The Wall Street Journal reports that New York's first attempts at employing facial recognition on its highways were unsuccessful. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority installed recognition software on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, which links Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens, last year and revealed in November that the technology "failed with no faces (0%) being detected within acceptable parameters" during its initial test period. The software's pilot program and its evaluation are ongoing, according to the MTA. The poor results only fuel civil rights campaigners' concerns over privacy and the technology's inaccuracies, while New York Civil Liberties Union Technologist Daniel Schwarz says the software is "pervasive, real-time surveillance of everyone passing by." (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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