Huawei Allegedly Tested Facial Recognition Technology to Identify Uighurs

[Shreyas1]

Summary

 

 So basically, according to an internal report, Huawei, along with another artificial intelligence company, were developing artificial intelligence software that triggered an alert when it detected an Uighur person (through things like facial features).

 

Quotes

Quote

The Chinese tech giant Huawei and artificial intelligence company Megvii developed and tested facial recognition software that triggered alerts whenever the technology detected Uighur Muslims, according to an internal document obtained by researcher IPVM and provided to The Washington Post.

The document dates back to January 2018, when Huawei tested Megvii's Face++ facial recognition on its network of cameras and gave a passing grade to its ability to recognize people's age, gender and ethnicity. The test report also highlighted a passing grade for a "Uyghur Alarm" -- an alert designed specifically to identify members of the oppressed minority population in China. 

Quote

"This report is simply a test and it has not seen real-world application. Huawei only supplies general-purpose products for this kind of testing. We do not provide custom algorithms or applications," Huawei said in a statement.

My thoughts

 

Well this is very messed up, and personally, I'm glad that the US dropped Huawei a while back, both for security and (at this point) moral reasons. Keep in mind this is the same company that supplies China with their facial recognition technology. I am certainly not OK with this technology potentially being used on Americans (or anyone else for that matter). Certainly, I feel like we dodged a bullet with that one, even if Huawei says that it is merely a test, I can imagine the CCP applying it to more people.

 

Keep in mind this report was 2 years old, who knows what they may be testing now.

 

Sources

 https://www.cnet.com/news/huawei-tested-facial-recognition-that-identified-uighur-muslims-set-off-alarm-says-report/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/08/huawei-tested-ai-software-that-could-recognize-uighur-minorities-alert-police-report-says/

 

WaPo is original article, but paywalled

 

[The_russian]

Your Washington Post link is just to the main page, I think you meant to link to this article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/08/huawei-tested-ai-software-that-could-recognize-uighur-minorities-alert-police-report-says/

 

Also, wtf...

[Shreyas1]

2 minutes ago, The_russian said:

Your Washington Post link is just to the main page, I think you meant to link to this article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/08/huawei-tested-ai-software-that-could-recognize-uighur-minorities-alert-police-report-says/

 

Also, wtf...

Ah thanks. I copypasted it but it looks like it redirects to the main page.

[Jet_ski]

Cringing very uncomfortably here. WTF.

[TempestCatto]

Today I learned, who Uighurs are

Quote

The Uyghurs, alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. Wikipedia

 

[Dominik W]

Here is a link to the article if it is paywalled for you: https://archive.is/I7ADG

3 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

Ah thanks. I copypasted it but it looks like it redirects to the main page.

Yeah, they do that as a paywall method. It worked for me. 

[BuckGup]

The hypocrisy is insane. If the FBI, CIA, NSA, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and US government use facial recognition for malicious intent it's okay because GO USA but when Hauwei, one of THOSE Chinese companies, does it we need to start another World War for sure. I bet Snowden feels great every time something he exposed resurfaces and everyone acts like it's something new. 

[Dabombinable]

4 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

The hypocrisy is insane. If the FBI, CIA, NSA, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and US government use facial recognition for malicious intent it's okay because GO USA but when Hauwei, one of THOSE Chinese companies, does it we need to start another World War for sure. I bet Snowden feels great every time something he exposed resurfaces and everyone acts like it's something new. 

It is being used to directly oppress the Uighurs, who are also being put into "re-education camps" (read: concentration). AKA it's being used for a far more extreme purpose.

[BuckGup]

26 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

It is being used to directly oppress the Uighurs, who are also being put into "re-education camps" (read: concentration). AKA it's being used for a far more extreme purpose.

I would say ICE putting children in cages is borderline equally if not worse.

[divito]

This is pretty sensationalist; this exists in many other Western countries and goes un-talked about (plenty of situations are documented) 95% of the time.

On top of given how these programs are made, you can also make "African-American alarms" etc... so highlighting this particular alarm is a bit disingenuous. The article also incorrectly cites that such software doesn't exist in the US. There have been laws and challenges to such software across the US for various reasons, but US companies definitely have such systems with such abilities.
 

4 minutes ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

Yup, and people give them a free pass. On the other hand, I've never seen anything indicating the US government is currently involved with concentration camps, stealing organs, etc.

People didn't know most of what ended up being in Snowden's releases either. 

ICE uses it for finding illegal immigrants, among other things, and many private companies have access to these software through many of the US companies that develop these types of software.

 

I think the Chinese component is much overblown because if a private company or a government was using Clearview or Trueface's software to do this, I don't think it would contain such vitriol. The US is at the forefront of a lot of this stuff, and you can bet it's integrated in a lot of the intelligence community initiatives worldwide.

[TheReal1980]

So glad I don't own anything by Huawei and never will.

[dizmo]

Not surprising in the least. They already had one of the best facial recognition systems in place for the rest of the country, why not use it for something evil?

 

1 hour ago, BuckGup said:

The hypocrisy is insane. If the FBI, CIA, NSA, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and US government use facial recognition for malicious intent it's okay because GO USA but when Hauwei, one of THOSE Chinese companies, does it we need to start another World War for sure. I bet Snowden feels great every time something he exposed resurfaces and everyone acts like it's something new. 

Those corporations and agencies aren't "re-educating" and harvesting organs, though, are they. There's a massive fucking difference.

51 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

It's also pronounced the same way as slang for white people acting black in the US, and I thought they were saying that wrong when I heard it the first time.

Haha, I mean, it's close, but no, it's not the same.

39 minutes ago, divito said:

This is pretty sensationalist; this exists in many other Western countries and goes un-talked about (plenty of situations are documented) 95% of the time.

On top of given how these programs are made, you can also make "African-American alarms" etc... so highlighting this particular alarm is a bit disingenuous. The article also incorrectly cites that such software doesn't exist in the US. There have been laws and challenges to such software across the US for various reasons, but US companies definitely have such systems with such abilities.
 

People didn't know most of what ended up being in Snowden's releases either. 

ICE uses it for finding illegal immigrants, among other things, and many private companies have access to these software through many of the US companies that develop these types of software.

 

I think the Chinese component is much overblown because if a private company or a government was using Clearview or Trueface's software to do this, I don't think it would contain such vitriol. The US is at the forefront of a lot of this stuff, and you can bet it's integrated in a lot of the intelligence community initiatives worldwide.

Facial recognition? Yes.

Facial recognition used to basically exterminate a population? Most certainly not.

There's a massive difference and if you don't understand that you don't actually understand the topic you're talking about.

[Tristerin]

*dons tinfoil hat*

 

This whole mask deal is to help their AI algorithms build to the point they can collect enough data to recognize people...even with masks on

[dizmo]

1 minute ago, valdyrgramr said:

It actually can be depending on the type of English, actually.   Accents also vary around the world, and due to that I've heard them pronounced the same a lot more than not.

I've never heard a US accent that pronounces it that way.

[divito]

5 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Facial recognition? Yes.

Facial recognition used to basically exterminate a population? Most certainly not.

There's a massive difference and if you don't understand that you don't actually understand the topic you're talking about.

You're confusing software development with someone's alleged application of it. Not to mention what Delicieuxz provided above.

And most of the operations and regions the US is actively part of overseas, don't have the infrastructure to do something even remotely similar.

[SansVarnic]

-= Topic Locked =-

 

This topic is highly politically charged.

You all know the rules.