I
know
it’s
never
great
to
blame
the
victim,
but
this
all
could
have
been
avoided
if
ICE
officers
hadn’t
decided
they
all
needed
to
act
like paramilitary
death
squad
members while
raiding
Home
Deport
parking
lots.
If
you’re
in
the
sort
of
business
you
feel
you
can’t
do
safely
with
your
entire
face
exposed,
you’re
in
the
wrong
business.
That
this
development
was
inevitable doesn’t
make
it
any
more
welcome:
An
activist
has
started
using
artificial
intelligence
to
identify
Immigration
and
Customs
Enforcement
agents
beneath
their
masks
—
a
use
of
the
technology
sparking
new
political
concerns
over
AI-powered
surveillance.
Dominick
Skinner,
a
Netherlands-based
immigration
activist,
estimates
he
and
a
group
of
volunteers
have
publicly
identified
at
least
20
ICE
officials
recorded
wearing
masks
during
arrests.
He
told
POLITICO
his
experts
are
“able
to
reveal
a
face
using
AI,
if
they
have
35
percent
or
more
of
the
face
visible.”
I’m
not
sure
what
software
Skinner
is
running
on
this
particular
box,
but
asserting
a
whole
face
can
be
accurately
determined
from
only
35%
of
a
face
is
a
non-starter.
I
certainly
wouldn’t
trust cops with
this
tech
add-on
to
existing
facial
recognition
software.
It’s
no
more
trustworthy
(perhaps
even
less!)
when
it’s
being
deployed
by
citizens.
While
I’d
like
to
believe
regular
people
would
be
more
careful
and
conscientious
of
this
tech’s
limitations
when
using
it,
there’s
no
reason
to
believe
they
won’t
be
just
as
bad
as
cops,
who
continue
to
ignore
false
positives
(and
false
arrests)
because
the
tech
makes
it
easier
to arrest people,
even
if
it’s
not
all
that
great
at
actually identifying people.
Of
course,
all
of
the
administration’s
frontmouths
claim
ICE
agents
need
masks
for
safety
reasons,
something
that’s
being
echoed
all
too
often
by
people
who
should
know
better
(or
at
least
have staffers that
know
better).
ICE
agents
“don’t
deserve
to
be
hunted
online
by
activists
using
AI,”
said
Sen. James
Lankford (R-Okla.),
who
chairs
the
Senate
Homeland
Security
subcommittee
on
border
management
and
the
federal
workforce.
That’s
not
a
statement
anyone
can
honestly
make.
There
are
many
things
ICE
is
deserving
of,
and
while
being
subjected
to
digital
vigilantism
is
far
from
ideal,
they
certainly
don’t
need more legislated
protections —
not
when
they’re
backed
by
billions
of
new
tax
dollars
and
the
president’s
hatred
for
all
things
migrant.
But
that
is
what’s
happening
now,
in
response
to
activists’
efforts
like
these.
On
the
other
hand,
some
lawmakers
are
seeking
to
prevent
ICE
officers
from
wearing
masks,
although
it’s
unlikely
any
bill
introduced
with
this
end
goal
will
ever
go
to
committee,
much
less
secure
the
number
of
votes
needed
to
see
it
vetoed
the
minute
it
hits
Trump’s
desk.
But
it
does
raise
a
lot
of
questions
that
demand
answers,
no
matter
how
uncomfortable
those
answers
might
be.
One
of
the
questions
it
raises
is
why
do
we
let
cops
do
this
sort
of
thing
if
it’s
so
obviously
a
problem
if
a
regular
person
utilizes
the
same
tech
for
the
same
reason
(identification)?
Are
legislators
really
going
to
keep
insisting
federal
officers
are
being
victimized
when
this
is
the
sort
thing
cop
shops
do
far
too
regularly?
While
the
technology
is
recent,
the
method
is
not
—
and
in
fact
a
version
of
it
has
been
used
by
American
police
departments
on
civilians.
A
2019
study from
the
Georgetown
Law
Center
on
Privacy
and
Technology found
police
departments
digitally
altering
pictures
and
using
artist
sketches
as
the
basis
for
finding
suspects
through
facial
recognition.
The
biggest
question
is
whether
federal
officers
should
be
allowed
to
be
masked
when
engaging
in
their
duties
in
full
view
of
the
public.
The
answer
should,
unequivocally,
be
“No.”
Not
“No,
unless…”
or
“No,
but…”
It’s
a
flat
“No”
from
me.
To
answer
this
question
any
other
way
simply
creates
loopholes
and
excuses
for
officers,
which
will
inevitably
return
to
the
ICE
status
quo
of
“everyone
wears
a
mask
all
the
time.”
Sure,
if
there
are
officers
working
in
an
undercover
position,
they’re
free
to
conceal
their
identities.
But
of
course
they
won’t
mask
up,
because
that
might
put
their
targets
on
edge.
So,
it’s
obviously
not
a
“protection”
thing
when
ICE
does
it. It’s
an intimidation thing that
goes
hand
in
hand
with
its abject
cowardice thing.
They don’t want
to
be
identified
because
they don’t want
to
be
held
accountable
for
their
actions
—
whether
it’s
being
named
in
a
lawsuit
or
simply
being
taunted
by
name
by
passersby
during
raids
of
Home
Depot
parking
lots.
Is
this
a
good
way
to
fight
back
against
ICE’s
(don’t
call
it
a)
mask
mandate?
That’s
a
flat
“No”
from
me.
Using
faulty
tech
to
generate
questionable
IDs
compounds
existing
issues
and
makes
it
far
more
likely
to
get
innocent
people
hurt
and
generate
legislation
that
will
ensure
that only the
government
gets
to
use
this
tech
irresponsibly.
While
I
appreciate
the
fact
that
a
lot
of
people
feel
helpless
when
faced
with
this
day-to-day
onslaught
of
ICE
aggression,
you
can’t
level
the
playing
field
by
creating
a
different
slope
on
your
side
of
it.
And
as
much
as
I
want
ICE
officers
to
be
forced
to
act
like
public
servants
while
they’re
performing
their
public
duties,
I
also
realize
that’s
simply
not
going
to
happen
because
that
would
mean
ICE
officers
won’t
be
able
to
violate
rights
as
regularly
as
they
need
to
in
order
to
keep
pace
with
the
administration’s
bigoted
bloodlust.
For
now,
the
best
moves
are
to
express
your
support
for
legislators
seeking
to
pass
laws
forbidding
mask
use
by
federal
officers
and
doing
what
you
can
to
help
those
affected
by
mass
deportation
efforts,
whether
that’s
finding
them
legal
assistance
or
simply
shaming
ICE
officers
out
of
neighborhoods
and
parking
lots
by
turning
your
cameras
on
them
and
advancing
on
their
position
until
they
feel
forced
to
retreat.
There’s
no
big
victory
on
the
horizon.
But
every
battle
counts.
Trying
to
bypass
this
grind
with
unproven
tech
add-ons
isn’t
going
to
speed
up
the
process.
It’s
just
going
to
do
more
harm
than
good
in
a
world
that
already
has
an
excess
of
harm
to
deal
with.
Activists
Are
Using
AI
To
‘Identify’
ICE
Officers
And
That’s
Definitely
Not
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