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> “Given that the human face recognition performed by the check-in agents did not keep the hijackers out, there is no reason to think that computer face recognition would help.”

Even though I agree with the premise of the essay, this is absurdly false today. Computers are really good at this type of thing now, scarily so.

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Agreed. In fact, the ubiquity and effectiveness of surveillance technology today makes Stallman's "massive surveillance" argument seem stale.

These days, government surveillance is just a drop in the bucket. Surveillance by private companies and private citizens dwarfs it.

Everytime through TSA they cannot match me to my ID with computer photo thing. After three/four tries they call someone over, who looks at my ID, my face and then says "seems OK". I don't think computers are good at it.

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