So far, New York facial recognition experiments, such as ones used at toll booths, have failed. But that’s not stopping the city from expanding its pilot program (via Wall Street Journal—paywall).
[Google Won’t Sell Facial Recognition Software. Yet.]
New York Facial Recognition
In October 2016 New York governor Andrew Cuomo introduced an initiative to identify people entering and exiting New York City. Using facial recognition cameras on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, the system scanned people but had a 0% success rate.
WSJ obtained an email from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to a senior official in Mr. Cuomo’s administration on November 29, saying the the program will be expanded.
In the email, the official added that a second hard drive containing images of drivers had been sent for analysis and that additional cameras were being procured for expansion of the program to other facilities.
A spokesman for the MTA said that the pilot program continues at the bridge, which links Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens, and at both tunnels as well as at the Throgs Neck and Bronx-Whitestone bridges. He said that evaluation of the technology continues.
[New York Transit Support Was Just Added to Apple Maps]
Photo by jonathan riley on Unsplash
Facial recognition doesn’t work, never has. Authorities do not want you to know this because the idea of it is a powerful fear and control mechanism. You might remember the Boston bombers were found in surveillance recordings by humans, not facial recognition. This is a rare moment of honesty from an authority using facial recognition. The admission is being used to get more funding, and they may have a miraculous improvement once taxpayers foot the bill – but the fact remains, in the real world, facial recognition is only ever done effectively by humans.