Beyond that, privacy is necessary for democracy. See
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html.
To make whistleblowers and democracy safe, we must redesign
systems so that they do not accumulate dossiers about everyone.

One way to do this is to make them remember only people who are
specifically sought on legal grounds.

For instance, if face recognition systems and license-plate
recognition systems can only “see” people and cars that are being
sought, under a court order, plus invalid plates, they would do some
good while respecting most people’s privacy. They would be able to
spot kidnapped children, to the extent such systems have any chance at
it.

I doubt a kidnapped child will walk past you on the street with a
captor, acting as if everything were ok, such that you would need face
recognition to tell you to call 911. But that’s a side issue.

Now imagine:
- Sex Scan App: uses search software and advanced recognition software to immediately search out and flash up any nude or lewd pictures on internet of everyone you pass on the street. An alternative app could synthesize a naked pic, to give you a general idea.

- Embarass Scan App: similar, but displays any embarassing or drunk photos of everyone you pass on the street

- Religion Scan App: displays the religious affiliation of everyone you see, based on any Facebook declarations, hints or insinuations across a wide range of social media

-Political Scan App: same as above, but displays political stance of everyone you see (maybe summed up in a single fun graphic — like Dick Cheney’s fat head.)

Now fast-forward another 5 years, to the point where many people have gotten used to the idea that many people are continuously running one or more of these apps constantly. Or an app that displays all of this in a fun way. Imagine yourself buying a cup of coffee, or saying Hi on the street. Or interacting on a college campus. You’re not just being mentally undressed; you’re being seen at your worst at all times. How cool is that? People in a small town don’t literally see you drunk or naked WHILE you are buying a donut from them–even if they did happen to be at that Christmas party 12 years ago. But with Glass, everyone will. We might as well all get married.

Since porn and bigotry are already primary uses of search engines for very many people, I think we just have to assume that this is where the road is going. It will happen. I just hope we have at least, say, 2 or 3 years to prep for it. But I actually doubt that we have that long. And I worry about my kids. I don’t know if they’re actually less likely to be kidnapped when a good quarter of everyone is walking around the street in a sea of porn.

Niche applications could be a good idea, for instance at checkpoints where a person’s ability to use two hands is essential, but for the wider public there would need to be some robust safeguards.

However, the main objection is the level of potential abuse of face recognition. It won’t only be used by benign systems. Just sticking with ones directly relevant to this issue, any paedophile or slaver (many thousands of vulnerable people are held and hidden away as slaves) would also see which children are missing and without protection, or which adults are vulnerable, so this would increase the danger for missing children and vulnerable adults, not decrease it. It will also force any children who genuinely want to vanish to go to more extreme means.

In short, it can’t solve the problem, and could even make it worse. The other problems raised by face recognition stack on top of this, but even on this one the idea makes no sense and on this occasion, Google is right.

See:
http://www.scoop.it/t/the-transparent-society

With cordial regards,

David Brin
http://www.davidbrin.com
blog: http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/
twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidBrin