IP: ACLU feature on facecams in airports, DOD "Ferret" system

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 06:08:45 -0800 (PST)
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
>
> Politech facecam archive:
> http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=facecam
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 21:30:01 -0500
> From: Barry Steinhardt <BSteinhardt () aclu org>
>
> Declan,
>
> Many FC list members may remember the use of video surveillance and the
> biometric face recognition at last year's Super Bowl. This chilling combo
> is now being contemplated for use at airports.
>
> The ACLU has just posted a special web feature on face recognition. An
> excerpt appears below.
>
> The full feature can be found at
> http://www.aclu.org/features/f110101a.html
>
> Barry Steinhardt
>
>
>
> The terrorist attacks of September 11 have led airports and other
> institutions to look for new ways of improving security, many of which the
> American Civil Liberties Union supports.
>
> However, we believe that the use of intrusive new surveillance
> technologies must be subjected to a process of thoughtful and deliberate
> scrutiny. In particular, a technology's intrusiveness must be balanced
> against the security benefits it would bring. The burden is on the
> technologists to demonstrate that their solutions will actually be
> effective in making us safer.
>
> On solution that is under consideration at a number of airports is to
> conduct widespread video surveillance of airport patrons and to use "face
> recognition" technology - dubbed "Ferret" by the Department of Defense -
> in an effort to check the identity of passengers. But it is abundantly
> clear that the security benefits of such an approach would be minimal to
> non-existent, for a very simple reason: the technology doesn't work


For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/