[jasaloo]

I can understand that viewpoint. But if we look at the track record of how authorities actually use surveillance technology, it is aggressively used to squash dissent, rather than prevent/investigate crimes.

Yes, facial recognition could help cops identify a robber more quickly and yes surveillance has been used to expedite investigations, but what we've seen is that cops across the board will disproportionately abuse this sort of technology to track and monitor (and sometimes later harass) protesters, activists, ethnic/religious minorities and the undocumented.

Here's one instance at the federal level, but abuse happens at the state and local level constantly.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/10/standing-roc...

[philwelch]

I wouldn’t be surprised if accurate facial recognition technology actually cut down on things like overt racial profiling.

[jasaloo]

yeah, maybe... but the question is always 'at what cost?'

There are ways of cutting down on racial profiling that don't require turning our city into a panopticon.