Keith Wagner

Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy as We Know It

by Kashmir Hill
Kashmir Hill - Your Face Belongs to Us
Format: eBook
Finished: October 21, 2023
Technology Privacy

I’ve read several of Kashmir’s articles in the New York Times, so I knew she knows her stuff when it comes to privacy and technology. It’s the primary reason I bought the book. I had heard and read about Clearview because of her reporting.

This book does a good job going into the history of facial recognition, its failures, weaknesses and potential for a very scary future where privacy as we currently know it might not exist.

She does mention Illinois’ biometrics privacy laws as a good example of how to find a balance of privacy vs. accepting new technology, but it’s still kind of eerie that this kind of technology exists. And since it’s owned by a private company, it can make it harder to deal with.

I’d highly recommend this book if for no other reason than to understand the scope of what we’re dealing with in terms of facial recognition. You’ll learn some history of the technology too.