The Emergence of National Biometric Gathering Systems and the Dissolution of Anonymity and Privacy

Yesterday I posted about tech giants like Facebook pursuing dystopian surveillance technology. Private companies have long been involved with federal agencies to gather and process data. It's a very lucrative industry, as we know from Facebook and their data gathering making them one of the 5 most valued corporations on the planet.

Millions of people get and submit fingerprints to the FBI and other agencies every year. SureID is a national fingerprinting company who offers a service to make "capturing your fingerprints" a "convenient, safe, secure, fast, and appointment-free". They are now joining forces with a Bocton-based startup called Robbie.AI "that authenticates identity using AI-based facial recognition and behavioral prediction in natural settings".

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They do what Facebook does as well, emotion recognition technology, but also tout being able to "predict emotions in real time". They currently do "six basic emotions as well as non-basic feelings such as satisfaction, boredom, and engagement, automating data collection and analysis of customers". Robbie.AI's slogan is:

Robbie knows*.

*Knows, analyzes and predicts anyone's emotions.

Robbie.AI "uses sophisticated AI technology for facial identification and emotion recognition and provides the highest level of accuracy on the market today, using any commodity camera -high or low end – in physical locations." Given SureID's national fingerprinting position, this partnership could likely lead to a new national biometric gathering system.

SureID is used by employers to authenticate employee identity through its nationwide network of kiosks. The addition of technology from Robbie.AI allow the two firms to build the blocks of a nationwide biometric database used for numerous purposes. This ranges from retail and employee authentication, to emerging technological areas like "driver-identification for keyless self-driving cars" or in "robotics platforms" of the future.

The merger of fingerprint and facial recognition biometric technology is likely inevitable, as "advocates see it as a security win". Like Ned Hayes, General Manager for SureID:

"As technology emerges and companies adopt more sophisticated forms of security, it will be crucial for safety and security to authenticate the real identity of technicians and consumers... providing industry-transforming biometrics and identity offerings to make the security world safer, faster, and a better experience for everyone."

This should worry those of us who have concerns about privacy. Privacy advocates warn of a violation to privacy rights with this new video-based biometrics technology that can accurately scan crowds of people to identify specific individuals.

Despite any "noble intentions", it's pretty easy to imagine how this can be a security concern and used in negative ways. People of ill-intent could potentially find anyone else as long as they had video data. An Indian journalist demonstrated how easy it is to get access to the biometric identification database earlier this year, as he bought administrative access for $8 USD.

Facial recognition security solution are not unbeatable. The Face ID system on the new iPhoneX was defeated with a 3D maskone week after the phone was released. The M.I.T. Media Lab has shown existing technology to have trouble with darker skinned women resulting in a 35% error rate. Robbie.AI claims to be better with less errors due to using bone structure, where "weight gain or loss and darker rooms don't impact results".

Given the increasing surveillance of society in the hands of the government and authorities, do you want them to be able to track anyone they see? I'm sure it's a highly-desired technology for at least China, and probably most of the rest of the government of the world. Turning us all into a set of data is convenient for them to keep us under their watchful eyes. China's mass surveillance network is called Sharp Eyes.

But recall movies like Minority Report which show how people who fight against corruption in the system can be falsely charged as criminals and be prevented from exposing the dark secrets. What happens when whistleblowers try to go meet with anyone to leak information about crimes or corruption? Technology plays a large part in liberating us, but it also is a double-edged sword that can enslave us.

People could even be falsely accused of a crime and convicted, just because software "identifies" them as the suspect. Modern policing and psychology has looked for common measurements to identify people for statistical similarity to criminals. We could be entering a time of greater profiling or pre-crime efforts.

Rather than make the world safer through blind trust in government and technology, we could be making the world a darker control grid powered by increasingly represent governments who fear so much around them. Anonymity would almost certainly be a bygone. A decent film that goes into the death of anonymity is called Anon with Clive Owen. It paints a dark and scary picture of where we might end up, as anonymity is the enemy in a world under complete surveillance.

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References:

• National biometric database could be on the way (and in private hands)
• Press: SureID and Robbie.AI Explore the Frontiers of Biometrics
• Full Access to India's National Biometric Database Reportedly Sold Over WhatsApp for About $8

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Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.

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