And given that by Skinner's own admission, the facial recognition tech has a SIXTY PERCENT ERROR RATE, I don't think this is something we should get behind.
And given that by Skinner's own admission, the facial recognition tech has a SIXTY PERCENT ERROR RATE, I don't think this is something we should get behind.
This baffled me when I saw people discussing it like....we've been fighting the cops using this type of tech this whole time why do we magically think it works when used on them
The ICE List site says that "An AI research team," which goes unnamed, assists the organization, and that "the results speak for themselves." And yes, I suppose they do. The results are that it's wrong 60% of the time, and that's IF we take Skinner at his word.
Skinner says that "a group of volunteers verifies [the AI-generated faces] through another process before posting any names online," but we don't know what that process is, who these volunteers are, or what their qualifications are. And the description on the ICE List's website isn't reassuring.
The "How We Identify Agents" section of the ICE List site claims that the org collects and analyzes a dizzying amount of data, but the public doesn't seem to have access to that data. Clicking a name on the list gives you an image (sometimes a stock image), and MAYBE a link to a LinkedIn profile.
The pages usually invite users to provide info about that agent, asking "What do you know about this agent?" Or "Have you seen this agent commit a crime?" But some pages don't even have that. This one is just a pic of a guy. No identifying info. No explanation of how they know this guy's name.
We don't know enough to trust this group. We don't know how they get their info. They don't let us see their data. If they have "trackers for license plates, uniform details, equipment loadouts, and agency cross-over," that feels like something an activist group would share with the public.
All we know is that they're using admittedly faulty AI tools to "unmask" ICE agents, and that they have not one but TWO convenient donation buttons on their homepage.
ICE doesn't deserve privacy, and the ICE List is a good goal in theory. But their caginess about their methods, their dramatic and grandiose tone, and their up-front requests for money make me skeptical. Please think twice before donating to this organization.
Thanks for this. Anyone who's done real research knows the best leads usually come from locals/people closest to targets. These lofty national projects raise big alarm bells and people need to be especially careful about IDing feds (as journalists, we have a *smidge* more legal protection there)
Thanks for reading! Honestly, the claims of using genAI to generate the supposed faces of ICE agents was the main red flag for me. The LLM isn't showing you that ICE agent's face. It's *guessing,* and acting like AI can truly "unmask" someone is genuine misinformation. Just wanted to flag it!