美国国家公共电台 NPR Real-Time Facial Recognition Is Available, But Will U.S. Police Buy It?

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Police in the U.S. have been using facial recognition software for years, usually after a suspect is caught on camera during a crime. Now real-time facial recognition is on the horizon. In China, authorities are touting¹ a new system's ability to spot people as they're walking down the street. Similar software is being tried by police in Russia, in India, even the United Kingdom. So when might it reach American streets? NPR's law enforcement correspondent Martin Kaste went to find out.

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE²: This is connect:ID. It's a convention for the biometrics industry that's held in Washington. And the vendors³' exhibit hall is just what you'd expect. Everywhere you look, there are big screens with live views of your face as you go by as computers track you and categorize you by age and sex. If they're connected to the right database, they could also guess your name. Terry Hartmann is at the booth for a German company called Cognitec. And what's new, he says, is how good these systems are getting at recognizing faces in real-world conditions.

TERRY HARTMANN: You can see all of these matches are different poses. The people aren't facing the camera straight on. You've got people with glasses. You've got the lady looking down. She's matched looking in a different direction.

KASTE: Link that to a national photo database, and it's pretty much the end of anonymity⁴ in public places. That's clearly the appeal in autocratic societies like China. But these systems are also being pitched to Western governments. Police in the United Kingdom are now scanning crowds for known troublemakers⁵ or wanted criminals. And the same tech is being offered to American police, says Clare Garvie. She tracks this issue for the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law.

CLARE GARVIE: Every major company that sells to law enforcement in the U.S. advertises the ability to do real time. And we've seen a fair amount of interest on the part of law enforcement in purchasing these systems.

KASTE: American police aren't buying the real-time systems yet, but Garvie says a few departments have requested funding to try them out. If police are hesitant, it's because the systems are pricey, and there's also the risk of a public backlash. But when it comes to legal barriers, that's less of a concern.

JONATHAN TURLEY: There's not a lot standing⁶ between instantaneous facial recognition technology and its ubiquitous use by police departments or cities.

KASTE: Jonathan Turley is a civil libertarian and law professor at George Washington University. He just gave a speech here at this convention appealing to the industry to set up better privacy protections. That's because he's not sure he can count on the courts to limit how police use facial recognition, especially if Americans get used to this tech in other settings such as on their phones or in shopping malls.

TURLEY: As businesses recognize you coming into stores and coffee shops, at what point do our expectations fall to the point that the extension of the government into the area becomes less problematic?

KASTE: In other words, why would Americans expect not to be scanned by the police if they come to expect it from, say, the customer loyalty⁷ program at their favorite coffee chain? This prediction about the gradual normalization⁸ of facial recognition is something you hear from the industry, too. Here again is Terry Hartmann from Cognitec.

HARTMANN: If organizations like casinos, security at stadiums are putting in this technology at a level that embarrasses the police where they don't have it themselves, that puts pressure on them.

KASTE: The flashiest booth at this convention belongs to NEC Corporation of America. It's a major supplier of still photo facial recognition. They say they have not yet sold any real-time systems to American police, but executive Benji Hutchinson says a few departments are starting to window shop.

BENJI HUTCHINSON: I can't say which ones. But it's been the large cities that you might imagine, some of the large coastal⁹ areas.

KASTE: One sticking point, Hutchinson says, is that American cities often don't have enough of the kind of high-def digital security cameras that you need for facial recognition. Though he says that may not matter in the long term. As if to illustrate¹⁰ his point, a body camera clipped to a nearby mannequin starts beeping.

(SOUNDBITE OF BEEPING)

KASTE: Is that me, or is that...

HUTCHINSON: Oh, that's this thing.

KASTE: Oh, OK.

HUTCHINSON: Yeah. Yeah.

KASTE: (Laughter) I never know what's beeping. Oh, it's matching someone. OK.

A body camera that NEC has on display has recognized a passing face. Hutchinson predicts this is how the technology will come to American streets, by piggybacking on the thousands of new body cameras that departments are buying for their officers. At first, he says, it'll just be used as a way to recognize the faces of innocent people and blur¹¹ them out. But it won't stop there.

HUTCHINSON: I think the second step is obviously they're going to look at ways to implement¹² facial recognition against known or suspected terrorists or people who are wanted. That'll be the obvious next step. And it is a pretty simple leap.

KASTE: The question is, which law enforcement agency will be the first to take that leap? Hutchinson predicts it'll likely be a deep-pocketed federal department such as Customs and Border Protection, which is already testing facial recognition at passport control in airports. And as he mentions this, two CBP officials stop by the NEC booth, and the company's sales team scrambles¹³ to show them what the body cameras can do. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Washington.

1 touting   

v.兜售( tout的现在分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• He's been touting his novel around publishers for years. 他几年来一直到处找出版商兜售自己的小说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Technology industry leaders are touting cars as a hot area for growth. 科技产业领袖吹捧为增长热点地区的汽车。 来自互联网

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。

5 troublemakers   

n.惹是生非者，捣乱者( troublemaker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was employed to chuck out any troublemakers. 他受雇把捣乱者赶走。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers. 她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

8 normalization   

n.（normalisation）正常化，标准化

参考例句：

• The visit signalled the normalization of relations between the two countries.这次访问显示两国关系已经正常化。
• He was pleased to the normalization of relationship between the police and the people.他很高兴警方和人民之间关系的正常化。

9 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

10 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

11 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

12 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

13 scrambles   

n.抢夺( scramble的名词复数 )v.快速爬行( scramble的第三人称单数 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• The breaking of symmetry scrambles the underlying order of nature. 对称性的破坏会打乱自然界的根本秩序。 来自互联网
• The move comes as Japan scrambles for ways to persuade women to have more babies. 这一行动的出现正值日本政府想尽各种办法鼓励妇女多生育孩子。 来自互联网