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A comment on China’s CCTV network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC reporter (2017). Parent comment

Re:China’s CCTV network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC r... by DuskStar on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @02:24AM (#20817350)
I think that as soon as facial recognition starts getting used to actually put people in prison, things like the Niqāb [0] are going to become extremely popular among criminal or criminal-adjacent populations. The side effects for the nominally law-abiding population will remain, and the program won't be rolled back, but the crime reduction capabilities will go away quickly.

But this might just be the pessimist in me speaking.

> Does large scale surveillance help with making individuals safer? I think the answer is obviously yes.

Until regime change makes some previously legal activity or status verboten. Your government collecting harmless data on your religion starts to matter a lot more when the wehrmacht rolls into town... (I don't think this is a serious possibility for the US, but for countries with less robust judicial systems or militarily superior neighbors it's worth considering)

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niq%C4%81b

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:China’s CCTV network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC r... by zsrxx on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @04:21AM (#20817877)
Hiding your face in public can be made illegal. This is literally not an issue.
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Re:China’s CCTV network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC r... by DuskStar on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @12:07PM (#20821095)
That's why my example was religious wear, which is a bit harder to ban in the states.
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Re:China’s CCTV network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC r... by cobbzilla on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @08:33AM (#20819118)
Yes! We should just make all crimes illegal, then there will literally be no issues at all!
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Re:China’s CCTV network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC r... by GhettoMaestro on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @09:52AM (#20819735)
Yeah because a bunch of people running around concealing their faces leads to good things.

Oh wait - it doesn't. The reason these laws were mostly passed in the mid-1900s was because of the KKK.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:China’s CCTV network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC r... by cobbzilla on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @12:23PM (#20821245)
Laws affect behavior only loosely. Particularly behaviors that lack a direct victim. See also: war on drugs, speed limits, gun control.
[ Parent | on HN ]