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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    Default Is Facial Recognition Software a Violation of Privacy

    My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: NY

    Recently, I was discussing with a friend, a summons I received for going through a red light. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Who knows. That isn't the point of my post.

    While talking about it, I mentioned the silver lining; at least it is issued to the vehicle and doesn't cost me points on my license and increased insurance rates. In response to this statement, my friend informed me that there was discussion about deploying 2 camera systems where they would be able to get a photo of the person driving. Using facial recognition software, they would run the DMV photo database through it to ID the person driving.

    This seems extreme and flawed to me as the margin of error could lead to people being unjustly penalized as facial recognition software isn't perfect.

    So my question is this: Is this an invasion of privacy?

    To expand on my point, if I walk past a home and observe a quantity of some drug on a table inside an open window, those drugs are considered to be in "plain view" and the action I take is justified by this fact. Of course, if the drugs were not in plain view, I could not take action based on a suspicion.

    Is the driver of the vehicle considered to be in "plain view"?

    It would be illegal for me to take a camera, point the lens in an open window and take photos of the people inside. How would a camera, deployed as stated above be any different?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    Massachusetts
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    Default Re: I Hope That This Post Stimulates a Good, Healthy Debate

    It would be illegal for me to take a camera, point the lens in an open window and take photos of the people inside.

    Under what law?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
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    Default Re: I Hope That This Post Stimulates a Good, Healthy Debate

    Quote Quoting Nick003
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    It would be illegal for me to take a camera, point the lens in an open window and take photos of the people inside.

    You are mistaken about that. That is not illegal under federal law nor the law of any U.S. state.


    Quote Quoting Nick003
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    How would a camera, deployed as stated above be any different?
    It would not violate the federal or NY constitution for the state to do it. You have no right to privacy concerning what you do in the public space, including driving on the roads. A cop could see you and recognize you when you blow through a stop sign and ticket you and that wouldn’t violate the Constitution. A cop could look at a photo generated by a red light camera, compare it to your driver’s license photo, and issue you a citation based on that too and it would not violate the Constitution either. And that is essentially what would happen in the scenerio you suggest.

    And, by the way, even if it was illegal for you to take pictures under some state law, the legislature certainly could write the law to allow the police to take such pictures for law enforcement purposes. We let the police do a number of things that private citizens cannot do, after all.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    16

    Default Re: I Hope That This Post Stimulates a Good, Healthy Debate

    Quote Quoting cbg
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    It would be illegal for me to take a camera, point the lens in an open window and take photos of the people inside.

    Under what law?
    So, you're saying that if I wanted, I could walk up to someone's home, point my lens to the window and start taking pictures? People call the cops for that behavior and if caught, are taken away.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    Massachusetts
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    Default Re: I Hope That This Post Stimulates a Good, Healthy Debate

    If you are in a place where you are authorized to be, you can take pictures of anything that is in plain view. It might be problematic if you walked up onto their porch and started taking pictures through the windows, because you are not authorized to be on their porch until they say you are. But if you're standing on the public street and the inside of their living room is within view, you can take all the pictures you want.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: I Hope That This Post Stimulates a Good, Healthy Debate

    I think we're getting into some pretty far-fetched analogies -- being observed through the window of a car, and taking pictures through the window of a home -- and I don't see much point in pursuing the analogy. I will say this much: I would not suggest taking pictures even from a public vantage point that more than incidentally capture the interior of somebody else's dwelling, as at a certain point (depending on the facts and what you capture) you could be accused of a harassment or stalking-type offense or of voyeurism.

    The use of facial recognition or photo matching software no more violates your rights than similar technologies used to match fingerprints. It's a tool. If you believe the result is wrong, you can challenge the operator's conclusion.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
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    Default Re: I Hope That This Post Stimulates a Good, Healthy Debate

    Quote Quoting Nick003
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    So, you're saying that if I wanted, I could walk up to someone's home, point my lens to the window and start taking pictures? People call the cops for that behavior and if caught, are taken away.
    People in their homes are not in a public place like the person driving a car on a public. As a result, your analogy does not fit. You may take pictures of people walking on a public sidewalk, playing in a public park, and also of them driving a car on a public road or highway. In all these circumstances the people being photographed have no reasonable expectation of privacy. They do have an expectation of privacy in their homes, and most states have laws that make at least certain kinds of peeping or photographing into a private residence a crime. There are no such laws making it crime to photograph someone driving on a public street.

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