Technology is being used to define us.
And it’s criminalizing us.
Congress has required
biometric entry-exit visa tracking systems
So, you see how fast that was.
Yeah, instant.
Federal thieves, terrorists,
you know, they've all come across our cameras
It's being done with no oversight.
No regulation.
Is facial recognition being used
to over-police people like you?
Most definitely.
And now?
Now you have to touch the screen.
Your face is in it.
So now I'm enrolled, so now I just touch it.
Get my face there.
Whoa, that was quick.
That was less than a second
I’m Ahmed Shihab-Eldin,
and I came here to learn how
facial recognition is evolving rapidly,
through smartphones, machine learning and algorithms.
We have tons of different threats coming in everywhere
so it is very, very critical
that we do have strong security in place.
I learned that facial recognition
is replacing passwords and fingerprints
preventing online identity theft and increasing security.
Banks are really looking into this for multiple of reasons
One is they definitely want to reduce fraud
But there are concerns about the technology's accuracy and bias,
Members of law enforcement have facial recognition
on their cell phones
with little regulation over how it's actually used.
San Diego's Police Department
is one of many in the U.S.
that use facial recognition.
It's also Aaron Harvey's home.
This is Lincoln Park.
So you have memories all over these streets.
Growing up, there wasn’t a point in time
where I didn’t know everyone
who lived on almost every street.
When Aaron hit his teens,
the city became two different worlds.
Police began stopping him frequently.
Today, he organizes against gang documentation.
Aaron tells me facial recognition was used on him during one police stop in 2013
while he was trying to get to work
I’m like “Look here man,
I got my license and registration, insurance.
I don’t even know why you’re pulling me over.”
Aaron says police insisted they take his photo.
I wouldn’t take it, right.
So then they put me in the car.
That’s when he was like,
“Okay. Look, you’re going to take this picture
or you’re going to go to jail.”
What went through your mind
as he was taking the picture?
I hope that they're not trying to connect me
into something, right.
Because why else do you need my picture?
San Diego police declined to be interviewed
for this story
and told AJ+ they have no records
of using facial recognition on Aaron.
Aaron told me he’s been stopped by police so many times,
that he no longer counts.
You think you're about to die, right.
Your heart is racing.
You almost kind of like,
it's like you got concrete boots on.
You almost can't even move.
You're immediately immobilized.
Because it's a terrifying experience, right.
Facial recognition software creates
data points that compare facial features.
Databases are built from drivers’ licenses,
mugshots and surveillance video.
The initial technology was developed
for the CIA in the ‘60s.
Today, it’s replacing fingerprinting and police line-ups.
Facial recognition databases
used by law enforcement in the U.S.
include 117 million adults.
That’s one in three Americans.
I met up with Clare Garvie,
co-author of “The Perpetual Line-Up.”
She’s a leading expert
on how law enforcement uses facial recognition.
We have to start being aware that
a photograph is no longer just a photograph.
It’s a point of identity.
Clare says facial recognition will have a larger impact
on people of color and women.
Face recognition was originally a military
technology that was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And we haven't really thought through the process of oh,
we start deploying it domestically
What are the different considerations?
or do we just deploy the same as in a conflict zone?
A year after Aaron was photographed by police,
he was arrested in a gang conspiracy case.
Do you think facial recognition factored into
you being implicated?
Most definitely, right.
Aaron says the District Attorney’s office
used police stops
and photos to frame him as a gang member.
It concerns me that, you know,
we’re becoming normalized
to be surveilled and also traumatized.
He spent nearly seven months in jail
before the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.
Was it as rough as I would imagine?
I lived in a war zone for seven months.
At KBLK RADIO, Aaron is a regular guest
who speaks out against gang documentation.
I went on air with his friends
to discuss facial recognition and over-policing.
OK, you got 20 seconds, 20 seconds!
Twenty-six San Diego law enforcement agencies
used facial recognition software
on more than 20,600 occassions.
No, so, they're just collecting data.
They're just collecting data.
The police are a data collection agency.
There’s no clarity to their tactics at all.
It’s not like they’re holding seiminars
or sending public service announcements
to the schools.
Or informing you.
They're not informing you of nothing.
But when they stop you, they don't tell you why.
Or what the rights are.
Parents, tell your kids
they do not have to their picture taken.
Because they are getting them
15 and 16 year olds to get
their picture taken, and they so scared and shook up,
they just do it.
What we are looking to get
about 100 pixels in between the eyes.
I wanted to understand
why law enforcement uses facial recognition
so I sat down with Peter Trepp,
the chief executive officer of FaceFirst.
The company creates a mobile facial recognition app
used by law enforcement.
They've got a pretty long range.
They can get 80 to 100 feet away from the subjects.
We’ve caught a number of really bad people out there.
Really?
Yeah. Absolutely.
Child predators, federal thieves, terrorists -
they’ve all come across our cameras.
Facial recognition developers say
the technology has become more accurate
with the advancement of machine learning.
Cops are put in all kinds of very difficult positions
every single day.
If they can get tools in their hands
that helps them know who they're talking to,
What that person may be all about,
what their intentions are,
and what their history is.
I think that helps them do their job better.
We will have a proper tracking system.
It will be on land, it will be on sea, it will be in air.
We’ve all heard about how president Donald Trump
wants to build a massive new wall
here on the border with Mexico,
to crack down on immigration.
But what you might not know
is he also wants to build a virtual wall
with facial recognition
to track people crossing the border.
The technology was piloted at the border in 2015.
But records show that
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
had one of the lowest match rates in the region.
Last year, the Department of Homeland Security
asked companies in Silicon Valley
to research technology that could identify people
through the windows of cars crossing the border.
Accuracy is an issue
and low quality images can lead to mismatches.
In London, when police tested the technology
at an African-Caribbean celebration;
it had a 2 percent accuracy rate.
But in China, the technology has become so advanced
that authorities identified a person
in a crowd of 60,000 people. At night.
The Chinese police released this video
filmed at a concert in Nanchang city.
The man traveled 56 miles to the concert with his wife.
The Chinese government
accused him of economic crimes.
The applications for face recognition
are really open to the imagination
of the agencies that have access to these databases.
Student activists organized a protest last fall
to voice opposition to police and border patrol brutality.
That led to the development of a new combined
Black-Chicano history class.
We need to find ways to work together
in order for both of our people to be liberated.
On our last stop, I head to Pillars of the Community,
where Aaron organizes with Khalid Alexander.
We've seen lessons from the war on drugs
and gang documentation.
All these things and how they intersect.
Is it possible to think that facial recognition technology
won’t be used by law enforcement in this country?
No, I don’t think it’s too late,
I think there’s an opportunity to fight back
and to push back against these types of systems.
Aaron still has nightmares
of getting pulled over again by police.
I don't think we need it.
Law enforcement has enough tools.
They’re just casting a wide net.
We don’t want this. We didn’t even ask for it.
The work of an organizer is draining,
but he continues to speak out.
I’m angry, scared, terrified, afraid, paranoid
Anything negative you could possibly think of
of emotions that I feel about them having
this type of technology.
Why was my freedom taken away from me?
Hi guys, it's Ahmed.
That was episode one of our five-part
series on the dark side of tech.
Be sure to watch the rest of the series
and don't forget to subscribe to AJ+.