All of them were found via a concert for the same pop star.
Facial recognition’s been the big thing of late. It’s capable of many things, most prominently security, though there are issues raised about privacy. And no one is steering towards that crazy Orwellian future quite like China.
On Sunday in Jiaxing, China, a 3rd man was arrested thanks to facial recognition software at a Jackie Cheung concert (Cheung is basically Chinese Michael Jackson). The AI based system caught him as he was heading into the concert. The man, identified by authorities by his surname as Yu, was responsible for stealing $17,000 worth of potatoes back in 2015.
Yu is the thrid criminal caught thanks to China’s facial recognition system. Earlier this month, a man named “Liu” was caught by the system, though his crimes weren’t specified. He was caught after attending a Cheung concert in Ganzhou. A third, named Ao, was arrested at a Cheung show in Nanchang.
That all said, having such a system in place does further the arguments about potential misuse. Doubly so, as in China the current ruler has “for life” tenure. A man who also hates Winnie the Poo, the letter “N”, and in an ironic twist, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, among other media.
As a matter of fact, the state-run news agency Xinhua has actually published stories related to use of the technology. One based on airport security, and the other on monitoring student attentiveness in classes.
So, I suppose the moral of the story is, if you like sleeping in class or stealing shit? You’d best love balaclavas and masks. And hate pop music.
Source: NPR
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