(The Economic Collapse Blog)—Do you want to live in a society where you are required to have your face scanned wherever you go? If not, you may want to speak up now while you still can. As you will see below, the U.S. government is aggressively expanding the use of facial recognition technology for identification verification purposes. For now, the use of facial recognition technology will be optional. But as we have seen before, once a voluntary option is adopted by enough people our leaders have a way of making it mandatory.
Of course it isn’t just our government that is pushing facial recognition technology. It is popping up throughout our society, and given enough time it would literally be everywhere.
Login.gov is billed as “a single sign-on solution for US government websites”, and now users of Login.gov will be given the option to use facial recognition technology to verify their identities…
An online hub for Americans to access benefits and services across the federal government is giving its users a new option to sign on.
The General Services Administration will begin offering facial recognition technology as an option for users of Login.gov, a one-stop for government-provided public services, to verify their identities.
GSA’s Technology Transformation Services announced Wednesday it will allow Login.gov users to verify their identity online through facial technology that meets standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s 800-63-3 Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2) guidelines.
We are being told that this will help reduce identity theft and fraud, and I don’t know anyone that likes identity theft and fraud.
But do we really want to live in a dystopian world where our faces are constantly being scanned all the time?
I certainly don’t.
We are being told that this new facial recognition system will rely on “best-in-class facial matching algorithms”…
After months of testing and a delay in 2023, users will now be able to verify their identity using a ‘proven facial matching technology’ approved by the General Services Administration, which will follow the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and will rely on ‘best-in-class facial matching algorithms’
All of this sounds really creepy to me. And this is certainly a way for the government to start getting all of our faces into a giant database.
Login.gov already has more than 100 million users, and lots of them will inevitably choose the “convenience” and “security” of facial recognition…
Federal agencies use Login.gov for people to verify their identities when logging in to access government benefits and services. The offering has over 100 million users already across over 50 federal and state agencies, and this news could affect how future users have to verify their identity to access information and benefits.
“Proving your identity is a critical step in receiving many government benefits and services, and we want to ensure we are making that as easy and secure as possible for members of the public, while protecting against identity theft and fraud,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan in a statement.
For now, you will still be able to use other identification verification options.
But once most people start using facial recognition, those other options could easily be taken away.
Sadly, it isn’t just the government that we need to be concerned about.
AI programs such as ChatGPT have turned out to be quite adept at identifying faces…
Using “a crafted prompt designed to bypass the safeguard mechanisms of ChatGPT,” the researchers were able to test the program’s biometric capabilities – which they found to be significant.
“Our study reveals that ChatGPT recognizes facial identities and differentiates between two facial images with considerable accuracy,” says their summary. “Additionally, experimental results demonstrate remarkable performance in gender detection and reasonable accuracy for the age estimation tasks.”
Even more alarming is what a couple of Harvard students have been able to accomplish.
They integrated PimEyes facial recognition software into a pair of Meta’s smart glasses, and they were able to instantly pull up the personal information of strangers by scanning their faces…
Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses offer an iconic wearable packed with some smart features that allow users to engage in a hands-free experience. Two Harvard students have integrated smart glasses with a facial recognition system that helps automatically dox strangers and access their information in public.
According to 404media, the facial recognition system called I-XRAY can be used to retrieve information such as phone numbers, addresses, or even social security numbers of strangers. All the user needs to do is look at the person. While software capabilities have been making the rounds, it is the hardware running the software that has been the talk of the town, which is Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.
Nguyen and Ardayfio created I-XRAY using Meta’s smart glasses along with PimEyes facial recognition software, which is currently the largest search engine. The entire system of fetching information on the individual is automatic, and the smart glasses start digging the data as soon as the face is in the frame.
If we stay on the current trajectory that we are on, it would likely only be a matter of time before this sort of technology is everywhere.
Can you imagine what criminals could do with this?
A predator would not even need to follow you home. He could just scan your face without you even realizing it, and by scanning your face he could get your address, your phone number, and a whole host of other private details about your life.
A lot of people out there just don’t get it.
In a society without any privacy, the bad guys can always find you. Of course in a society without any privacy, there would be no hiding from tyranny either.
When facial recognition technology is literally everywhere, there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Every time your face is scanned, your location will be known.
Needless to say, most people already carry around phones that constantly monitor where they are anyway. But as the Big Brother surveillance grid that is being constructed all around us becomes even more pervasive, it won’t be too long before there is literally no opting out.
I have been a very vocal advocate for privacy for over a decade, but during that time our privacy rights have been greatly eroded.
Now is the time to take a stand, because once our privacy rights are completely gone it will be nearly impossible to get them back.
Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
Why One Survival Food Company Shines Above the Rest
Let’s be real. “Prepper Food” or “Survival Food” is generally awful. The vast majority of companies that push their cans, bags, or buckets desperately hope that their customers never try them and stick them in the closet or pantry instead. Why? Because if the first time they try them is after the crap hits the fan, they’ll be too shaken to call and complain about the quality.
It’s true. Most long-term storage food is made with the cheapest possible ingredients with limited taste and even less nutritional value. This is why they tout calories so much. Sure, they provide calories but does anyone really want to go into the apocalypse with food their family can’t stand?
This is what prompted the Llewellyns to launch Heaven’s Harvest. They bought survival food from multiple companies and determined they couldn’t imagine being stuck in an extended emergency with such low-quality food. They quickly discovered that freeze drying food for long-term storage doesn’t have to mean sacrificing flavor, consistency, or nutrition.
Their ingredients are all-American. In fact, they’re locally sourced and all-natural! This allows their products to be the highest quality on the market, so good that their customers often break open a bag in a pinch to eat because they want to, not just because they have to due to an emergency.
At Heaven’s Harvest, their only focus is amazing food. They don’t sell bugout bags, solar chargers, or multitools. They have one mission – feeding Americans in times of crisis.
What they DO offer is the ability for people to thrive in times of greatest need. On top of long-term storage food, they offer seeds to help Americans for the truly long-term. They want them to grow their own food if possible which is why they offer only Heirloom, Non-GMO, Non-Hybrid, Open-Pollinated seeds so their customers can build permanent food security on their own property.
I don’t know about all the wamarts but ours already has it.
Walmart already has it.
As a vet, I’ve been finger printed and photographed numerous times, I’ve had a DNA sample taken and stored. I’ve been vetted to the N’th degree. Upon flying out of Los Vegas, I was asked by a high school dropout TSA “agent” (NKVD unit) to have my face scanned for facial recognition. I asked the dropout if his eye balls did not work. “They work fine” he replied. “OK. Since they work, you should be able to able to compare my ID to my face and see they match. I’m opting out of facial recognition”.
Looking for a good sale on Alex Jones rubber masks.
Many states have criminalized the use of biomarker tracking on the basis of privacy.
Personally I think this silly and we should all accept that technology that can track everyone is ubiquitous and we all need to adjust.
But for those holding onto the past ideas of what’s private , this sort of tracking without consent should probably only occur by the governments and criminals, not law abiding citizens. Sound familiar?