system because it makes it so criminals might get caught. Why would we want that?

It's not just the name they gave it, 'Amazon Rekognition ' it's the flawed system they have of it.

Amazon’s Facial Recognition Wrongly Identifies 28 Lawmakers, A.C.L.U. Says - www.nytimes.com...

It's good for keeping the wrong kind of people out of Country, but what about people living in it, that's what i'm looking at.

It's going to come down to either....

1. Just put up with this BS and deal with the complete disregard for your privacy and humanity in exchange for the privilege of living in society.

Or...

2. Leave society and rough it "off the grid"

#2 seems more and more appealing by the year but (of course) not everyone can really do it. If you have any serious medical problems that require constant maintenance, you're going to have to (at the very least) interface with the medical mafia at least once every 3-6 months (most likely interval in the US).

At that point, they already have you by the balls because everything medical is already so tied into government (and is getting more and more all the time). Doctors treat you almost like you're an outright criminal if you dare to show up without insurance, even if you have cash in hand to pay the bill.

So you'd almost have to (minimum) have some kind of health insurance. Which means you need money. Which means you need an income. Which means you interface with the IRS every year.

Most people are not healthy enough to never have to see a doctor. And if you are, you won't stay that way forever (most likely). Once you hit about 40, stuff will start going wrong with your health (that seems to be where it starts for many).

That's not even getting into all the other complicated BS that goes into trying to "leave society". Try doing that if you have kids. Forget that.

And on top of ALL that, there is the fact that society doesn't really want to let you go even if you can make it on your own. Society is downright possessive of it's human property. Guarantee the day will come when it will literally be against the law to live "off the grid" in any fashion. Not to mention the fact that you probably really would not want to even try it if you didn't have a birth certificate and at least one form of ID. At which point, you're back to interfacing with TPTB and have (yet again) compromised the whole point. If (for example) you had a child and you didn't obtain a birth certificate for that child, your child would be no different than an illegal immigrant in the eyes of the law. This would (essentially) make them a nonperson.

Of course everyone loves Amazon. I use it all the time. It appears (however) that Jeff Bezos is a creepy dude who wants to push a dystopian future.

a reply to: KingJames

This technology is coming. Best to get ahead of it and legislate protections.

Amazon is going out of business soon and needs actual $ making revenue. That's why they are pushing this and other dumb S*** ideas onto other sectors.

a reply to: KingJames

First of all, do you really think you have an expectation of privacy when you are out of your home?

Second, I don't think this will be a definitive match, "we got our guy", type of system. It will be a starting point in an investigation. As the A.I. improves it will get better and better with fewer false positives. They need something to round up all those that skip their court hearings.

If you don't like cameras peeking at you in public maybe they can start using something like the movie exploding collars. You get your court appointment, collar is applied and if you don't show up for appointment then boom. Mess with the collar and boom.

originally posted by: Bramble Iceshimmer
a reply to: KingJames

First of all, do you really think you have an expectation of privacy when you are out of your home?

Second, I don't think this will be a definitive match, "we got our guy", type of system. It will be a starting point in an investigation. As the A.I. improves it will get better and better with fewer false positives. They need something to round up all those that skip their court hearings.

If you don't like cameras peeking at you in public maybe they can start using something like the movie exploding collars. You get your court appointment, collar is applied and if you don't show up for appointment then boom. Mess with the collar and boom.

Your opinion means nothing. We all have our own, and our expectations vary. Our dependency lay between what we believe, and what 'is'. Few will understand that statement, you included. Not to be taken personally..