Althouse: "New Yorkers who live in areas where controversial stop-and-frisk searches happen most frequently are also more likely to be surveilled by facial recognition technology..."

February 15, 2022

"New Yorkers who live in areas where controversial stop-and-frisk searches happen most frequently are also more likely to be surveilled by facial recognition technology..."

"... according to research by Amnesty International and other researchers. Research also showed that in the Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens boroughs of the city there was a direct correlation between the proportion of non-white residents and the concentration of controversial facial recognition technology. 'Our analysis shows that the NYPD’s use of facial recognition technology helps to reinforce discriminatory policing against minority communities in New York City,' said Matt Mahmoudi, artificial intelligence and human rights researcher at Amnesty International...."

The Guardian reports.

44 comments:

Michael said...: What a surprise. I could do these “studies” from home. Jeez. At what point can you stop pretending what is in front of your face isn’t there.; 2/15/22, 5:54 AM
Dalben said...: Would those areas also be associated with higher crime rates? Just curious.; 2/15/22, 5:54 AM
FleetUSA said...: And why don't they talk about the extensive (and helpful) CCTV systems widely used in the UK. We hire the police to catch criminals.; 2/15/22, 6:00 AM
sean said...: In other words, the NYPD has deployed two crime-fighting techniques to high-crime areas. The horror!; 2/15/22, 6:02 AM
rhhardin said...: A fair trial is one where you have a 50-50 chance of getting off. It's an intuitive thing, easy to sell. Likewise putting cameras in high crime areas seems unfair to the criminally inclined.; 2/15/22, 6:05 AM
tim in vermont said...: “If you’re on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – no matter what, they can see and identify who you are without violating the rights of people,” said Adams in January while discussing a new plan to solve gun violence in New York City. “It’s going to be used for investigatory purposes.”

We live in an utterly corrupted dystopia.; 2/15/22, 6:08 AM
madAsHell said...: I’m always amused by the bank that wants you to remove all face coverings, but wear a mask.; 2/15/22, 6:16 AM
rehajm said...: I looked on Amnesty International’s website on anything about the J6 political prisoners. There’s plenty of position statements on their opposition to detentions for political reasons but nothing about the US detentions.

Too busy pleasing BLM. Some of that BLM corporate cash must have sloshed AI’s way…; 2/15/22, 6:20 AM
gilbar said...: so, areas with higher crime rates tend to have higher minority rates?
That seems RACIST!
maybe we need to start busing criminals to other areas, like we did with school kids?

or maybe, the police should stop policing areas with high minority rates.. THAT would fix everything!; 2/15/22, 6:23 AM
Roger This said...: Snow tends to concentrate in areas where people walk around with shovels.; 2/15/22, 6:26 AM
iowan2 said...: I heard an interview with Gulliani on the radio last fall.
The subject the host brought up was the disparate targeting of black by police.

Rudy related that when he was Mayor, they had analyzed 911 calls. What they found were +70% of 911 calls in NYC, originated from black communities. Gulliani says its not hard to figure out that if a disproportional amount of calls for police presence are started by Blacks communities, more arrests will end up being Black

This is just a statistical data point that explains they reality of Black crime.; 2/15/22, 7:10 AM
Howard said...: Dystopia has been the new normal throughout the history of agricultural based civilization. In fact, in the Western Liberal Democracies today, dystopia is at an All Time low. Just ask Joe Rogan Bro Steven Pinker.

Times are so good and the proliferation of bad news delivered by mind control algorithms on infotainment super expressway people crave anxiety and depression.

Your options are to go outside and get exercise and take the air or become a benzodiazapines gobbler.; 2/15/22, 7:13 AM
Clyde said...: That's where the crime is.; 2/15/22, 7:24 AM
wendybar said...: I am at the point where I just don't care. Let them kill each other. I am done with Progressive cities...I will avoid them. This is what they voted for.; 2/15/22, 7:25 AM
Howard said...: This was the top hit on my YouTube feed right after making the last comment.

The addictive nature of smartphones

Sebastian Junger on Peter Attia's podcast; 2/15/22, 7:28 AM
ga6 said...: "maybe we need to start busing criminals to other areas" I believe that is the function of carjacking.; 2/15/22, 7:29 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Race race race race race race.

Or they could have written that New Yorkers who live where crime-fighting is high might see more public surveillance in the area.

But that’s much too neutral a presentation so let’s go with race race race instead.; 2/15/22, 7:33 AM
Fernandinande said...: Let's write numbers!

I rounded these to the nearest whole percent to make it easier to read with blogger's lack of formatting.

New York City Population, 2021 percent

White 31
Mestizo 29
Black 24
Asian 14
Mixed 4

NYC Murders:

Victim / suspect / arrestee (%)

White 6 / 6 / 4
Mestizo 26 / 27 / 32
Black 65 / 63 / 60
Asian 3 / 4 / 4
(Note the similarity within each row, because people generally kill other people of the same race)

They (nyc.gov) also have tables for Criminal Mischief (e.g. entering Capital...), Felony Crimes, Rape, Felony Sex Crimes, Robbery, Felonious Assault, Grand Larceny, which have similar distributions of victim/offender, although blacks are most over-represented as both victims and perps in murders.; 2/15/22, 7:58 AM
Lucien said...: What is the error rate for eyewitness identification vs. facial recognition technology? If I think "all [white/asian/black] people look alike", how does that affect my error rate for eyewitness identification? How fast is the error rate dropping for facial recognition technology? How fast is the error rate dropping for human eyewitness IDs?

When people make assertions about racial bias in facial recognition technology, how can you tell when they are referring to studies published years ago based on data from years before then, and when they are referring to the accuracy of facial recognition technology circa 2022?; 2/15/22, 8:10 AM
daskol said...: The people of NYC chose the closest thing to a law and order candidate on offer most recently, so we’re not as stupid as this researcher. Adams is an empty suit and there’s no reason to think he’s going to have a particularly successful mayoralty, but at least he’s not overtly hostile to the police, and vice versa. But nobody really trusts him because he’s a weathervane.; 2/15/22, 8:27 AM
Gahrie said...: What percentage of crime committed in NYC is committed by People of Color?; 2/15/22, 8:44 AM
Roger Sweeny said...: Is there "a direct correlation between the proportion of non-white residents" and the amount of crime in a neighborhood? In that case, there should be more steps taken to reduce crime there. If reality is racist, human reaction also has to be.; 2/15/22, 8:44 AM
Big Mike said...: So they finally solved the problem of facial recognition software doing such a poor job of distinguishing one black face from another? About time.

So who, precisely, is opposed to aggressive police tactics? Law-abiding citizens stuck living in those areas? Or people living nowhere near those areas and who are protesting on behalf of criminals?; 2/15/22, 9:15 AM
Wince said...: Dr Matt سپهر Mahmoudi #FuckTheAlgorithm seems to be arguing in circles here.

Wouldn't the simple civil libertarian compromise be to require police obtain a warrant, specific to a time and place, in response to a specific crime before applying FRT technology to any video footage gathered?; 2/15/22, 9:18 AM
rcocean said...: I'm not even clear as to why this is bad. Sometimes, libtards think that anything hurts People of Color, even Crooks, is bad. And the people who committing crime are not "non-white" seems Asians are even more law abiding than whites. Again, its blacks. Sorry to tell the truth.

In general principle, I'm on the side of civil liberties. But I'm not sure that facial recognition software is any worse then DNA or fingerprints.; 2/15/22, 9:21 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: You fish where the fish are.; 2/15/22, 9:22 AM
Ice Nine said...: Sutton's Law.; 2/15/22, 9:34 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: Great point rehajm on Amnesty ignoring the J6 prisoners.; 2/15/22, 9:36 AM
Michael K said...: Research also showed that in the Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens boroughs of the city there was a direct correlation between the proportion of non-white residents and the concentration of controversial facial recognition technology.

Did they happen to study the incidence of crime, as well?; 2/15/22, 9:56 AM
Ceciliahere said...: Where does Amnesty International stand on human trafficking specifically across the southern border of the U.S.? Illegal immigrants and the cartels are getting rich smuggling girls and women into this country.

Facial recognition in high crime areas seems like a good way to monitor criminals. But progressives do not like any surveillance of criminals or the broken windows method used to police high crime areas. These methods help to lower crime in high crime areas and make it safer for the law abiding residents.

My impression is that the progressives want the criminals to have more civil rights than the victims of crime. No Bail is one example of criminals using a revolving door to go out and commit another crime with no consequence. This is insane!; 2/15/22, 9:57 AM
Greg The Class Traitor said...: "helps to reinforce discriminatory policing against minority communities in New York City"

Let me unpack that for you:

"We object to the NYC Police focusing their efforts on protecting minorities from criminals."

Or, to cut to the heart of the matter: "We want more 'minorities' to be crime victims, and are upset that teh police are trying to protect them."

What a bunch of disgusting monsters. Amnesty International, not the NYC police; 2/15/22, 10:19 AM
Owen said...: What can't go on, won't.

That is all.

I used to indulge in fantasies about socially-engineered solutions, about big campaigns, about breakthrough policy moves. Not any more.; 2/15/22, 10:57 AM
Joe Smith said...: This is a Willie Sutton moment.

That's where most of the fucking violent crime takes place.; 2/15/22, 11:36 AM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: When efforts to protect predominantly minority neighborhoods can be itself be colored as racist. That’s the thing about racism, focusing on it, you get more of it.; 2/15/22, 11:44 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: I got in trouble the other day, by essentially asking why anyone would want to live in a crazy shithole like NYC. But I think it is more that it is a progressive nuthouse than that 8 million people are living cheek to jowl on top of each other. That isn’t mentally healthy, but the big problem seems to be left wing idiocy let to run amok. Most of us who aren’t rabid leftists fully understand that the criteria is crime, and not racism. Like most young men, I was rousted by the police maybe more frequently than I should have. And then, suddenly, it went away, in my mid 20s. With the Stop and Frisk, the police were, naturally, stopping and frisking a lot more young blacks than could be justified by their numbers. But they could be justified by the percentage of crimes they commit. The police know what gang bangers often look like, as well as other criminal types. Most of us would say that it was good keeping them from carrying guns and drugs on the street. I look back to my interactions with the police a half century ago, and readily admit that it was probably for both me and society.; 2/15/22, 11:59 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: I agree with AI. Please concentrate police resources in low-crime areas, like my neighborhood. Let’s make them no-crime areas!; 2/15/22, 12:09 PM
Tina848 said...: Aren't most of the victims of the crime minorities? Who is protecting them? Without the cameras the "No Snitch" mentality pervades and no one is arrested.; 2/15/22, 12:31 PM
dwshelf said...: Stopping murders is not a high priority for Amnesty.; 2/15/22, 1:59 PM
Jupiter said...: Yeah, and the part of Chicago where the handguns go to kill people is also disproportionately inhabited by minorities. Those majorities just insist on systemically avoiding their fair share of the handgun violence!; 2/15/22, 2:05 PM
Greg The Class Traitor said...: One thing I find funny about the AI complaint:

If "white rednecks" were committing "hate crimes" in those neighborhoods, the cameras would catch them. Or just white criminal interlopers.

But, apparently AI is convinced that all the crimes there will be committed by non-whites, and that therefore it's bad to try to catch those criminals.

Racist, sick, and twisted. Must be the Left!; 2/15/22, 2:17 PM
mikee said...: Now do automated license plate scanners on police cars, which collect location data on your vehicle into a database. Data is often sold to third parties by the vendors of the scanners to help popo offset cost of the systems, which are used supposedly to find car owners with outstanding warrants or lapsed insurance. The police databases can be abused to stalk an ex girlfriend or see where neighbors go on Saturday nights. Fun stuff, the cyber-stalking possible today.; 2/15/22, 2:24 PM
Leora said...: To paraphrase Willie Sutton about banks, the police go where the crime is.; 2/15/22, 2:30 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: What's the problem? Cameras don't work as well with dark skin. At least that's what Google tells me.; 2/15/22, 2:55 PM
Greg The Class Traitor said...: mikee, you have demonstrated that it's possible to make a legitimate attack against the cameras. Good for you (I mean that seriously)

What we've been pointing out is that the AI objection is NOT legitimate

Both points, I think, are fair; 2/15/22, 4:11 PM