The Inevitability of the Surveillance State
Photo by Victor Garcia on Unsplash
One of the creepiest stories I’ve read recently is about Clearview AI, the Peter Thiel funded company that has amassed a database of billions of images of people’s faces, much of it scraped from Facebook and other social media sites, to perform facial recognition. The software is being used by law enforcement at federal, state and local levels to analyze surveillance cameras, smartphone pictures and other photographic imagery to identify perpetrators who would otherwise remain anonymous.
The power of this technology to crack previously unsolvable crimes is incredible. Murderers, stalkers and sexual predators have been identified using software like Clearview AI. But the potential for abuse is equally disturbing. The Chinese government is already using similar facial recognition software to suppress Uighur minorities, effectively imposing continuous martial law. That would never happen here, right?? In fact, by some estimates, the U.S. is even worse, with 50 million surveillance cameras in operation — about one camera for every six citizens, more per capita than China.
The dilemma, of course, is that this technology, if properly regulated, could be incredibly beneficial. We increasingly expect law enforcement to catch every criminal, to disarm every threat, even to predict crimes before they happen. Who wouldn’t want a security camera to identify a shooter approaching a school, or an abusive husband casing his estranged wife’s house, or a pedophile staking out a playground? These are crimes we want to throw every technology in our arsenal at to try to avoid.
That very rational human desire, to avoid misfortune whenever we can, is the fundamental reason these technologies are inevitable. One lawsuit over a heinous crime that could have been averted if only law enforcement had these technologies will make their ultimate adoption unavoidable. No doubt that’s what Peter Thiel is betting on with his multiple investments in the security state.
The problem is technology is moving faster than our legislative and regulatory systems can deal with it. Laws around the use of facial recognition technologies vary by state and even local municipalities. The reaction to Clearview AI was essentially to call a time out. We don’t know what your tech does or how it works, and we probably never will, but it scares the shit out of us so we’re just going to ban it — until aforementioned lawsuit happens and we allow it again as part of an Orwellian free for all.
The federal government has demonstrated a complete inability to develop a coherent policy around the use of facial recognition software, with the Department of Homeland Security implementing and then reversing a policy to require facial image capture upon entry and exit to the country. That ineptitude is likely to continue under an executive branch as ass backwards as the Trump administration, particularly when it comes to issues of national security. If we’re allowing foreign governments to intervene brazenly in our elections, then what hope do we have of defining a coherent policy in this area? In the meantime, we’ll likely see conservative municipalities implementing the technology to stymie crime, and progressive municipalities banning it to protect civil liberties. Which is right?
Meanwhile, the rest of the world, particularly more authoritarian regimes, will harness this technology to suppress free speech, identify subversives and persecute their opposition, solidifying their power. If the pattern of the last decade continues, U.S. companies will create technology that foreign governments will manipulate and abuse to undermine our own democracy. Unregulated, free-market tech - what could possibly go wrong?