Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

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Gaybutton
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Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

Post by Gaybutton »

I, for one, do not. It's bad enough that "Big Brother" is watching, but do we need his cousins watching too? Until I looked it up, I didn't realize that 7-Eleven has been in existence 91 years. 7-Eleven has managed to survive all this time without imposing "Future Shock" on us. Maybe I'm just behind the times or something, but what's next - privacy invasion in my own home? And since it's possible to track virtually everything a person does online and every web site he looks at, privacy invasion in one's own home is already a reality.

Now privacy invasion when I walk into a 7-Eleven to buy a couple AAA batteries? No thank you. Since when do I need 7-Eleven monitoring my emotions? If they really have some need to know how I'm feeling, how about just asking? Would I have to answer under oath?

And when do I start receiving junk mail or Email spam (or both) when 7-Eleven knows which brand of condom I bought?

And it's going to "keep tabs" on employees. Anyone working in a 7-Eleven going to appreciate it when their supervisor reprimands them because they went to the bathroom too many times and stayed in there too long?

How would you like to hear a knock on your door some day and there's the police standing there ready to arrest you for armed robbery when some facial recognition program misidentifies the perpetrator and thinks it's YOU?

My feeling is they can take this kind of technology and shove it up their ass (and now the monitoring system can identify me as an American since I wrote 'ass,' not 'arse') - but they better be careful about that being monitored too . . .
_______________________________________________

7-Eleven in Thailand to start scanning customer’s faces

March 16, 2018

7-Eleven is rolling out facial recognition technology to its 11,000 stores in Thailand.

ฺThe convenience store chain will use the technology in a number of different ways, including to help identify loyal customers, analyse customer traffic and monitor stock levels of products.Facial recognition will also be used to suggest products to customers and even monitor their emotions while customers are in store, as well as being used to keep tabs on employees.The company has said it is using the technology developed by American firm Remark Holdings, which claims its facial recognition software has a 96 percent accuracy rate. Last year, Remark Holdings announced a $10 million investment in CP Group, which operates 7-Eleven in Thailand.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Kai-Shing Tao, Remark’s chief executive said: “Artificial intelligence has the power to completely transform business in every industry.“CP Group recognised this right away and is making it a very high priority to adopt and implement AI technologies.” With facial recognition still somewhat in its infancy, the technology raises a lot of questions with regards to privacy.However, Remark has said that no images of faces will be stored permanently on servers and that only images of facial features are recorded on secure and encrypted servers.“No human faces or images ever leaves the KanKan system or goes on the public network,” the company said.And no facial images will be linked to consumers customer data such as names, addresses or telephone numbers. It is not known exactly when 7-Eleven stores in Thailand will start implementing the facial recognition technology.

https://pattayaone.news/en/7-eleven-tha ... ers-faces/
Dodger
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Re: Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

Post by Dodger »

Privacy, as we once knew it. will unfortunately be a thing of the past as these new technologies continue to get launched at lightening speed.

A recent study performed by the University of Denver showed that the average person spends an average of 7.2 hours a day either staring at a smart phone or computer. I wasn't totally shocked by this as I spend 8-10 hours a day working and always find that I'm the only person in the room who isn't sitting their pushing buttons on a small plastic screen. Social media, which was once considered a trend, is now simply a modern day lifestyle which has blossomed into a global obsession which of course completely strips a person of any/all privacy they once enjoyed. These facial recognition devices being installed at 7-11's are just another step forward down this spiraling path that people seem to be compelled to follow.

The study in Denver also showed that one of that those addicted to social media who can't even take a piss without holding their smartphone in front of their faces show indications of a lack of basic social skills at alarming levels. Go figure!

It's not just 7-11 it's everywhere. You can' even scratch you ass on an elevator for fear of being filmed on a security camera.

I'm probably the only person you know who doesn't own a smart phone. I'm certainly the only person my friends and co-workers back here in the States know who doesn't - and it suits me fine. When I come to Thailand I carry my trusty old 700 baht Nokia for when I need to make a phone call, and I don't need a GPS to find my way to a bathroom.
fountainhall

Re: Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

Post by fountainhall »

When I next hit 7-Elevens, I’m going either to wear a hoodie down over my eyes or a Batman-type mask! If I hold my arms in the air, hopefully they won’t assume I’m trying to rob them!
Jun

Re: Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

Post by Jun »

The is the way society is going.
1 Google seems to be able to plot everywhere I go from my phone. I could turn that off, if bothered about it.

2 Cashless payment is becoming endemic, which means all payments can be tracked. For now, it's mostly possible to avoid this by paying cash, which I do whenever possible (my only voluntary use of contactless payment is on the underground rail systems). However, the squeeze is on and there are occasional places where only card payment is possible & others which have the inconvenience of certain tills which take cards only.

3 Facial recognition is just one more step on the way. Short term, you could just use the "late adopting" competing convenience stores.
thaiworthy

Re: Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

Post by thaiworthy »

"Alexa, what's new on GaybuttonThai?"
--

This might come as a surprise, but you know that Amazon Echo device across the room? It’s a networked microphone feeding data back to a massive central location, which might come with some privacy risks.

Whether you weren’t aware or buried your head in the sand when presented with the privacy risks of using Alexa, it’s something important every Echo owner should consider. Here are seven privacy invasions possible when you own an Amazon Echo device.

One of the most common knocks against the Echo is that it’s “always listening.” While this is true, most people don’t understand what exactly Alexa is listening for.

There's no doubt voice-controlled assistants are the future, but is Alexa the solution? Perhaps not. In this article, I'm going to argue Alexa is actually rather stupid.

Unless you have the Mute toggle enabled, your Echo is always listening for the wake word, Alexa. Your device locally processes the audio it hears and deletes the running buffer of audio a few seconds after it picks it up.

So Amazon can’t hear everything you’re saying — that information never leaves your device. If it did, Amazon would be completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of audio from every Echo.

However, once the Echo hears Alexa, it sends your following command to Amazon’s servers, processes it, and then your Echo plays the answer.

We don’t want to overblow the risks of “always listening,” but we can’t pretend there aren’t any, either. Companies are infamous for doing something shady and then apologizing later when they’re caught. Who’s to say Amazon doesn’t upload a few extra seconds of audio before Alexa to see what you were talking about before your command? It would be easy to do.

As if having an always-on microphone wasn’t enough, how about adding a camera too? Even if you’re comfortable with the potential privacy invasions of a microphone, a camera is on an entirely different level.

If you aren't careful, hackers can easily gain access to your webcam and spy on you without your knowledge. So you have two options: disable the camera or cover it up.

The Echo Look, one of Amazon’s newest devices, has a camera designed to take regular pictures of you and help you get fashion advice. While its intended use might be great, are you comfortable having a camera in your living room that could capture pictures of your children and store them on Amazon’s servers? How would you feel if the bedroom camera went off and captured your spouse in their underwear?

. . .

Read the rest of the story here:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/alexa-ama ... vacy-risk/
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Gaybutton
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Re: Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

Post by Gaybutton »

thaiworthy wrote:"Alexa, what's new on GaybuttonThai?"
That is a very good point - your computer listening to you, meaning there is potential for unwanted listeners you neither knew about nor authorized. In my case, however, a listener would quickly become bored to tears. Still, if someone or even a machine who I have not personally authorized is listening to me, no matter how boring it might be, that is still an invasion of my privacy and I would want to know about it, know who is listening, and know why I'm being listened to.

Windows 10 comes with "Cortana" - another 'assistant' always listening. It's mainly a voice recognition system that translates what you say into text and then connects you with a Google search - apparently to save you from having to type it out manually. It's probably benign, but can you be absolutely certain of that?

One of the problems with all this technology is while it may be convenient (not necessarily convenient for you), it also fuels paranoia. I prefer what other people or the internet knows about me remains restricted to what I personally choose to disclose, with the option of revoking that disclosure at least from the internet. None of that is possible anymore and the way things are going it won't be long until the word "privacy" becomes truly and completely obsolete.

I don't like the idea of 7-Eleven or anyplace else having any information about me, especially when I didn't know they were doing that with no consent from me, and I have no idea and no control over what is being done with the information. If it wasn't for stumbling onto that article, I probably would never have known. I doubt it would do much good to refrain from shopping at a 7-Eleven and go to other convenience stores instead. They're probably doing the same thing. And if they're not, it's a sure bet they soon will.


By the way, I couldn't help noticing the George Carlin quote in your "signature." It reminds me of another one of my favorite George Carlin quotes:

"How come it's ok to say I pricked my finger, but it's not ok to say I fingered my prick?"
thewayhelooks
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Re: Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

Post by thewayhelooks »

Gaybutton wrote:to hear a knock on your door some day and there's the police standing there ready to arrest you for armed robbery when some facial recognition program misidentifies the perpetrator and thinks it's YOU?
I've pointed this out to many people over the years (obviously not in relation to 7/11) and their standard answer is always, if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. B/S! Idiots. Now authorities don't have to prove you are guilty, you have to prove you're innocent. Orwell wrote of Big Brother introduced by a Soviet style government into every aspect of our lives. The way we happily embrace smartphones, computers that watch us and social media that records every thought etc, we've gladly allowed Big Brother to monitor our lives ourselves and we don't even realise it.
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Re: Do you like this? I see it as an invasion of privacy

Post by Smiles »

And the USA? Now administrated by Twitter.
Cheers ... ( and just one more reason why I love living in Thailand )

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