Protesters who took to Sydney Streets to protect against COVID-19 lockdowns made a fatal mistake according to sources, they walked down George Street Sydney where there are hundreds of high-res digital cameras, that are coupled to advanced facial recognition software, and they left their mobiles on.
NSW Police have received about 6000 reports to Crime Stoppers about the unauthorised lockdown protest in Sydney on Saturday, as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian condemned the crowd’s actions amid fears the event could become a super spreading incident.
She said authorities would have to wait one or two weeks before the full impact of the protest on the state’s COVID-19 infections was known.
“We really need everybody to do the right thing and when you see images like [the protests] it just lets everybody down,” she said.
“I said yesterday I was heartbroken and that’s how I felt – it was a combination of disgust and just heartbreak.”
Now NSW Police are working to match data from these cameras with photo id that they already have access to such as public service employee’s photos as well as driving licences and passports.
ChannelNews understands that they are also tracking images taken by press photographers and TV networks as well as matching up camera images captured from commercial premises.
During the past few years, the NSW Government and the Federal Government have invested millions in facial recognition software.
A simple tap of an Opal card at a bus stop or rail station coupled with an image taken from a high res 4K surveillance camera delivers for intelligence for police tracking down a suspect. This coupled with phone data delivers for authorities compelling evidence say experts.
This is before police photo match social media networks such as Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Companies such as NEC have been working with Australian authorities for several years to deliver both the software and hardware to quickly scan databases matching sourced images with information that is available from camera’s located on street corners.
NEC said recently ‘The fingerprint is no longer enough. The future of public security lies in facial recognition technology. Its advantages over other security solutions are profound. Not only is facial recognition faster and more accurate, but it also provides real-time information delivery and can capture data from great distances without alerting or intruding on subjects.
A video posted to the NEC web site reveals how far this technology can go.
NEC is the world’s leading provider of facial recognition solutions, and presently develops systems for governments, security organisations and commercial sector operators.
One source who ChannelNews spoke to today said “It’s going to be very easy for people to identify marchers who breach Government regulations relating to COVID lockdown orders”.
“The Government could rake in millions in fines by simply matching images with existing databases of photo ID”.
They pointed out that police are today driving around in cars that scan numberplates passing their vehicle at 16 cars a second.
Queensland Police captured 23 million images in just six months last year.
The new NEC Face Watch technology is able to take in ageing and can work out who a person is even if they are trying to hide behind a pair of dark glasses claim experts.
Another piece of software being used by Police forces around the world is Clearview AI Founded by Hoan Ton-That, Clearview AI uses a database of 3 billion images, which allows police to use a photo of a suspect to find other images and information about that person from across the internet.
“We have millions and millions of different websites all around the web that we crawl and add to our database,” he told the ABC’s The World Today program recently.
Mr Ton-That, 31, grew up in Australia and moved to the US at 19 years old. He worked in app development and as a part-time model before founding Clearview AI four years ago.
A report in The New York Times earlier this week uncovered the use of Clearview AI by more than 600 police departments including Australian Police forces.
“There’s a lot of crimes and cases that are being solved,” Mr Ton-That said. “We really believe that this technology can make the world a lot safer.”
Mr Ton-That claims police in Australia are using his technology.
