NVIDIA Wants to Turn Police Vehicles Into 360 Degree Facial Recognition Platforms

By MassPrivateI

Last week, COBAN Technologies (CT) and Digital Barriers (DB) announced that they are working together to install facial biometrics in police dash cams.

Coban Technologies Inc., a leader in body-worn cameras and in-car video solutions for law enforcement, today announced that it is partnering with Digital Barriers to provide live facial recognition and live video streaming technology for the FOCUS H1 police dash cam system. (Source)

CNN warns, that soon police will turn their vehicles into 360 degree mobile surveillance platforms…

CT’s technology is designed to work with up to six cameras, so police departments could choose to turn their vehicles into 360-degree cameras, making it easier to identify faces. (Source)

DB claims, their SmartVIS Face system is designed to work in real time. In other words, in the not-too-distant future police dash cams will be able to identify everyone..

image credit: Digital Barrier

CT boasts that police in fifty countries are using their facial recognition cameras…

It has been deployed successfully by law enforcement agencies in more than fifty countries around the world in other form factors and now will be available as an application on the FOCUS H1. (Source)

CT’s is already in use in hundreds of police departments across the country, from ‘evidence management software, body cameras, and interview room systems’. So, it is not hard to envision a future where every police vehicle is equipped with facial recognition cameras.

Last week, Safe Fleet announced their acquisition of CT, making them the largest global provider of video solutions to the fleet market.

Both CT and DB are using the old standby ‘public safety’ to justify turning police vehicles into mobile facial recognition platforms.

CT is pleased to be able to include these industry-leading capabilities with the FOCUS H1 to amplify officer awareness and increase public safety. The combination provides law enforcement with critical capabilities in police vehicles…We are very excited that DB is a part of the COBAN FOCUS Partner Program. (Source)

This is how CT’s press release should read…

CT and DB are pleased to profit from police facial recognition dash cameras. The combination of CT and DB amplify officer surveillance capabilities at the expense of everyone’s privacy. We are very excited that DHS-run law enforcement will be purchasing our facial recognition dash cameras.

Don’t be fooled, facial recognition cameras are not about public safety. They are much worse than you can imagine.