Just one in four Americans want strict government limits on the use of biometric technology - with opposition shrinking further if such technology would help law enforcement, reduce shoplifting, or speed up security screenings at the airport, according to a national poll conducted last month by the Center for Data Innovation. Opposition to biometric surveillance decreases with age, and women are more accepting of the technology than men, the poll results show.
Half of respondents oppose restrictions on biometric tech if the scanners are used to stop shoplifting. Just three months earlier, half of Americans were still against facial recognition for theft prevention purposes, according to the Brookings Institute. Only a quarter of them would oppose retail use now.
What changed? Have Americans chosen convenience over dignity? Biometrics executives put their heads together in November to figure out how to sell biometric surveillance to the citizens, worried about numbers that revealed as many as half of Americans opposed use of the tech in the retail sector and believed law enforcement's use of the technology should be strictly limited. But only three percent of the population were "vocally opposed," even then - meaning everyone else could be convinced to stop worrying and love Big Brother.
Almost two-thirds of respondents support the use of biometrics when the software is right 100 percent of the time, but that number drops to 39 percent if the results are incorrect for one out of five scans. Perhaps unsurprisingly, coverage of the government's adoption of biometric surveillance has focused on its accuracy: US Customs and Border Protection has caught 26 "imposters" in airports using the technology, and stories of Chinese authorities catching fugitives in the middle of large concerts using biometric tech paint a picture of an accurate - if dystopian - crime-fighting tool.
The reality is more unsettling. The ACLU ran a test of Amazon's Rekognition biometric software last year that found 28 false matches when comparing a database of 25,000 mugshots with photos of every member of Congress, and the error rate is even higher for non-white faces.
The FBI has been using Amazon's Rekognition software since last year. Amazon also pitched it to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement last summer, but it's unclear if they are using the tool yet.
Always support your leaders.
Whatever organization you belong to, support your leaders!
Our leaders are the richest and wisest people around.
They are the richest because they are the wisest.
They are the wisest, because they are the richest.
Each organization, dovetails nicely into the organization above it, and makes for the hierarchy of 'organized peace' and this is very good. The richest and wisest of all, those very few and very elect, thus rule everyone and this too, is very good.
Furthermore, our leaders (each and every one) support science and technology. They are guided by it and they profit from it.
Science and technology are the means by which we can determine, measure and define truth.
As science and technology evolve and more refined, it becomes easier and easier to measure and to spot and to stop, evil-doers, those who are opposed to truth, those who would falsify and oppose our very good leaders.
When our leaders are able to spot and stop evil-doers with ease, we have a greater supply of organized peace, and our leaders are able to maintain a firm grip.
This is all very important and very good.
Always support your leaders and the science and technology to which they are dedicated.
This is the foundation of truth and sincerity and progress.
Always support your leaders and support 'organized peace'.
ned,
out