SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Surveillance cameras are seen at a train station. (Photo: Complex Confusion/cc/flickr)
US Making "Significant Advances" in Crowd Scanning Surveillance System
“This technology is always billed as anti-terrorism, but then it drifts into other applications.”
Aug 21, 2013
To the alarm of privacy advocates, the U.S. is making "significant advances" on a crowd-scanning facial-identification surveillance system, the New York Timesreports on Wednesday.
The Biometric Optical Surveillance System or BOSS research, the Times reports, "began as an effort to help the military detect potential suicide bombers and other terrorists overseas at 'outdoor polling places in Afghanistan and Iraq,' among other sites, the documents show. But in 2010, the effort was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security to be developed for use instead by the police in the United States."
The system, which may still be years away from use, takes pictures of a subject from different angles, then sends that "3-D signature" to be processed against faces in a database.
News of this facial scanning system comes in the wake of a series of revelations about the NSA's vast surveillance programs.
"This technology is always billed as anti-terrorism, but then it drifts into other applications," privacy advocate Ginger McCall, who obtained the documents about the developing BOSS system, told the Times. "We need a real conversation about whether and how we want this technology to be used, and now is the time for that debate."
_______________________
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
To the alarm of privacy advocates, the U.S. is making "significant advances" on a crowd-scanning facial-identification surveillance system, the New York Timesreports on Wednesday.
The Biometric Optical Surveillance System or BOSS research, the Times reports, "began as an effort to help the military detect potential suicide bombers and other terrorists overseas at 'outdoor polling places in Afghanistan and Iraq,' among other sites, the documents show. But in 2010, the effort was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security to be developed for use instead by the police in the United States."
The system, which may still be years away from use, takes pictures of a subject from different angles, then sends that "3-D signature" to be processed against faces in a database.
News of this facial scanning system comes in the wake of a series of revelations about the NSA's vast surveillance programs.
"This technology is always billed as anti-terrorism, but then it drifts into other applications," privacy advocate Ginger McCall, who obtained the documents about the developing BOSS system, told the Times. "We need a real conversation about whether and how we want this technology to be used, and now is the time for that debate."
_______________________
To the alarm of privacy advocates, the U.S. is making "significant advances" on a crowd-scanning facial-identification surveillance system, the New York Timesreports on Wednesday.
The Biometric Optical Surveillance System or BOSS research, the Times reports, "began as an effort to help the military detect potential suicide bombers and other terrorists overseas at 'outdoor polling places in Afghanistan and Iraq,' among other sites, the documents show. But in 2010, the effort was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security to be developed for use instead by the police in the United States."
The system, which may still be years away from use, takes pictures of a subject from different angles, then sends that "3-D signature" to be processed against faces in a database.
News of this facial scanning system comes in the wake of a series of revelations about the NSA's vast surveillance programs.
"This technology is always billed as anti-terrorism, but then it drifts into other applications," privacy advocate Ginger McCall, who obtained the documents about the developing BOSS system, told the Times. "We need a real conversation about whether and how we want this technology to be used, and now is the time for that debate."
_______________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.