Politicology ENCORE: Your Face Belongs To Us — Part 2
Dec 5, 2025
In this engaging conversation, Kashmir Hill, a technology reporter and author focused on privacy issues, dives into the ethical dilemmas posed by facial recognition technology. She discusses the alarming trend of law enforcement skirting privacy laws and the impact of privacy regulations like GDPR. Hill reflects on the potential future of privacy, emphasizing individual actions to safeguard anonymity in an increasingly surveilled world. With examples of misuse and the chilling effects of technology, she presents a thought-provoking look at our changing societal norms.
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Technical Sweetness Drives Risky Innovation
- Engineers often focus on what they can build, not whether they should build it.
- Kashmir Hill compares this to a Jurassic Park problem where creators expect others to set guardrails.
From Viral Apps To A Face Database
- Clearview AI was built by a young developer who repurposed shared research and tools from big tech.
- Kashmir Hill recounts Juan Dantas moving from novelty apps like Trump Hair to assembling a massive face database.
Capability Versus Willingness To Deploy
- Companies differ less in capability than in what uses they allow.
- Kashmir Hill notes Meta and others could deploy face ID but choose different release strategies and legal trade-offs.
