Interesting article in London’s Independent newspaper on CCTV surveillance and face biometrics.
Especially interesting is the view of the combination of biometrics over CCTV with artificial intelligence and behavioral recognition, as this does appear to be the way things are moving.
I agree that biometrics, and especially face recognition, can provide huge benefit to society. I also agree that there is a certain level of concern and distrust by large swathes of the population, some of it well-founded, and some of it based on misperception and incorrect knowledge.
In either case, I think it is dangerous to simply dismiss these concerns and objections simply because we feel “we know best”. I believe society can be much better off with the well placed and controlled use of this technology, but I also believe that we should be working with the civil liberties groups rather than fighting them. Ultimately, these systems need to be accepted if they are to succeed, and in order for this to happen, the public has to better understand the benefit to themselves, and have trust in the people using them.