How the tables have turned: Bloke says he trained facial recognition algorithm to identify police officers

An activist in Portland, Oregon, claims to have trained a facial recognition model that is able to identify one-fifth of the police working in the US city. Christopher Howell, described as a "self-taught coder", told The New York Times that his model isn't publicly available, and that he'd used it to help a friend identify a …

[Anonymous Coward]

AI face recognition of cops

> Unsurprisingly, the most difficult part of the project is collecting enough images to amass a database large enough to accurately match photographs.

But now he's told the cops, they'll be a steady supply of new images from the drivers of cars that mysteriously slow down going past his house, and tail him as he drives to and from work, the mall etc.

[chivo243]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

I was thinking now the word is out, especially in Portland, that he would be inundated with cop photos for his database. Is Snake Plissken now living in Portland?

[markr555]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

"Is Snake Plissken now living in Portland?" - I heard he was dead...

[chivo243]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

Kurt Russell is still alive... Now the character? could be...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

IIRC everyone who shared that belief ended up dead.

[Wellyboot]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

This'll make undercover work interesting if police graduation photos get added to the system, then of course there's all those federal agencies.

Local 'businesses' may well be making Mr Howell a very compelling offer...

Bottle > ...Genie

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

>This'll make undercover work interesting if police graduation photos get added to the system

How is undercover work even possible these days?

So you're Mr J Smith and you want to join my drug running gang ?

Lets have a quick look on Facebook, oh you don't seem to have any presence on the web in spite of being 20 and growing up in America.

Oh I see, you were Amish before you decided to get a very short hair cut and join the underworld? That must be why you also stand to attention and call everyone sir .

[sev.monster]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

Undercover work isn't performed nearly as often as it used to, with the pervasiveness of technology. When it is performed, you'd better believe online presence is part of the cover... If the department has a half-decent IT staff...

[Mike 16]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

IIRC, one of the most head-slapping decisions was when some state wanted to outlaw the ability to block outgoing callerID, with an exception for undercover officers.

"So, I see your calls to me come up a Unknown Caller..."

I believe that cooler heads prevailed before that was approved, but remember, kids

When Privacy is Outlawed, only Outlaws will have Privacy.

[DS999]

Do criminals friend each other on Facebook?

Seems like a bad way to protect yourself if one of the crew gets busted, if the cops can just check his friends list.

If someone asked an undercover guy "how come you don't have a Facebook" he can say he used to until someone he knew got busted because they were able to track him via Facebook.

Doesn't have to be true (though if you allow Facebook to see your location they probably COULD give the cops info on your whereabouts at a given time) just be something they will believe that HE believes when he tells them that's the reason he deleted all his social media accounts.

[Alan Brown]

Re: Do criminals friend each other on Facebook?

Yes, they do - and they boast of their activities too

[onemark03]

AI face recognition of cops

Nah, just hack into the list of the most wanted ...

[Alan Brown]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

"Local 'businesses' may well be making Mr Howell a very compelling offer..."

When the police facial recognition stuff started hitting the news I was wondering how long it'd take for the boot to end up on the other foot (especially with regard to exposing undercover cops)

This could get..... interesting

[spold]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

...still not perfect. keeps identifying them as Paddy Wagon

[Bruce Ordway]

Re: AI face recognition of cops

those drivers more likely to be wearing facemasks now too?

[Khaptain]

Portland

Would that be one of those CHAZ activists that actually believe that society is capable of self governing without police intervention..

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Portland

Or one of the ones that believe that all social problems can't be solved by giving the police bigger weapons?

[Cynic_999]

Re: Portland

Society managed to police itself for thousands of years without an official government controlled police force. I am quite certain that we could revert to the old way without too many problems. It would create injustices that do not presently exist, but also remove other injustices that do exist. The fact that there is nobody alive who has experienced anything other than being controlled by government enforcers means that most cannot imagine anything different and think that society would fall apart and there would be complete anarchy were it not for tens of thousands of laws (with dozens of new laws being made every week) and a powerful and intrusive police force.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Portland

Same solution to all bloated civil servants - Privatize it.

With the proper incentives it would open up a wide ranging employment among the disaffected urban youth to compete against traditional Italian-American family businesses outside the limited market of retail pharmaceutical sales.

It might even speed-up pizza delivery (obligatory obscure Neal S. reference)

[NiceCuppaTea]

Re: Portland

Omni Consumer Products gonna get that contract?

[Cynic_999]

Re: Portland

The police started off as a private force - essentially organised "neighbourhood watch" groups. The police had a uniform but no special powers. The government could not tolerate such a thing and so had to bring it under government control, which is how it has remained. There is absolutely no way that any government these days would consider not having absolute control over the police, though ancilliary services can and have been privatised (e.g. forensic services, office management etc.).

[Khaptain]

Re: Portland

"Society managed to police itself for thousands of years without an official government controlled police force."

Yes, you are very correct, throughout history we would simply kill other people when they did us wrong. We were far more bloodthirsty and far more violent than we are today.

Without any form of gouvernance we would simply return to the same situation.

[Cynic_999]

Re: Portland

"

Yes, you are very correct, throughout history we would simply kill other people when they did us wrong.

"

The first police force in UK was created in 1837. Almost the entre industrial revolution, with all the progress made during that time took place before then. As for killing other people - we have done so to a far greater extent since the formation of the police than we ever did so before. It's just that governments do it rather than private citizens - although I think that your idea of how life was prior to the police is far more violent than was in fact the case.

[Juillen 1]

Re: Portland

Whoah, how to move the goalposts and bring in a red herring.

The killing was done in huge numbers by the governments of the times, and war was endemic, chewing up a sizable portion of the populations of the time (absolute numbers were smaller, because populations were vastly smaller).

Policing has vastly reduced the amount of random people killing other people and just walking away with it and treating it as ok. That's one of the big things the police force was brought in to fix, and it has, to a huge degree.

Governments, overall, kill far less as a percentage of each other's populations now than they used to, because of diplomacy. Your conspiracy theory ideals are just staggeringly uninformed.

[Juillen 1]

Re: Portland

As an addendum, you don't even need to look at history.

There are countries "freed" from your hypothetical "tyranny of Government".

One great example is Somalia. By your logic, with the effective hamstringing of the Government and cessation of policing, people have banded together to exist in harmony, free of the oppressive yoke, and are now living idyllic lives where they can get on and advance in peace.

Except that's not what's going on. Roving warlords can do what they want, to who they want. Murder, rape and a whole load of things are unpunishable if they are perpetrated by people with the guns. If you were to voice your righteous indignation about this to them, their complaints procedure is to simply plant a bullet (or knife, or something) into the complainant until they shut up. Permanently.

Advancement doesn't happen, because anything worthwhile is taken by those that can use force.

Life is cheap there. Very cheap.

So, if you want to see where your anti-government, anti-policing strategy points as its end result, look no further than that, as that's exactly the path that happened.

[Juillen 1]

Re: Portland

You mean the private militias of the local lords that would carry you off if you looked at the wrong person in a funny way, or even before then that if you weren't the most brutal thug in the group, you were wont to have your skull stoved in by the one further up the pecking chain, just because you were a threat?

Praytell, what is this magical time, when people lived in harmony and everything worked out nicely? Do you get your history and anthropology lessons from Disney cartoons?

[Halfmad]

Re: Portland

Unpopular opinion here and likely to get abuse from both sides but the problem isn't the police or policing of society in general.

It's the fact that police, particularly in the USA isn't by consent and holds itself separate from the society it was created to police. It adopted a "them and us" attitude which frankly has been reciprocated by mostly left leaning in that society.

The answer isn't bigger guns or more of them, it's both the police and society rebalancing, that's likely to happen after the USA election (whichever way it goes - that old man or the other one) I just hope it's without violence and BOTH sides accepting whatever the result is, because frankly neither is great.

[Cynic_999]

Re: Portland

The reason policing is not by consent is that the police has become an unelected arm of government, used to enforce government policies (laws) rather than only keeping society safe.

[sev.monster]

Re: Portland

The fact that police even exist while sherriffs exist boggles the mind. I'll take the one directly regulated by the Constitution, thanks.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Portland

You don't have shires, why do you need reeves?

[Alan Brown]

Re: Portland

"It's the fact that police, particularly in the USA isn't by consent and holds itself separate from the society it was created to police."

Which is in direct opposition to the police as created by Peel.

Police are CIVILIANS, part of the community, with extra privileges, but ALSO held to higher standards

In the USA they have become a hired paramilitary occupying force

[heyrick]

These vehicles contain no steering wheel or pedals for human drivers.

Well, that ought to make it interesting for test driving the things.

Or maybe if it should hit somebody, the passengers are supposed to ignore it and let the car decide to carry on?

Who's culpable in such a situation?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: These vehicles contain no steering wheel or pedals for human drivers.

The official driver is a numbered bank account in Liberia.

[spold]

Hmmmm.....

>>>

By skipping the middle step of translating to English first, the meaning of sentences are less likely to be lost in translation.

<<<

Mon aéroglisseur est plein d'anguilles

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmmmm.....

Mon aéroglisseur est plein d'anguilles

Rimbalzante rimbalzante?

[Gene Cash]

If you're interested in a tool that autocompletes your code as you write it then consider Kite.

No thanks, I already have EMACS.

[Cynic_999]

I predicted this!!!

I recall making a comment a few months ago to a Reg article about facial recognition that it could be used to identify and flag undercover cops. I suggested in that comment that historic online police acadamy graduation photos could be used to train the software. It is a real possibility - maybe not likely to be in widespread use by normal members of the public, but organised crime and "action group" bosses may well use it when vetting prospective new gang members.

[Zippy´s Sausage Factory]

Re: I predicted this!!!

May well? I wouldn't be surprised if they already are.

[Wellyboot]

Re: I predicted this!!!

Bad news for any evil twin!

[Robert Moore]

Re: I predicted this!!!

I think you are giving the crims way too much credit. Your average criminal is stealing to buy drugs, with little to no planning or forethought. Most of the drug dealers are also drug users.

[Juillen 1]

Re: I predicted this!!!

Those are the "low hanging fruit" who are easily identified. The successful ones are ruthless, intelligent and quite rich. They've already got channels to identify individuals to a limited extent, but that leaves footprints and trails.

This completely cuts out any form of trail, can be used by those low level criminals, and works in an arbitrary fashion. Don't like the cop that told you to stop stealing? Find out where they live and continually ransack their house.

Don't like the cop that told you to stop beating someone up and chucked you in jail overnight? No problem, find out where they live and send the boys round in masks.

Don't like that you were arrested for murder? Not a problem, have your friends grab the photos and go round and take their family out.

Yes, any one person could theoretically get there eventually with a lot of hard work and effort (and intimidation, threats, money etc.), but this is almost a 'click and go' automation. Find out who's preventing you doing illegal things and take them out before they stop you. That's freedom for some.

[Juillen 1]

Re: I predicted this!!!

That's the only real use for personally identifying police officers (who are organisationally identifiable via badge numbers).

If you can threaten and intimidate the people who are tasked with upholding laws, and reining in organised crime _outside_ the disciplinary checks and balances and ethical studies, you can stop law enforcement in its tracks (who is going to to go and arrest a protester for burning down a building, if the next thing that happens is you're identified and an angry mob come to burn down your house next, perhaps with your family inside, just to send the message home).

What you then end up with is being policed by an unelected, unconstrained, authoritarian group with highly partisan views and a complete lack of ethical oversight and ad-hoc metrics for arbitrary punishment.

Some people just want to see the world burn, and that chap sounds like he's one of those, and doesn't want anyone interfering while he does it.

[Paul Herber]

fuzzy logic?

coat ...

[Ken Moorhouse]

Re: fuzzy logic?

I understood it, even if nobody else did.

I swear it was working in that hut that developed the cryptic sense of humour.

I wonder whether they call the police in Portland Bill.

[Ken Moorhouse]

has over 15 billion parameters

Sounds like it is just a glorified Language A to Language B dictionary.

[Anonymous Coward]

if this is in Portland, and it DOES ID Police there, I know of at least one demonstrator who would be interested in getting his assailants identified and into court.

@tazerface16 was the dude they were beating, who shook it off and walked away

be nice to think that karma could actually be on the way into the lives of those who overstepped the limits of their 'power' and 'authority'

[Barry Rueger]

Le Facebook

New open-source machine translation model from Facebook

I actually have a fair bit of French language news in my FB feed, and I have to say that the auto-translated summaries veer wildly between hilarious and just plain incomprehensible.

So, Facebook as usual.

[martinusher]

They're supposed to carry name tags

Real cops carry name tags, its part of the 'being a policeman' is that you can be identified. (The UK has/had numbers that do the same job.)

Generally speaking if a cop isn't identified then they're a thug who may or may not be working for the government. Things can get a bit fuzzy -- for example, the Federal officers who were sent to Portland and later withdrawn after causing a fair bit of trouble may not have been members of organizations like the Park Police but contractors who were deputized or otherwise employed by the DHS. Not being able to determine who they are, who they work for or even if they're legitimate undermines their credibility.

(I believe its the practice in the UK for some police forces to remove their identification tags when they're in a civil disorder situation. This, IMHO, makes them just another gang of rioters -- if you don't know who they work for or report to they could literally be anybody.)

[John Smith 19]

So FB transaltion trained on 2200 language pairs but actuall more like 9900 possible

IE 22% coverage.

The illusion of inclusion without the hard work to make it happen.

Something to think about there.

[Danny 2]

America will be the death of me

A verse from my favourite Portland anarchist.

If I die tomorrow

From a pipe bomb beneath my seat

Or from drowning in the bathtub

Or choking on a piece of meat

You can rest assured I did not mean to slip upon the grass

It was no one that I knew

Who rammed the plunger up my ass

It’s just that I was told

To speak freely

America will be the death of me