FC: NYT, LATimes editorials slam Super Bowl face-scan technology

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Background:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-01691.html
My article on the constitutional issues:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41571,00.html
LA Times on the technology:
http://www.latimes.com/print/20010202/t000009640.html

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http://www.latimes.com/print/editorials/20010202/t000009769.html

Editorial
Super Day for Big Brother

The creeping assault against privacy turned just plain creepy this week 
with the disclosure that close-up digital surveillance cameras scanned the 
faces of all who passed through the turnstiles at the Super Bowl. The 
strong reaction to this news stems from the omniscience of sci-fi 
technology, from worries about who knows what about us and from wondering 
where it will end.
...

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http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/04/opinion/04SUN3.html

February 4, 2001
Super Bowl Snooping
Editorial

Although few spectators at last Sunday's Super Bowl were aware of it, 
surveillance cameras photographed their faces as they filed into Raymond 
James Stadium. Those images were then relayed instantly by cable to 
computers that scanned and compared them with images in a police database 
of criminals and criminal suspects. A Tampa Bay police spokesman described 
the system as a potentially "priceless" tool for detecting dangerous 
individuals and preventing terrorist acts. The American Civil Liberties 
Union has criticized the system as an invasion of privacy that could have 
serious consequences for a free society.

We share those concerns. Three years ago this week, the New York City 
Police Department installed surveillance cameras in Washington Square Park, 
ostensibly to deter drug dealers. We argued editorially at the time that 
even though there was generally no expectation of privacy in public spaces, 
Americans did not expect to be monitored by government agencies when they 
ate lunch on a park bench or strolled down a street.
...

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23360-2001Feb3.html

And Now, the Good Side Of Facial Profiling
By John D. Woodward Jr.
Sunday, February 4, 2001; Page B04
Op-Ed

It seemed like an Orwellian revelation: Last week, law enforcement
officials at Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa secretly scanned spectators'
faces with surveillance cameras and instantly compared their
"faceprints" against those of suspected terrorists and known
criminals in a computerized database. Alarmed civil libertarians
quickly raised the specter of a Big Brother government spying on its
citizens.

But is the growing use of this technology cause for alarm? Is it an
undesirable invasion of individual privacy, or does it represent a
positive advance in security measures that generates benefits for
society? As someone who closely follows law and policy issues
related to biometrics -- technologies that use a person's physical
characteristics or personal traits for recognition -- I believe we
must not move precipitously to condemn a technology that can serve
as a useful tool in the fight against crime and terrorism.

...




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