Joseph Atick, a pioneer of facial-recognition systems, is now cautioning against their unfettered use:
In 2001, his worst-case scenario materialized. A competitor supplied the Tampa police with a face-recognition system; officers covertly deployed it on fans attending Super Bowl XXXV. The police scanned tens of thousands of fans without their awareness, identifying a handful of petty criminals, but no one was detained.
Journalists coined it the “Snooper Bowl.” Public outrage and congressional criticism ensued, raising issues about the potential intrusiveness and fallibility of face recognition that have yet to be resolved.
Dr. Atick says he thought this fiasco had doomed the industry: “I had to explain to the media this was not responsible use.”
