Posted by 28th May 2022
๐๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ข ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐จ๐ฌ ๐๐ญ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐งโ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ค๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ, ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ข ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐๐๐ก๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ?
A report on page 7 of todayโs Irish Times by Connor Gallagher says Gardaรญ are leaving their radios at home to prevent senior management from keeping tabs on them according to research, commissioned by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors.
The research conducted by Dr Cliona McParland, assistant professor in global strategy at Dublin City University, found many gardaรญ believed management were using the GPS function to micromanage them, which was having a negative impact on morale.
Eighty-five per cent of the 1,808 gardaรญ who took part in the survey said they were concerned GPS information could be used for purposes other than resource allocation and health and safety.
More than 80 per cent said they were uneasy about having no control over how management used the GPS data.
There was a belief among many gardaรญ that management could access their locations even when they were off-duty.
โTheyโre constantly monitoring where you are, what youโre doing. Itโs becoming a tool to micromanage and supervise people that are just going about doing their jobs,โ one garda told the study.
โItโs a big brother watching you,โ said another.(1)
Responding to the Irish Times report, Independent TD for County Clare, Michael McNamara tweeted:
โSo frontline gardaรญ do not trust senior management not to abuse the monitoring capabilities of GPS on their radios but the public is expected to trust them with mass surveillance tools like facial recognition technology?โ(2)
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee announced on Wednesday at the Garda Representative Association conference in Westport that the Gardai are to get new powers to use facial-recognition technology that could lead to identification of criminals within minutes.
She said there are times when public safety and national security must override the right to privacy.
She said this move “is not about mass surveillance”.
Barry OโSullivan professor at the School of Computer Science & IT at University College Cork and a specialist in AI says โMinister McEnteeโs proposal to permit the use of facial recognition would put Ireland at odds with the EU Commissionโ and goes on to say: โThe proposal is disproportionate and ethically flawed.โ(3)
Dr Rรณisรญn ร Costello assistant professor of law, Dublin City University, in an opinion piece in todayโs Irish Times points out that thereโs a move away from the use of facial recognition technology by police forces around the world because of its misuse.
She writes: โ๏ฟผ It is now well established by researchers that facial recognition technologies display marked biases in identifying people of colour and women.
A 2018 study by researchers at MIT and Stanford University found that commercial facial recognition technologies misidentified non-Caucasian women 20 per cent more frequently than their Caucasian counterparts.
The error rate for Caucasian men was under 1 per cent. A year later a study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US produced similar findings โ noting facial recognition technologies frequently misidentified individuals of African and Asian descent.โ
In 2020 the UK court of appeal confirmed the Welsh police had not taken sufficient steps to ensure the software they relied on did not display a bias in identification based on race or sex.
Costello cites research conducted in 2019 in the UK that found the facial recognition system used by London Metropolitan Police had an error rate of 81 per cent, meaning that four of every five individuals identified as suspects by the technology were innocent.
She concludes by saying โconcerns over the accuracy and efficacy of the underlying technology may not be so easily resolved.โ(4)๏ฟผ
(1) https://www.irishtimes.com/…/gardai-leaving-gps-radios…/
(2) https://twitter.com/mlmcnam…/status/1530447222315356163…
(3) https://twitter.com/barryosullivan/status/1529570869336580096?s=21&t=
Who Watches the Watchers? 