Opening Insights: Facial Recognition Tech is Getting Better
Big Brother is Watching You.
GEORGE ORWELL, 1984
Anyone who has read a science fiction novel or watched a sci-fi action movie can tell you exactly what happens next. How many times have we been warned by the likes of Orwell and Huxley? Do we believe it can’t happen to us?
Informational Insights: I See You
The following article was published by CNET, a leading online informer on “what’s new in tech, culture and science, why it matters, how it works and what you need. ” It was written by Carrie Mihalcik, an associate editor for CNET News.
(CNET, US) The facial recognition tech is also getting better at estimating a person’s age, the company says.
Amazon’s controversial facial recognition technology, called Rekognition, has a new skill. It can now spot fear. The company says it recently launched updates to Rekognition’s facial analysis features, including improved age estimation and the addition of fear to its emotion detection.
“We have improved accuracy for emotion detection (for all 7 emotions: ‘Happy,’ ‘Sad,’ ‘Angry,’ ‘Surprised,’ ‘Disgusted,’ ‘Calm’ and ‘Confused’) and added a new emotion: ‘Fear,'” according to an update from Amazon on Monday. “Lastly, we have improved age range estimation accuracy; you also get narrower age ranges across most age groups.”
https://www.cnet.com/news/amazons-rekognition-software-can-now-detect-fear/
Video Courtesy of CNET.com
https://www.cnet.com/news/amazons-rekognition-software-can-now-detect-fear/
(CNET, US) Amazon boasts that its Rekognition software can track and analyze hundreds of people in a photo using a database with tens of millions of faces. The ACLU has expressed concern about law enforcement’s use of the technology, saying it could be abused by governments to pose a “grave threat to communities, including people of color and immigrants, and to the trust and respect Amazon has worked to build.”
In July, the Orlando Police Department officially ended its Amazon Rekognition program after a bumpy ride. The department had temporarily stopped using Rekognition in June 2018 after the city’s pilot program with Amazon ended and after the ACLU penned an open letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos highlighting privacy concerns. Amazon employees have also protested the sale of Rekognition software to police.
Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://www.cnet.com/news/amazons-rekognition-software-can-now-detect-fear/
This article originally apeared on CNET: Amazon’s Rekognition software can now spot fear
Possibilities for Consideration: Spying on Me
There will come a time when it isn’t ‘They’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be ‘My phone is spying on me’.
PHILIP K. DICK
What is the real price of technology’s convenience? What is the true price of security? Is it really a price that we as a nation are willing to pay?
Take a moment and examine…
- As you reviewed the material above, what stood out to you?
- What is the potential impact, economically and/or socially?
- What action is needed to stop or support this idea?
- You may want to consider whether you:
- want to be aware of,
- should become supportive of,
- would want to be active in this topic?
Add Your Insight
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough; we must do.
LEONARDO DA VINCI