Law enforcement using secret private facial recognition app
Privacy advocates have raised alarm over news that law enforcement authorities in several countries are using an app developed by Australian start-up Hoan Ton-That. The app enables users to upload a picture of a person in order to see public photos of the person and sites where they have been posted. The New York Times describes the app as -“the end of privacy as we know it”-, since the app is powered by a database containing billions of pictures collected from the web. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to match uploaded pictures to existing pictures on the database.
According to reports, several police departments in Australia and the USA have confirmed that they are using the app.
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