[liberationtech] Those Who Sacrifice Privacy For Security Deserve Neither?

[Yosem Companys]

AI-Powered Cameras Represent Tech’s Biggest Trade-off
Products that promise more convenience and better security often come at
the cost of reduced privacy—and increased surveillance

Two new smart systems use cameras, artificial intelligence and an
assortment of sensors to keep watch over you—Patscan looks for threats in
public spaces, while Eyeris monitors the driver and passengers in a car.
WSJ’s Katherine Bindley visits CES to explores their advantages, as well as
their privacy costs.

By Katherine Bindley
Jan. 7, 2020 11:32 am ET

LAS VEGAS—At this year’s CES tech show, products that pair cameras, sensors
and artificial intelligence have a compelling offer: We will make your life
safer and more convenient—you just have to be OK with a little more
monitoring than you might be used to.

Tech companies have been easing us into gadgets and services that make use
of virtual eyes and ears for a while now. Millions of people use virtual
assistants that listen for wake words and record what follows. More
airports are using facial recognition to speed up travel. And, at least in
San Francisco, being followed around by cameras in a cashierless store
isn’t really creepy anymore, just a regular part of grabbing lunch.

[...]

The potential applications of the technology are simultaneously amazing and
disconcerting. Object detection could mean knowing you’re about to leave
your keys or your bag in an Uber. Face and body analytics will enable
automatic adjustment of a steering wheel to just the right position, or the
deployment of a size-appropriate air bag, depending on who Is in a given
seat. Activity, cognition and emotion analytics systems will be able to
detect if you are eating, texting or looking away from the road for too
long, so that the car can respond accordingly. If a child is screaming in
the back seat, calming music could be cued up. And if you seem distracted,
some of the cars autopilot features might kick in to assist you.

At the same time, it isn’t hard to imagine hypothetical scenarios in which
such detailed data could be used against a driver. What if your
distraction-level data were available to your insurer? Or to lawyers on the
opposing side of a lawsuit over liability for an accident?

[...]

[Another technology] could tell, for example, if a weapon is being taken
out of a car in the parking lot of a school. Those cameras can be paired
with a smart locking system that could automatically secure a building if a
weapon is detected on the premises.

[...]

What is perhaps most notable about the platform is how covert it is. “It’s
hidden, so you can put it in planters or door frames,” said Scott
Ledingham, a spokesman for the company. “No one will even know they’re
being scanned.”

The company said it is up to the individual client using the system to
decide whether people will be notified in some way that nonphysical
screening measures are in place. Facial recognition can be added to the
system, but the company says it doesn’t store data associated with specific
individuals.

[...]

Fatemeh Khatibloo, an analyst with Forrester Research, said an entire
industry is being built on the back of the data that sensors are collecting.

[...]

Based on the direction things are going, there is a lot to think about: How
much disclosure should we get that we’re being filmed, scanned and analyzed?

Ms. Khatibloo said there should be multiple stakeholders including
ethicists and technologists working to answer some of these questions, “not
just an arbitrary set of business owners who see data as a new revenue
source.”

Write to Katherine Bindley at katie.bindley at wsj.com

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ai-powered-cameras-represent-techs-biggest-trade-off-11578414752
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