Chinese Police Wearing Facial Recognition Are Here

I think we are a lot more aligned in our thoughts than it first appeared.

I have no issue with anything done under the illumination of bright sunlight. It is when LE conspires to keep the public in the dark (I am specifically referencing Stingrays here) that the 'tool in the toolbelt' argument falls down.

100% agree. Stingrays are dark scary tech that I feel needs tight control and oversight. I'm not sure how much they are actually used but the fact that they do exist and we don't know is even more problematic. This entire intelligence field is worrisome and can easily cross all kinds of legal and ethical lines. 

What i like about the glasses is the overt application to a LEOs person. We already have strong and tested laws protecting our privacy and search by an officer. The fact that these glasses are not a nano-bot deployed by LE to gain access to previously private or protected areas is a plus I think. Can there be misuse and abuse, absolutely. I just feel the legal test is easy in this case since the tech is attached to the officer.

I also firmly believe in oversight and accountability. This is where we can help as integrators, designers, and engineers. For example, Atlanta Police that have mobile LPRs on their cars must account for any deviation from SOPs when the tech "hit". Officers must respond the same way for an expired tag on the BMW with the hot blonde as they do to the thumping sedan with four black males. Before the tech, its was easy blind eye the blonde and find an excuse to go after the sedan with the hopes of finding drugs. All things equal, that is what profiling is and our tech has helped chip away at corrupt culture.

If done well in the US, this emerging tech can create more data and more oversight. If an officer uses their tech to ID that same blonde to get her number or address without her knowledge and stalk her, our tech should be designed to flag and pull video automatically to justify why he accessed citizens records when it is not tied to an investigation. 

Good solid implemented tech can be a tool for fighting crime and corruption at the same time.

Just food for thought. 

The problem lies in the non-existence of any statutory guidelines... primarily because the tech is so new that no guidance has ever been applied via statute.

I will argue that there are many solid well tested statues and constitutional rights here in the US. I think those should be applied first with guidelines that help remind agencies how they are applicable regardless of latest greatest tech. 

I do think there is a need to have some oversight and regulation on the database side but that tech has been active for years. This discussion has peaked my interest in that subject. I am completely unaware of what if any oversight in data collection, storage, security, and distribution exist. It would be nice to hear a courts opinion of who, how, and where data can be obtained and stored and who can access it when. 

The glasses are nothing more than a interface with that data. I cant imagine how you could even write a statue prohibiting LEs use of a camera in public on their face. The fact that the SW is able to respond in near real time is the only new facet. There is nothing preventing LE from taking a video from a handheld camcorder, going back and running SW the grabs faces and runs them through a database.

I fairly confident that anyone could create a database and take public legal video and run SW that compares faces to the database. Is it creepy, oh yeah, is it or should it be illegal, my opinion is no. The two issues are how and where the video is obtained and is database created with legal data used legally. Both of these issues are covered with lots of existed privacy laws and such. 

The good thing is that if the scary giant databases do exist and Local LE truly do have open free unfiltered access to them, the glasses with bring that to the surface. I think if we fight the glasses we will be fighting the wrong battle. Prohibit realtime FR glasses and the glasses may die but the questionable data and its use will continue behind the curtain. 

If we allow and encourage new tech use it will be used openly and overtly. If we forbid it, it will be still be used, but out of sight with no acknowledgement or oversight. 

An LEO would need reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity before detaining anyone.  If one is not detained, that means NO questions need to be answered, including questions of identity.
  Terry v. Ohio, 1968