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Faces of the Riot website uses facial recognition to catalog Capitol protesters

20 points by b33f 6y ago

fleshdaddy 6y ago
This is pretty disturbing tbh. I really can’t believe someone thought it’d be a good idea to make this. I have no confidence that they’re distinguishing between rioters, and media, passerby’s, police, and genuinely non violent people. If you’re someone cheering this on ask yourself how long before it happens at a protest you support, your kids are at, your friends or you. This is a pretty fucked up thing these people made.
- klyrs 6y ago
  Sousveillance + information wants to be free. Broke or woke?
- balozi 6y ago
  Not only will it be used as you describe, other far more nefarious upgrades or "enhancements" will be added on. It's not enough to identify the kids at the protest, now you can even send retribution their way from the comfort of your own couch.
  - curlypaul924 6y ago
    One enhancement I can imagine is charging a processing fee to have your face removed from the site. If it is as easy to build this as was claimed in the article, then it is only a matter of time before someone does this.
- Craighead 6y ago
  This is such a bad faith take. Individuals identified as violating federal law and proscecuted as such isn't a process that can happen via a single happenstance picture. I also draw no distinction between "non violent folk” and "domestic insurgency"
hg35h4 6y ago
Typical SJW "It's bad when the police do this" "It's good when we do this because they like Trump" "It's bad when China does it, no social credit system!" "It's good when we do this because they like Trump"
- shrimp_emoji 6y ago
  Typical anti-SJW "Presupposing that politics are created equal, this hypocrisy is ridiculous! Antifa are just like Nazis!"
throwawaysea 6y ago
Funny how this is all okay when it comes to the Capitol riot of 2021. But was the same done for the Capitol riots when Kavanaugh was nominated? Nope. What about the multiple “climate justice” riots incited by AOC and Tlaib, also at the Capitol? Nothing - it was barely covered in media. What about the various riots and criminal incidents related to BLM or Antifa? What about the various autonomous zones that popped up in Seattle and Portland over the last year? Invariably when any push is made to bring leftist criminals to justice, activists cry foul, peddle cliches like “riots are the language of the unheard”, attack anyone posting photos or streams of criminals as “doxxing”, and so on. There is a clear undeniable double standard behind all this (https://www.allsides.com/blog/capitol-hill-breach-riot-coverage-demonstrates-media-bias https://www.allsides.com/blog/capitol-hill-breach-riot-cover...), and it involves politicians, social media giants, news media, and everyday people. The fact that places like Ars or Wired are happily normalizing leftist witch hunts, by being less directly and overtly critical than they could be, should alarm everyone. But the rot goes much much deeper.
- renewiltord 6y ago
  Bro. If there's no website and you want there to be a website, then you've got to make it or something. Being like "Ah woe is me. Why does my pet interest not have work put in by other people" is like super lame. Do your own work.
  - throwawaysea 6y ago
    Did you manufacture your own cell phone? Do you operate your own power utility? I’m guessing “no”. I think it is reasonable to not do everything by oneself. I also think it is reasonable to expect that justice be applied equally between comparable incidents, without being the person meting it out. That said I do appreciate the spirit of self reliance to get things done. But that’s not what my comment is about. It’s about the unequal treatment and unequal outrage from a variety of actors in our society, when it comes to the political left versus the political right. It’s about valuing things like responsible disclosure. It’s about leaning from history and not repeating the same mistakes when it comes to witch hunts, or censorship, or whatever else.
thick 6y ago
Refreshing to see that the top Ars comments are supporting this. I’m looking forward to the tables turning around when “they” take control of the situation again, and remember all of this, and the events that have yet to happen. I remember a few months ago one of the YC alumni building a website to document anyone who supports the RNC for the quoted intention of shaming them and making their lives/livelihood harder. They were so proud of it and advertised it on Twitter. I’ll see if I can dig up the name of one of the authors. They took the tweet down when they realized the audience found them no better than the Nazi supporters of the 30s putting together lists of the Jews. This doesn’t end well, and people won’t forget this. Eye for an eye, and then some.
- djeiasbsbo 6y ago
  I don't think the Hacker News crowd likes this and that is reflected in the top comments. I can see why someone had the urge to build this seeing as this capitol riot was perhaps the biggest threat to american democracy in recent years. What really irks me though is not only how many people brought their phones but also how many actively posted and boasted about their participation on social media. There is a social media site called "Clapper" that is kind of like TikTok but describes itself as a "free-speech" alternative. Naturally, it is pretty much filled to the brim with conservatives. When the capitol riot happened, hundreds of videos from the event appeared on Clapper. But Clapper acted quickly and seemingly took down all of the videos with geolocation data close to the event at that time. Now, almost nothing can be found there about it. But the platform is still filled with conservatives who post videos of their laptop screens about the Q conspiracy and "encouraging" videos where they ensure each other that Biden is not yet president and it is not yet over. They seem very technologically illiterate and also very unconcerned about how easily they could get themselves fired for racist or conspiratory content, because they think that this "platform" unlike Twitter and Facebook is somehow on their side. They don't realise that social media platforms cannot advertise when their content isn't "clean" and thus act in their own interest when they ban this type of content, and not in the interest of some opposing party. So honestly, I think this is just the beginning of such projects, because somehow the people who would do something as ridiculous as storming the capitol keep documenting their crimes and releasing the material themselves... they make it extremely easy for any political opponents.

20 points by b33f 6y ago

This is pretty disturbing tbh. I really can’t believe someone thought it’d be a good idea to make this. I have no confidence that they’re distinguishing between rioters, and media, passerby’s, police, and genuinely non violent people. If you’re someone cheering this on ask yourself how long before it happens at a protest you support, your kids are at, your friends or you. This is a pretty fucked up thing these people made.

klyrs 6y ago
Sousveillance + information wants to be free. Broke or woke?
balozi 6y ago
Not only will it be used as you describe, other far more nefarious upgrades or "enhancements" will be added on. It's not enough to identify the kids at the protest, now you can even send retribution their way from the comfort of your own couch.
- curlypaul924 6y ago
  One enhancement I can imagine is charging a processing fee to have your face removed from the site. If it is as easy to build this as was claimed in the article, then it is only a matter of time before someone does this.
Craighead 6y ago
This is such a bad faith take. Individuals identified as violating federal law and proscecuted as such isn't a process that can happen via a single happenstance picture. I also draw no distinction between "non violent folk” and "domestic insurgency"

hg35h4 6y ago

Typical SJW "It's bad when the police do this" "It's good when we do this because they like Trump" "It's bad when China does it, no social credit system!" "It's good when we do this because they like Trump"

shrimp_emoji 6y ago
Typical anti-SJW "Presupposing that politics are created equal, this hypocrisy is ridiculous! Antifa are just like Nazis!"

throwawaysea 6y ago

Funny how this is all okay when it comes to the Capitol riot of 2021. But was the same done for the Capitol riots when Kavanaugh was nominated? Nope. What about the multiple “climate justice” riots incited by AOC and Tlaib, also at the Capitol? Nothing - it was barely covered in media. What about the various riots and criminal incidents related to BLM or Antifa? What about the various autonomous zones that popped up in Seattle and Portland over the last year? Invariably when any push is made to bring leftist criminals to justice, activists cry foul, peddle cliches like “riots are the language of the unheard”, attack anyone posting photos or streams of criminals as “doxxing”, and so on. There is a clear undeniable double standard behind all this (https://www.allsides.com/blog/capitol-hill-breach-riot-coverage-demonstrates-media-bias https://www.allsides.com/blog/capitol-hill-breach-riot-cover...), and it involves politicians, social media giants, news media, and everyday people. The fact that places like Ars or Wired are happily normalizing leftist witch hunts, by being less directly and overtly critical than they could be, should alarm everyone. But the rot goes much much deeper.

renewiltord 6y ago
Bro. If there's no website and you want there to be a website, then you've got to make it or something. Being like "Ah woe is me. Why does my pet interest not have work put in by other people" is like super lame. Do your own work.
- throwawaysea 6y ago
  Did you manufacture your own cell phone? Do you operate your own power utility? I’m guessing “no”. I think it is reasonable to not do everything by oneself. I also think it is reasonable to expect that justice be applied equally between comparable incidents, without being the person meting it out. That said I do appreciate the spirit of self reliance to get things done. But that’s not what my comment is about. It’s about the unequal treatment and unequal outrage from a variety of actors in our society, when it comes to the political left versus the political right. It’s about valuing things like responsible disclosure. It’s about leaning from history and not repeating the same mistakes when it comes to witch hunts, or censorship, or whatever else.

thick 6y ago

Refreshing to see that the top Ars comments are supporting this. I’m looking forward to the tables turning around when “they” take control of the situation again, and remember all of this, and the events that have yet to happen. I remember a few months ago one of the YC alumni building a website to document anyone who supports the RNC for the quoted intention of shaming them and making their lives/livelihood harder. They were so proud of it and advertised it on Twitter. I’ll see if I can dig up the name of one of the authors. They took the tweet down when they realized the audience found them no better than the Nazi supporters of the 30s putting together lists of the Jews. This doesn’t end well, and people won’t forget this. Eye for an eye, and then some.

djeiasbsbo 6y ago
I don't think the Hacker News crowd likes this and that is reflected in the top comments. I can see why someone had the urge to build this seeing as this capitol riot was perhaps the biggest threat to american democracy in recent years. What really irks me though is not only how many people brought their phones but also how many actively posted and boasted about their participation on social media. There is a social media site called "Clapper" that is kind of like TikTok but describes itself as a "free-speech" alternative. Naturally, it is pretty much filled to the brim with conservatives. When the capitol riot happened, hundreds of videos from the event appeared on Clapper. But Clapper acted quickly and seemingly took down all of the videos with geolocation data close to the event at that time. Now, almost nothing can be found there about it. But the platform is still filled with conservatives who post videos of their laptop screens about the Q conspiracy and "encouraging" videos where they ensure each other that Biden is not yet president and it is not yet over. They seem very technologically illiterate and also very unconcerned about how easily they could get themselves fired for racist or conspiratory content, because they think that this "platform" unlike Twitter and Facebook is somehow on their side. They don't realise that social media platforms cannot advertise when their content isn't "clean" and thus act in their own interest when they ban this type of content, and not in the interest of some opposing party. So honestly, I think this is just the beginning of such projects, because somehow the people who would do something as ridiculous as storming the capitol keep documenting their crimes and releasing the material themselves... they make it extremely easy for any political opponents.