Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

I suspect that everyone who read it remembers the article in which I asked the Furies to take on facial recognition technology, since it was fairly scary. If so, you are not the only ones scared. The people of Detroit, and, in particular, the people of color of Detroit, are pretty nervous at this point.

Let me start with the background that Detroit already uses facial recognition technology on over 500 traffic lights. What is now being considered is to employ facial recognition technology in neighborhood policing, specifically in violent crimes (after the fact), or in cases when terrorism is suspected. “After the fact” as used here means

The chief said facial recognition technology is only used after-the-fact, when police have already identified a suspect on video. A still image of that suspect would be fed into the software and compared with police mugshots and pictures in the Michigan Secretary of State database, and on social media. 

The chief also compared the use of the technology to the use of a police sketch.

“That [recognition by the technology] by itself is not good enough,” he said. “This is no different from a sketch, which police have used for years. It’s a tool we use to get violent suspects off the streets. Is there a chance you may arrest the wrong person? Yes. But it won’t be used as the sole evidence against someone.” 

If you have read as many news stories as I have where innocent people of color have been falsely stopped because they “fit a profile,” many of which stops ended in tragedy, you might be tempted to say that facial recognition technology could hardly do a worse job than humans can on this point. But you would be wrong. there have been tests in which facial recognition technology was unable to identify Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama. Apparently the technology can say, “All those people look alike” as well as a human can, or maybe even better.

As a demonstration – and this is NOT intended to excuse anyone; on the contrary, it is to show how much MORE responsibility we have to take care when something is difficult to see – here is a small part of a screen shot from a “hidden object” game, where one is supposed to find objects more or less hidden in plain sight. Within this screen shot there is a silhouette of a common swift (the bird shown in the smaller cut). I am not going to swear it is in the same position as the smaller picture, because I never did succeed in seeing it. But a hint allowed me to click on it (after I took the screen shot), so I know it is there. Bottom line, it is just harder to see things when there is not a lot of contrast in the lighting, and apparently, this also applies to recognition technology. But that is ALL THE MORE reason why no one should ever rush into its use. San Francisco – hardly an enemy of technology in general – has outlawed its use in law enforcement for exactly this reason.

Back in Michigan, the state legislature there is considering a five-year moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology – the bill was introduced to the state house Wednesday by a Democratic representative from Detroit. I don’t know whether he failed to mention the bill to the police chief and police commissioners, or whether they decided to try to get their new technology in place before the bill could go into effect. But it would seem to me that Thursday, then, was not the best time to consider that technology. It would seem instead a good time to postpone such discussion, so as not to commit to wasting money on a program which might have to be scrapped. But maybe that’s just me.

Well, me and Commissioner Willie Butler, elected from District 6 in Detroit. He attempted three times to ask questions of the chair on behalf of his constituents (many of whom were present, wearing masks, to protest the technology – not that all the protesters were from his distract of course), and the third time the Chair ordered him removed.

He was in fact physically removed by police officers, and, out of the meeting room, was arrested, handcuffed, and taken to jail. (I hope Trump doesn’t see this … but I kind of wish Congress would.) He was released Friday morning on bail, posted by another Commissioner. So we are now up to just me, Commissioner Butler, the Commissioner who bailed him out, and a substantial number of protesters.

My head hurts.

Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, I already asked you in March to look into facial recognition technology and the ways it is being used and misused. I now reiterate that, but I also suggest that there is something to find in Detroit that goes beyond disagreements on technology, if they are willing to lock up a, for heaven’s sake, a police commissioner who disapproves of its use.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.