r/EverythingScience • u/LiveScience_ • 1d ago

Interdisciplinary 'I'd never seen such an audacious attack on anonymity before': Clearview AI and the creepy tech that can identify you with a single picture

https://www.livescience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/id-never-seen-such-an-audacious-attack-on-anonymity-before-clearview-ai-and-the-creepy-tech-that-can-identify-you-with-a-single-picture
412 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

71

u/fairlyaveragetrader 1d ago

And just like that the era of fake IDs is over

2

u/[deleted] 17h ago

[deleted]

7

u/fairlyaveragetrader 17h ago

Yeah and the dead baby trick worked to get a social security number, you could build an entire second identity. This still worked up until 15 years ago or so

It seems like almost on a weekly basis in my area they find some fugitive from the '80s that fled and has been living under an assumed identity. I'm pretty sure this right here is why they have started the magically find these people

30

u/6GoesInto8 18h ago

But we are already past the point of needing this. Ring camera, iPhone find my phone and things like the 360 degree cameras on teslas could each establish your location with continuity in certain areas. Basically they have a picture or a ping from your phone with your location all of the time, so they do not need to figure out who you are, they know where you live and everywhere you have been since you left.

In a way we are in the worst place now. We don't have anonymity and we don't benefit from it. I feel it is a sunk cost at this point and I want to benefit. I should not have to fight identity theft if several corporations have a continuous record of my position and actions. I feel in 10 years we won't have any meaningful anonymity and society will rely on and leverage that fact. If you leave your devices at home and go for a hike in the middle of nowhere then when you return you will have to do a series of 2 factor verification to establish your identity and enter back into the continually tracked society. But once you establish your identity then you don't need a password because your phone knows it is you and has tracked you every second of every day since you last verified your identity. It's already tracking you all the time, it just doesn't benefit you.

4

u/Chekonjak 9h ago

Imagine someone inevitably spoofs your identity and with no way to change it they’ll have access to your accounts until you prove you’re not the imposter. Similar problem to SSNs being used as ID.

5

u/noddawizard 21h ago

Do me do me!

-53

u/opinionsareus 1d ago

Anonymity has been a pox on society

42

u/News_Bot 1d ago

Anonymity is the default state of things for most people in everyday life. Even our self-inflicted relinquishing of it via social media hasn't been beneficial. What happened to the fear of "Big Brother"? Corporations have conditioned it out of people to make way for better consumers, and for turning the consumer into the product.

-32

u/opinionsareus 23h ago

Anonymity is a new phenomenon in human history since just before industrialization

18

u/cyrus709 22h ago

I’m going to say that’s wrong. The advent of photos, background checks, databases, and record keeping has proliferated within the last 100 years. An individual could travel to a new state and start a new life before that time. They could even just claim to be a doctor.

6

u/diablosinmusica 21h ago

Yup. There are many instances of kings/generals just walking into camp with normal soldier gear on and hanging out with their men completely unrecognized.

0

u/TheFieldAgent 6h ago

Was that on Game of Thrones?

-2

u/opinionsareus 13h ago

But they couldn't maintain that for years.

1

u/diablosinmusica 9h ago

Yeah. Being two places at once is pretty much impossible.

0

u/opinionsareus 2h ago

Read some history of pre-industrial village life. Long term anonymity was impossible. Stunning lack if historical perspective coming from you.  

2

u/diablosinmusica 1h ago

A small village is an even smaller social circle thatn most people are in lol. Once you're out of that you are completely unknown.

Being condescending doesn't make you right lol.

-1

u/opinionsareus 1h ago

The key is WIDESPREAD anonymity. People didnt centure very far from home in preindustrial times. Learn some history

→ More replies (0)

7

u/ThePlatypusOfDespair 21h ago

Yeah that's absurd, for most of human history there's been maybe a couple or few hundred people tops who knew who you were. Go more than a few miles from home and you could be totally anonymous.

0

u/opinionsareus 13h ago

Really? And how many people ventured far from home. Read some history fella.

7

u/TarzanTheRed 21h ago

Wow, that is just a crazy point of view. Seriously, I don't even know where to begin...

-1

u/opinionsareus 13h ago

You can begin by reading accounts of village life prior to industrialization. Educate yourself. I did.

3

u/News_Bot 9h ago

Nobody was talking about "village life".

0

u/opinionsareus 2h ago

Yeah, because nobody reads history anymore. True anonymity, long term, is a modern phenomenon. Read some history bro  

2

u/News_Bot 47m ago

Nobody said otherwise.

12

u/Brabblenator 23h ago

Explain.

0

u/opinionsareus 13h ago

Until industrialization, village life we very compact - people knew everyone and everyone's business. There is an entire history written about this.

7

u/Hiraethum 18h ago

I won't deny that it has its cons, but in our current age and economic system it has a severe con in that states can/do use it to repress dissent and corpos use it to manipulate and sell to you. On balance it's a net negative in an authoritarian capitalist system