Wrongfully Accused by an Algorithm
On a Thursday afternoon in January, Robert Julian-Borchak Williams was in his office at an automotive supply company when he got a call from the Detroit Police Department telling him to come to the station to be arrested. He thought at first that it was a prank.
An hour later, when he pulled into his driveway in a quiet subdivision in Farmington Hills, Mich., a police car pulled up behind, blocking him in. Two officers got out and handcuffed Mr. Williams on his front lawn, in front of his wife and two young daughters, who were distraught. The police wouldnt say why he was being arrested, only showing him a piece of paper with his photo and the words felony warrant and larceny.
His wife, Melissa, asked where he was being taken. Google it, she recalls an officer replying.
The police drove Mr. Williams to a detention center. He had his mug shot, fingerprints and DNA taken, and was held overnight. Around noon on Friday, two detectives took him to an interrogation room and placed three pieces of paper on the table, face down.
Whens the last time you went to a Shinola store? one of the detectives asked, in Mr. Williamss recollection. Shinola is an upscale boutique that sells watches, bicycles and leather goods in the trendy Midtown neighborhood of Detroit. Mr. Williams said he and his wife had checked it out when the store first opened in 2014.
The detective turned over the first piece of paper. It was a still image from a surveillance video, showing a heavyset man, dressed in black and wearing a red St. Louis Cardinals cap, standing in front of a watch display. Five timepieces, worth $3,800, were shoplifted.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/technology/facial-recognition-arrest.html
tblue37
(65,216 posts)frazzled
(18,402 posts)This was a traumatic experience for Mr. Williams, which will have long-lasting repercussions for him and his family.
I am going to look into the laws in my city regarding facial recognition use by the police, and make sure that it alone cannot be used to arrest someone, especially for a minor crime such as shoplifting. If not, Im getting my alderman to get right on it.
douglas9
(4,358 posts)SEATTLE Microsoft has joined the list of tech giants that have decided to limit the use of its facial-recognition systems, announcing that it will not sell the controversial technology to police departments until there is a federal law regulating it.
The move, which Microsoft President Brad Smith confirmed at a Washington Post Live event Thursday, follows similar decisions by Amazon and IBM as protesters nationwide press for an end to police brutality and racial profiling.
Smith said Microsoft has not sold its facial-recognition technology to police departments. And the company has backed legislation in California that would allow police use of the technology with some restrictions.
We will not sell facial-recognition technology to police departments in the United States until we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights, that will govern this technology, Smith said.
The company plans to put in place review factors that Smith said would go even beyond what we already have to determine the use of the technology beyond law enforcement.
The bottom line for us is to protect the human rights of people as this technology is deployed, Smith said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/11/microsoft-facial-recognition/
frazzled
(18,402 posts)This month, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM announced they would stop or pause their facial recognition offerings for law enforcement. The gestures were largely symbolic, given that the companies are not big players in the industry. The technology police departments use is supplied by companies that arent household names, such as Vigilant Solutions, Cognitec, NEC, Rank One Computing and Clearview AI.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,852 posts)Last edited Wed Jun 24, 2020, 01:30 PM - Edit history (2)
It reminds me of when I went to a gas station and noticed a "Wanted" poster on the plexiglass as I was paying for something. It was the drawing of someone who robbed the store, and he looked just like me! I started chuckling to myself and I ALMOST pointed out the uncanny resemblance to the clerk! Then I thought of the potential headaches from police and bit my tongue. I also avoided that gas station in the future. (No, I didn't rob that place or anywhere else.)
I've had strangers tell me that I look just like Jason Bateman, and others who said I look just like Kenneth Branagh (soon after "Henry V" was released in theaters), but neither of them look like me. (They don't even resemble each other!) That "Wanted" poster, on the other hand, was the best drawing of me that I've ever seen!
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,812 posts)I would have thought it might have improved over the years, but obviously not.
Response to douglas9 (Original post)
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