In my article I warned people that police would use Knightscope's thermal imaging cameras to identify what is under everyone's clothes. (To learn more about public imaging scanners click here.)
A recent article in One Zero revealed that Knightscope has turned their Robocop's into mobile facial recognition devices that can also blacklist people.
"One presentation slide features the company's facial recognition capabilities, indicating that the company can surface a known person's name, the similarity of the person's face compared to a known image, and a log of other identities that the robot has seen."
© One Zero
What we are seeing is a total transformation of our legal system run by corporate interests.
One Zero revealed that Knightscope can label someone a person of interest with terms like, "causes trouble or sketchy dude."
Thesaurus.com describes 'causes trouble' as, "challenging the status quo, to disagree or to protest."
If law enforcement is using Robocops to blacklist people for challenging the status quo or disagreeing with our government then we all need to sit up and take notice.
The article also indicated that Knightscope has access to things like domestic violence records, drivers license suspensions, custody disputes, and of course hostile terminations.
Giving corporations access to court records and license plate information at the touch of a button is like opening all the flood gates of the Panama Canal at once and hoping nothing catastrophic happens.
Right now, companies like Knightscope, the Digital Recognition Network, Vigilant Solutions, Rekor Systems, CLEAR, IdentoGo, and Lexis Nexis are collecting and storing vast amounts of personal data on everyone.
Yesterday, WBUR revealed that the Massachusetts State Police used General Dynamics, Robot Dog "as a mobile remote observation device to provide troopers with images of suspicious devices or potentially hazardous locations."
Police Robocops and Robot Dogs are doing much more than flagging people that cause trouble and taking images of suspicious devices.
Robocops are listening to everyone's phone calls
© One Zero
This is flabbergasting, not only are police using Stingray devices to intercept everyone's cell phone calls, texts and pictures, but now can use they can use Robocops to secretly identify people's phones."This capability allows the robot to discreetly track individuals in its proximity, regardless of whether it can identify their faces. The presentation details how a person's cell phone can be matched to their identity, and be used to track every time they come in proximity of a Knightscope robot over the course of several days."
Comment: See: Potential 'Stingray' spy devices which track cell phones & intercept calls found throughout Washington, DC region
The North Central Texas College Police Department claims their Robocop "will help minimize parking lot incidents" and it can use strobe LED lights on people.
Knightscope's reach into our private lives appears to be growing; they recently announced that their Federal Government Initiative would put Robocops in the Pentagon, Intelligence Community and U.S. Military Forces."Knightscope's ADM uses a powerful LED strobe effect, and continuous patrol sound to deter potential criminals. It uses face recognition, and thermal imaging sensors to automatically detect suspicious persons, or unauthorized vehicles."
Companies like Knightscope, Ring Doorbells, and Amazon's Rekognition are a few examples of corporations profiting from monitoring the public."After years of developing Knightscope's security robot technologies, we are excited to leverage our expertise to help the Nation better secure federal facilities, bases, and assets, which we view as a significant growth opportunity in the coming years," said William Santana Li, chairman and chief executive officer, Knightscope, Inc.
The Urban Dictionary's 6th. example of sketchy, is a perfect example of how corporations view profits versus privacy, "someone's whose true intentions are at best, questionable."
And that is exactly how we should view law enforcement's claims that Robocops and Robot Dogs are needed for public safety: questionable.
that's the problem. "Sitting up and taking notice" does nothing. I remember after the 9/11 event, there were a few media segments where script readers claimed "people are demanding action", referencing the passing of the misnamed "Patriot Act". But they never detailed exactly what was in that authoritarian bill. Nor did you ever hear any member of the public actually asking for less freedom for supposed security. Yet even today they will claim the people called for it. Sitting idly by, complaining on the internet won't stop them from biting way what freedoms remain in America. The only thing that will stop them from implementing these robotic friends of tyranny is action. Masses of residents protesting outside police headquarter, mass letter writing campaigns to local leaders, contacting the local news stations, the governor even. Inaction will only encourage them.