New York State Has Quietly Begun Facial Recognition Scans at Toll Booths

The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has revealed that facial recognition systems are already scanning drivers’ faces in New York City and putting their photos into databases. The state is even “experimenting” with technology to identify people just by pictures of their ear.

According to the New York Post, “cameras at bridge and tunnel toll plazas across the city are already scanning drivers’ visages and feeding them into databases to catch suspected criminals,” and the facial recognition initiative is just getting started.

“When it reads that license plate, it reads it for scofflaws . . . [but] the toll is almost the least significant contribution that this electronic equipment can actually perform,” declared Cuomo during a press conference. “We are now moving to facial-recognition technology, which takes it to a whole new level, where it can see the face of the person in the car and run that technology against databases.”

“Because many times a person will turn their head when they see a security camera, so they are now experimenting with technology that just identifies a person by their ear, believe it or not,” he claimed, adding, “It’s a phenomenal security device.”

The New York Post reported that the technology “is being tested at the RFK/Triborough Bridge and was switched on at Queens Midtown Tunnel and Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Friday,” while it “will also eventually come to at least two of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s six other spans — the Throgs Neck and Whitestone bridges — and down the road will be added at all area airports.”

Facial recognition technology is already in use at some schools, border checkpoints, and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Facebook and British police have also been utilizing facial recognition systems, with the British program reported to be 98 percent inaccurate in London.

Last year, a report claimed the Federal Bureau of Information’s (FBI) facial recognition database was “out of control,” with “half of adult Americans’ photographs” stored.