美国国家公共电台 NPR--Civil rights advocates say laws need to catch up with AI technology

Civil rights advocates say laws need to catch up with AI technology

Transcript¹

Law enforcement is increasingly using artificial intelligence to investigate crimes, but some civil rights advocates want limits on the technology.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Artificial intelligence has led to huge leaps in surveillance technology in recent years. Many experts are worried that it's gotten so good it threatens to upend the balance of power between citizens and their government. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel has more on why some experts think the law needs to catch up with the tech.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE²: If you're curious whether artificial intelligence could be used to build a dystopian surveillance state where the government can track your every move, the answer is yes. And we know this because one government has already done it, China.

DARREN BYLER: The state has invested around $100 billion to build these systems in Xinjiang.

BRUMFIEL: Darren Byler is an anthropologist³ at Simon Fraser University who's worked for over a decade in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. It's home to millions of people who are part of the Uyghur ethnic⁴ group. Beijing considers Uyghurs a threat, and they've installed a massive surveillance network to track them. Byler's seen it in action.

BYLER: There are automated⁵, sort of passive camera systems that are just watching all the time and watching movement. And you don't even realize that you're being watched.

BRUMFIEL: The exact details of how the system works aren't known, but Byler says based on academic papers in Chinese law enforcement journals and interviews he's done, it's clear that AI plays a big role. It's used to watch things like cell phones and license⁶ plates and recognize patterns in people's behaviors.

BYLER: They can really track the registered population of the region, which is 25 million people, everywhere that they are. And so, you know, you can plug in their name into the system and see where they are at any point in time. And then you can roll it back and see where they were the day before and the day before that.

BRUMFIEL: And one of the most important AI tools underpinning⁷ this giant surveillance apparatus⁸ is facial recognition. Now, you might not even think of facial recognition as AI, but it is. Modern facial recognition tools like what opens your phone are actually powered by machine-learning algorithms that were developed just a few years before things like ChatGPT. For the past decade, companies have been building ever more powerful facial recognition software. In China, it's being used by the state security apparatus, but in the West, it's increasingly being used by law enforcement.

JOSEPH COURTESIS: It's not every case, but I think it's becoming more and more routine. You know, the amount of images that we have access to now, policing has changed.

BRUMFIEL: Joseph Courtesis is a retired⁹ New York City police inspector¹⁰ who ran the city's real-time crime center. Courtesis says that New York police are not using facial recognition at all like they do in China. There are lots of departmental rules. They only use it to generate leads, not as evidence in court. Policy says they're only supposed to use footage related to crimes, and they compare faces mostly to images in a mug shot database.

COURTESIS: These were images of individuals who have - had been arrested for photographing offenses¹¹ and their images were lawfully¹² obtained.

BRUMFIEL: Courtesis is now consults for one of the nation's largest facial recognition companies. It's called IDEMIA. Their algorithms are among the best out there.

COURTESIS: These algorithms are performing over 99% accurate.

BRUMFIEL: That's according to an evaluation¹³ by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It showed that IDEMIA's face recognition technology is 99.88% accurate, though there are many real-world factors like camera resolution and lighting¹⁴, which means it won't work that well in every scenario¹⁵. Still, he argues, the software has huge advantages over the old system, which often involved humans perusing¹⁶ giant books of mug shots and trying to pick out the perp based on memory.

COURTESIS: We had archaic¹⁷ ways of doing it, often led to dead ends. It was probably not very accurate at all. And may - I'm not going to say has, but may have contributed to wrong identifications.

BRUMFIEL: But as China's surveillance system shows, facial recognition can be a lot more than just an upgrade to using mug shots and lineups. Nate Freed Wessler is with the American Civil Liberties Union. He says especially as AI continues to improve, this technology is giving the police the ability to surveil citizens at a scale they've never had before.

NATE FREED WESSLER: I'm concerned. I'm deeply concerned about the potential of this technology to really upset the kind of balance of power between us the people and the government that we've long expected.

BRUMFIEL: The ACLU opposes all uses of facial recognition by law enforcement, but it's particularly worried about live facial recognition. AI facial recognition is now so strong it can enable mass real-time tracking. Several U.S. police departments have experimented with live technology, though it appears not on a wide scale. But elsewhere, it is starting to get used. This spring in London, England, police deployed¹⁸ a live facial recognition system in some public spaces. So far this led to two arrests, according to department statistics. They were made by scanning more than 80,000 faces. The system didn't identify the faces of most of the people it saw, but in theory it could.

WESSLER: Police have never had that capability¹⁹ across the entire U.S. population, and that's the specter that we're worried about.

BRUMFIEL: Only a handful of states and municipalities have laws preventing live tracking or putting any limits on facial recognition, says Clare Garvie with the National Association of Criminal Defense²⁰ Lawyers. She says more cities and states need to seriously consider how to regulate facial recognition's use by police.

CLARE GARVIE: Where are we drawing the lines? Where do we build inefficiencies back into a technology that has created massive efficiency in law enforcement?

BRUMFIEL: Should police be able to surveil a protest to learn more about who shows up? Should they be able to stake out a house with a camera and identify everyone who enters and leaves? These are real scenarios²¹. And Garvie argues that the technology could challenge fundamental constitutional rights to privacy, assembly and association.

GARVIE: We are always putting the technological²² cart before the legal horse, so to speak, and the consequence is on real people.

BRUMFIEL: Garvie doesn't think the U.S. is headed towards a dystopian surveillance state anytime soon, but she says the best way to keep it that way is to pass strong laws that regulate AI for surveillance.

Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

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 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

6 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

7 underpinning   

n.基础材料；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的现在分词 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• Underpinning this success has been an exemplary record of innovation. 具有典范性的创新确保了这次成功。 来自辞典例句
• But underpinning Mr Armstrong's technology changes is a human touch. 但阿姆斯特朗技术变革的支柱是人情味。 来自互联网

8 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

10 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

11 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

12 lawfully   

adv.守法地，合法地；合理地

参考例句：

• Lawfully established contracts shall be protected by law. 依法成立的合同应受法律保护。 来自口语例句
• As my lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, till death parts us. 当成是我的合法丈夫，无论疾病灾难，直到死亡把我们分开。 来自电影对白

13 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

14 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

15 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

16 perusing   

v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的现在分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字）

参考例句：

• She found the information while she was perusing a copy of Life magazine. 她在读《生活》杂志的时候看到了这个消息。 来自辞典例句
• Hence people who began by beholding him ended by perusing him. 所以人们从随便看一看他开始的，都要以仔细捉摸他而终结。 来自辞典例句

17 archaic   

adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的

参考例句：

• The company does some things in archaic ways,such as not using computers for bookkeeping.这个公司有些做法陈旧，如记账不使用电脑。
• Shaanxi is one of the Chinese archaic civilized origins which has a long history.陕西省是中国古代文明发祥之一，有悠久的历史。

18 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

19 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

20 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

21 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

22 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。