密歇根新闻广播 执法机构真的可以使用脸部识别技术吗?

U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Justin Amash raised questions this week in a hearing about the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies, including Detroit Police Department.

The hearing was held Wednesday by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight¹ and Reform.

The hearing came after a report by the Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology found Detroit has become a pioneer in deploying² facial recognition technology to try to find suspects in criminal cases.

The Georgetown study says Detroit signed a three-year, $1 million contract with DataWorks Plus, a South Carolina company that offers real time face recognition services on video streams.

The study notes that the facial recognition system was designed to be able to connect to the hundreds of video streams from around the city that the police department monitors through a program called Project Green Light. And it could go even further, according to the study:

At Wednesday's hearing, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., whose district includes parts of Detroit, raised questions about how the Detroit Police Department has used the new technology.

With little to no input³, the city of Detroit created one of the nation's most pervasive⁴ and sophisticated surveillance networks with real-time facial recognition technology, Tlaib said during the hearing.

She said the residents of her district already face economic problems, and structural⁵ racism⁶. On top of it, she said policing has become more militarized and flawed.

Now we have for-profit companies pushing so-called technology that has never been tested in communities of color, let alone been studied enough to conclude that it makes our communities safer, Tlaib said.

Bias⁷ built in

The ability of computer programs to recognize and identify faces has grown rapidly in recent years. Many people encounter it when they upload a photo of a friend to Facebook, and Facebook identifies the friend, and suggests tagging them in the photo. iPhone users can also now unlock their phones using their face.

But this technology has also been increasingly used by law enforcement to identify suspects. And that's raised serious concerns for many people who track the technology.

Joy Boulamwini is a researcher at MIT, and she's studied the biases⁸ embedded⁹ in how computer programs identify human faces.

She testified that facial recognition algorithms are often trained with photo sets that disproportionately contain photos of white men. So the algorithms for facial recognition, such as Amazon Rekognition, make more mistakes on people with darker skin, and people who are not men.

They had error rates of over 30 percent for darker skin females and zero percent error rates for lighter¹⁰ skin men, Buolamwini said at the hearing. So it is the case that there is verifiable research that shows you have issues with Amazon Rekognition.

Buolamwini has also found biases in the software created by IBM and Microsoft. In one study, she analyzed¹¹ the photos of famous, iconic black women. The programs frequently made mistakes identifying the women.

In one test I ran, Amazon Rekognition even failed on the face of Oprah Winfrey, labeling her male, Buolamwini told members of the committee.

These biases, Buolamwini and others testified, could have serious consequences as the technologies are applied¹² to police work. The problem of a misidentification could lead to innocent people being detained or arrested. And because the programs make mistakes more often with people of darker skin, those mistakes will affect people of color more than others.

The policy in Detroit

Still, the Detroit Police Department is defending the use of the technology. Chief James Craig wrote a letter responding to the Georgetown study, saying he takes great umbrage¹³ at the suggestion the department is using the technology to monitor innocent people in real time.

If there is a report of a crime or a crime is witnessed by a DPD member, the crime is reported to sworn members to investigate, Craig wrote. If there is articulable reasonable suspicion that an individual is observed or reported to have committed a crime, only then is their still image provided for analysis with the Facial Recognition Program.

The Detroit Police Department has a nine-page policy on when and how the facial recognition system can be used. The Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology obtained a copy of the policy and posted it online, along with other materials it received from the city regarding the program.

The policy outlines who has access to the software and says it only can be used in active investigations¹⁵ where there is reasonable suspicion that a person committed a crime, or is planning to commit one.

The policy also allows officers to request permission from the department's legal advisors¹⁶ to collect face images at First Amendment¹⁷-protected events, which could include political rallies.

The department has not said if it has ever done so. Nor has it disclosed how many times the facial recognition software has been used overall, or how effective it's been.

Fourth Amendment concerns

At Wednesday's hearing, there were other questions about whether the technology should ever be used, even in cases where there's a legitimate¹⁸ criminal suspect being investigated.

Even if we require law enforcement to get a warrant to run a search on face recognition data from surveillance cameras, would it be possible for such cameras to use such face recognition technology in public areas without effectively gathering¹⁹ or discovering information on innocent people who are not the subject of an investigation¹⁴? asked U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich.

No, responded Clare Garvie, the researcher at Georgetown who was the lead author on the facial recognition study. That's not the way the face recognition systems work. Unfortunately, in order to identify the face of the person you're looking for, you have to scan every single face of everybody else, who you're not looking for.

One question this raises is whether such a scan would violate a person's rights under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which protect people in America from unreasonable²⁰ searches.

"A lot of agreement"

At Wednesday's House oversight committee hearing, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle²¹ seemed to agree that the use of facial recognition searches by law enforcement should at least be regulated, if not banned.

There is a lot of agreement here, thank God, said House oversight committee chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, who added that he's optimistic the hearings will result in legislation

Even one of the experts who testified during the more than two-hour-long hearing seemed to change his mind as the hearing went on.

I certainly would rather not see a moratorium²², said Cedric Alexander, the former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. However, if the issues that have been articulated here today are as serious as we believe they to be, then we have to go back and ask ourselves that question.

For now, the Detroit Police Department hasn't announced any changes to its own policy of using facial recognition software.

1 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

2 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

3 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

4 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

5 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

6 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

7 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

8 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

9 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

10 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

11 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

13 umbrage   

n.不快；树荫

参考例句：

• Everything gives umbrage to a tyrantny.所有事情都使专制君主生气。
• She took umbrage at my remarks about her hair.我对她头发的评论使她很不高兴。

14 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

15 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

16 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

17 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

18 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

19 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

20 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

21 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

22 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。