Dystopian AI Patent Uses Facial Recognition to Identify Homeless and Drug Users [and Sex Offenders]

[interestingengineering.com – 2/12/21] Last year, The New York Times reported that, in order to test its software, facial recognition startup Clearview AI collected up to three billion images from platforms including YouTube and Facebook without attaining users’ express consent. Now, a new patent application by Clearview AI, first discovered by Buzzfeed, details several potential uses for the firm’s software, including date matching, sharing “headshots of high-risk individuals,” and identifying homeless people and drug users. … The technology could also be used to identify a “sex offender” Read the full article  

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TX: ‘Left to die’: Therapists say Texas sex offender treatment program too often fails on purpose

[houstonchronicle.com 2/11/21] Texas’s civil commitment program for sexually violent offenders has earned a reputation as an unforgiving place. Much of that is by design. Each of the 378 men in it has already served his full prison term, some 20 years or longer. After their sentences were up, Texas evaluated them as too likely to re-offend, however, so they were ordered kept locked up indefinitely until ready to rejoin the free world. Their average age is nearing 60. The program’s sole facility, a collection of low buildings and temporary trailers,…

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