Accuracy of FBI's Facial Recognition System Questioned

Television shows Law and Order, and Person of Interest make extensive use of facial recognition technology and more.

[From article]
The FBI's facial recognition database has more than 400 million pictures to help its criminal investigations, but lacks adequate safeguards for accuracy and privacy protection, a congressional audit has revealed.
Totalling 411.9 million images, privacy campaigners have slammed the 'unprecedented number of photographs, most of which are of Americans and foreigners who have committed no crimes.'
The huge database - which enables investigators to automatically search images for criminal suspects - 'is far greater than had previously been understood' and raises concerns 'about the risk of innocent Americans being inadvertently swept up in criminal investigations,' said Senator Al Franken, who requested the study.
[. . .]



The FBI's database includes some 30 million criminal mugshots and 140 million images from visa applications by foreign nationals, the GAO found.
It also contains drivers' license pictures from 16 US states and 6.7 million photos from the Defense Department's biometric identification system of individuals detained by US forces abroad, among others.
The FBI's database includes some 30 million criminal mugshots and 140 million images from visa applications by foreign nationals, the GAO found.
[. . .]
The FBI's database includes some 30 million criminal mugshots and 140 million images from visa applications by foreign nationals, the GAO found.
It also contains drivers' license pictures from 16 US states and 6.7 million photos from the Defense Department's biometric identification system of individuals detained by US forces abroad, among others.
The FBI's database includes some 30 million criminal mugshots and 140 million images from visa applications by foreign nationals, the GAO found.
[. . .]



'The accuracy of a system can have a significant impact on individual privacy and civil liberties,' it added, saying that the false positive rate should be analyzed 'prior to the deployment of the system.'
'The report shows that the FBI hasn't done enough to audit its own use of facial recognition technology or that of other law enforcement agencies that partner with the FBI, nor has it taken adequate steps to ensure the technology's accuracy,' Franken said.
Civil liberties advocates said the report was worrisome.
Jennifer Lynch of the EFF, a digital rights campaigner, said 'The FBI has done little to make sure that its search results (which the Bureau calls 'investigative leads') do not include photos of innocent people, according to the report.
[. . .]
'The FBI has conducted only very limited testing to ensure the accuracy of NGI's face recognition capabilities.
'And it has not taken any steps to determine whether the face recognition systems of its external partners—states and other federal agencies—are sufficiently accurate to prevent innocent people from being identified as criminal suspects''
The EFF also says the technology in not accurate.
'As we know from previous research, face recognition is notoriously inaccurate across the board and may also misidentify African Americans and ethnic minorities, young people, and women at higher rates than whites, older people, and men, respectively.'
'Face recognition is a relatively new technology and it's important that not only the FBI but the public be aware of its limitations,' Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union said.
'Errors mean random people could be falsely identified as potential criminals and find themselves coming under the FBI's powerful investigatory microscope.
'That could be not only invading people's privacy, but also exposing them to accusations of wrongdoing.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3645102/Huge-US-facial-recognition-database-flawed-audit.html

Is YOUR picture on the FBI's facial recognition database? Audit of controversial database finds it has over 400 MILLION pictures including driving license and visa applicant images
FBI's database includes some 30 million criminal mugshots, 140 million images from visa applications and drivers' license pictures from 16 states
Senators warned scope of the database far larger than had been thought
Privacy campaigners say scale of the system is 'worrisome'
By AFP and MARK PRIGG FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:58 EST, 16 June 2016 | UPDATED: 12:10 EST, 16 June 2016

Every Edit You Make, We'll Be Watching You

[From article]
Google Docs is the company’s answer to Microsoft Word — given away free, it lets people write in a simple interface and store all the results in the internet, so other people can see and potentially edit it. But if those documents are shared with other people, they can use the new tool to explore all of the edits that have ever been made to them.

The extension is called Draftback and was made by James Somers, a writer and programmer. It works by putting a button in the browser that can be selected, bringing up a full history of every word that has ever been written into it

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/google-docs-tool-can-show-every-edit-a-person-has-ever-made-10311021.html

Google Docs tool can show every edit a person has ever made
Some have warned that the tool could catch people who lie on their CVs and who wrote public statements
ANDREW GRIFFIN
Wednesday 10 June 2015

Computers Are Dumbing Down Professionals, Restraint Needed In Programming

Computers are taking over the kinds of knowledge work long considered the preserve of well-educated, well-trained professionals. Luci Gutiérrez 

[From article]
Worrisome evidence suggests that our own intelligence is withering as we become more dependent on the artificial variety. Rather than lifting us up, smart software seems to be dumbing us down.
It has been a slow process. The first wave of automation rolled through U.S. industry after World War II, when manufacturers began installing electronically controlled equipment in their plants. [. . .] The new technology would be ennobling.
[. . .]
More often than not, the new machines were leaving workers with drabber, less demanding jobs. An automated milling machine, for example, didn’t transform the metalworker into a more creative artisan; it turned him into a pusher of buttons.
[. . .]
Computers are taking over the kinds of knowledge work long considered the preserve of well-educated, well-trained professionals: Pilots rely on computers to fly planes; doctors consult them in diagnosing ailments; architects use them to design buildings.
[. . .]
“Flying skills decay quite rapidly towards the fringes of ‘tolerable’ performance without relatively frequent practice,” Mr. Ebbatson concluded. But computers now handle most flight operations between takeoff and touchdown—so “frequent practice” is exactly what pilots are not getting.
[. . .]
In other words, our skills get sharper only through practice, when we use them regularly to overcome different sorts of difficult challenges.
The goal of modern software, by contrast, is to ease our way through such challenges. Arduous, painstaking work is exactly what programmers are most eager to automate—after all, that is where the immediate efficiency gains tend to lie. In other words, a fundamental tension ripples between the interests of the people doing the automation and the interests of the people doing the work.
[. . .]
The programs incorporate valuable checklists and alerts, but they also make medicine more routinized and formulaic—and distance doctors from their patients.
[. . .]


A professor from Harvard Medical School wrote in a journal article that when doctors become ‘screen-driven,’ following a computer’s prompts rather than ‘the patient’s narrative thread,’ their thinking can become constricted. In the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals. Getty Images 

Medical software, they write, is no “replacement for basic history-taking, examination skills, and critical thinking.”
[. . .]
When software takes over, manual skills wane.
[. . .]
When system designers begin a project, they first consider the capabilities of computers, with an eye toward delegating as much of the work as possible to the software. The human operator is assigned whatever is left over, which usually consists of relatively passive chores such as entering data, following templates and monitoring displays.
This philosophy traps people in a vicious cycle of de-skilling. By isolating them from hard work, it dulls their skills and increases the odds that they will make mistakes. When those mistakes happen, designers respond by seeking to further restrict people’s responsibilities—spurring a new round of de-skilling.
[. . .]
Even the smartest software lacks the common sense, ingenuity and verve of the skilled professional. In cockpits, offices or examination rooms, human experts remain indispensable. Their insight, ingenuity and intuition, honed through hard work and seasoned real-world judgment, can’t be replicated by algorithms or robots.
If we let our own skills fade by relying too much on automation, we are going to render ourselves less capable, less resilient and more subservient to our machines. We will create a world more fit for robots than for us.



http://online.wsj.com/articles/automation-makes-us-dumb-1416589342

Automation Makes Us Dumb
Human intelligence is withering as computers do more, but there’s a solution.
By NICHOLAS CARR
Nov. 21, 2014 12:02 p.m. ET

Chief PR Guru: Obama's Error

[From article]
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Axelrod said that if he were still an Obama adviser he would not have included the line in the president’s speech last week in which Obama said: “I’m not on the ballot this fall ... but make no mistake, these policies are on the ballot — every single one of them.”
“It was a mistake,” Axelrod said.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2014/10/axelrod-obama-ballot-line-a-mistake-196592.html

Axelrod: Obama ballot line a 'mistake'
By JEREMY HERB
10/5/14 11:18 AM EDT

Was Kerry and Obama's Strategy Intentional, To Harm Israel?

[From article]
The obsession by the Obama-Kerry administration with imposing a cease-fire on the warring parties in the Hamas-Israel war will go down in history as one of the most strategic mistakes in military history.
Here is a fact the administration deliberately and maliciously ignored: In the history of modern warfare, no terrorist group has ever honored a cease-fire. Hamas has broken every cease-fire it ever said it would honor. Every single one.
Even the Israel-Hamas 2012 cease fire, brokered by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was simply agreed to by Hamas to give it an opportunity to restock its military arsenal, pressure Israel to lift its restrictions on the import of cement and steel into Gaza – material that Clinton said would be used to build hospitals and schools, but in fact was used to build a network of underground tunnels into Israel and build a subterranean network of underground bunkers, weapons storage facilities and launching
pads.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/08/01/barack-obama-and-john-kerry-carried-out-most-historic-strategic-blunder-in/?intcmp=obnetwork

Obama and Kerry behind one of most strategic mistakes in military history
By Steven Emerson
Published August 01, 2014
FoxNews.com

So Carol, How was Your Date?

[From article]
Keen for a boyfriend, El Houari must have seen romantic promise in their online friendship — enough to buy a plane ticket and fly to the North African nation to meet him in person.
She arrived in Fez, Morocco’s third-largest city, on May 19 and booked herself into a five-star hotel before heading out to meet her date, according to regional daily La Provence.
[. . .]
The man, who has not been named, told police that the evening was going well until El Houari suddenly and inexplicably keeled over and collapsed.
Believing she had dropped dead, the man says he went into a panic about how to dispose of her body. He decided to bury her in his back garden, claiming he was in such a rush that he failed to realize she was still breathing.
It later emerged that El Houari was an undiagnosed diabetic and had been in a diabetic coma when she was placed in the makeshift grave.

http://nypost.com/2014/06/04/woman-buried-alive-after-worst-first-date-ever/

Woman buried alive after worst first date ever
By News.com.au
New York Post
June 4, 2014 | 8:26am

Jay Leno Too Funny, Too Old?

[From article]
“The main thing is to get people from 18 to 42 watching your station, and for 18 to 40, [Leno] is considered oldie,” Mason continued, on Leno’s release. “Obama had nothing to do with it; it’s all the age, it’s all the age range. The whole idea is to get the young people to watch, and they assume the 20-year-olds are buying everything and if you’re over 50 you’re buying nothing. They’re too stupid to realize that in fact the opposite is true. How many times do you see a 23-year-old person with a Rolls Royce?”

http://www.wnd.com/2014/03/jackie-mason-leno-fired-because-hes-too-old/

JACKIE MASON: LENO FIRED BECAUSE HE'S TOO OLD
'Tonight Show' veteran says NBC 'stupid' for requiring younger host
Drew Zahn
March 2, 2014

CBS Journalist at 60 Minutes Misled By Source, Used For Broadcast

[From article]
The report also said Logan should not have done the story in the first place after making a speech in Chicago a year ago claiming that it was a lie that America's military had tamed al Qaeda.
[. . .]
'The most important thing to every person at 60 Minutes is the truth, and today the truth is we made a mistake. That's very disappointing for any journalist, that's very disappointing for me.
‘Nobody likes to admit that they made a mistake, but if you do, you have to stand up and take responsibility and you have to say that you were wrong and in this case we were wrong.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2514060/Lara-Logan-producer-suspended-false-60-Minutes-report-Benghazi.html

Lara Logan and her producer 'suspended' over false 60 Minutes report on Benghazi after she was forced to make humiliating on-air apology for 'disappointing mistakes'
60 Minutes aired an interview with a security contractor who claimed to rush over to the American consulate after the attack began in 2012
After the interview with Dylan Davies aired, CBS learned that Davies told the FBI a different version of events
Logan apologized for being 'misled' less than a week after the segment aired on October 27 but today CBS announced her leave of absence
By MEGHAN KENEALLY and ASSOCIATED PRESS
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 15:51 EST, 26 November 2013 | UPDATED: 18:37 EST, 26 November 2013

Woman Sues Police For Shooting Dead Her Husband By Mistake

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2454911/Widow-sues-county-50m-cops-shoot-husband-80-mistaken-meth-lab-raid.html

Widow sues for $50m after cops wrongly shot dead her husband in his bed in a mistaken meth lab raid
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 13:12 EST, 11 October 2013 | UPDATED: 14:25 EST, 11 October 2013

Great Journalism Issues

Interesting issues raised by this story about misguided journalism. (Jessica Heslam, "NECN tweets from the hip," March 21, 2013, Boston Herald) One is that Twitter is not dangerous but the people who use it are. It is only a tool. Same is said about guns. But if it is the people who are dangerous can it be that the Vice President is a dangerous person for his many errors misspeaking? He is the Vice President.  Does he get the do-overs as the NECN Twitterer got? Of more concern is the Globe reporter's comment that "NECN is a trusted source." Huh? That is like the seniority argument. "I've done this for 45 years. You're questioning me?"

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/jessica_heslam/2013/03/necn_tweets_from_the_hip

NECN tweets from the hip
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Boston Herald
By:Jessica Heslam

He He

Polls Even More Unreliable Than Previously

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/312206/polls-and-party-affiliation-michael-g-franc


JULY 25, 2012 4:00 A.M.
Polls and Party Affiliation
Why do so many pollsters undersample Republicans?
By Michael G. Franc
National Review

This Is The Week That Was

Obama in hiding after his worst week. He doesn't even learn from his mistakes. He stirs up racial animosity and gives secrets of allies away to US enemies. What a guy. No mention of his wife going to Las Vegas after he admonished US citizens not to do so. Does Obama lack memory, besides common sense and integrity too?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/29/hurt-was-week-was-obama-style/

HURT: Brutal week for Obama, the worst of his presidency
By Charles Hurt
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Washington Times

Obama's Bumblings

[Received from a concerned citizen]

*If any other of our presidents had doubled the national debt,which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year,would you have approved?*

*If any other of our presidents had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years,would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had criticized a state law that he admitted he never even read, would you think that he is just an ignorant hot head? *

If any other of our presidents had apologized to all the Foreign countries for the actions of the US , would they have been reelected? *

*If any other of our presidents joined the country of Mexico and sued a state in the United States to force that state to continue to allow illegal immigration, would you question his patriotism and wonder who's side he was on? *
* If any other president spent one and one half million taxpayer dollars on a two week vacation when millions are without jobs, without homes, are going hungry,would you question if he cares about the American people? *

*If any other of our presidents had pronounced the Marine Corps like Marine Corpse, would you think him an idiot? *

*If any other of our presidents had put 87,000 workers out of work by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling on companies that have some of the best safety records of any industry because one foreign company had an accident, would you have agreed? *

*If any other of our presidents had used a forged document as the basis of the moratorium that would render 87000 American workers unemployed,would you support him? *

*If any other of our presidents had been the first President to need a Teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes? *

*If any other of our presidents had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take his First Lady to a play in NYC, would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had reduced your retirement plan holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought it a proud moment for America ? *
And then Obama returns Churchill Bust to England :
British Press sees snub.

*If any other of our presidents had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia ,would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip? *

*If any other of our presidents had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved? *

*If any other of our presidents had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , wouldn't you have had second thoughts about his capabilities? *

*If any other of our presidents would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in his home town, would you not have thought he was a self-important, conceited, egotistical jerk?*

*If any other of our presidents had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, wouldn't you have winced in embarrassment? *

*If any other of our presidents had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?*

*If any other of our presidents' administrations had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan ,causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11? *

*If any other of our presidents had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence? *

*If any other of our presidents had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have ever approved?*

*If any other of our presidents had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved? *
* If any other president couldn't produce a birth certificate, or had someone else's SSN, given away more than $500 million to one company, intentionally disrespects the USA and tries to destroy America !

*So, tell me again...?
What is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? *

*Can't think of anything?
Don't worry.
He's done all this in 24 months
(WELL REALLY 19 MONTHS BECAUSE HE HAS TAKEN NEARLY 5 MONTHS VACATION DURING HIS 24 MONTHS IN OFFICE!)

*Every statement and action in this email is directly attributed to Barrack Hussein Obama.
Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable. *
AND NOW--
HE ACTUALLY WANTS US TO RE-ELECT HIM.
WAKE UP AMERICA; 2012 IS UPON US!

Obama Wrong On History Again

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/03/rutherford-b-hayes-obama-telephone.html

Today at 12:56 PM
RutherfordGate: Historian Responds to President Obama’s Hayes Slur
By Dan Amira

Man Dies After Pushing Victim, Is Arraigned and Charged

Before it is corrected, here's a screen shot of an unusual story reported in the Boston Herald on January 20, 2012.

Cops: Worcester man killed by shove

By Matt Stout |
Friday, January 20, 2012 |
http://www.bostonherald.com |
Local Coverage

A Worcester man is facing manslaughter charges after cops say he “violently” shoved another man to the sidewalk, leaving him to die from a head injury.

Albert Wheaton, 35, is due in Worcester District Court today to face charges he pushed 48-year-old Joseph Gubish to the ground around early Monday in front of 700 Main St., where officers found him lying unconscious from “extensive” head and neck injuries, police said.

Wheaton, also of Worcester, was rushed to UMass Medical Center, where he died two days later after he was removed from life support, police said.

Police said they were initially unsure if Gubish had a medical emergency before falling or if he was pushed to the ground. But officers identified Wheaton through witnesses and video, and arrested him yesterday on charges of manslaughter and aggravated assault and battery, police said.

Police said the two men “encountered” each other on the street around 12:30 a.m., and at one point, Wheaton shoved the victim to the ground, where Gubish hit his head.

Police did not say if the men knew each other or what may have prompted the attack. A Worcester police spokesman didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Wheaton lives two blocks from where Gubish fell.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1397428

Rude Bosses Cause Errors

[From article]
"Workers treated badly or who witness colleagues being treated badly make more mistakes, experts revealed yesterday."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/no_mistaking_rude_bosses_pee9caPmhTnrvnsNSyeXxN

No mistaking rude bosses

NewsCore

New York Post

Last Updated: 7:54 AM, July 8, 2010

Posted: 3:38 AM, July 8, 2010

Boston Globe is Compassionate Too


One Globe policy focuses on discrimination against black people, homosexuals and women, while ignoring brutal criminal abuses of persons with disabilities. The editors and their marketing staff prefer to promote the human services corporations which earn billions providing goods and services for these abused citizens. The Conformist Party rules!

http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_04_15_Another_fun-filled_episode_of_%E2%80%98Spanning_the_Globe_/

or

http://tinyurl.com/cj4c5y

Another fun-filled episode of ‘Spanning the Globe’
Howie Carr By Howie Carr
Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 15, 2009