Live Cameras are Tracking Faces in New Orleans. Who Should Control Them?
(NPR, Dec 17, 2025)
New Orleans, home of Bourbon Street revelry, has become the first American city known to have a live facial recognition network. How that came to be is a story of private initiative and political inaction, and may point to the future public safety uses of this surveillance technology.
The Genie’s Out of the Bottle
(The European Conservative, Dec 16, 2025)
Despite claims by advocates, the effectiveness of CCTV in preventing crime is anything but clear-cut. Many studies have shown that while cameras may deter certain types of crime, for example in car parks, they do very little to prevent many types of other crimes. Criminals can (and do) adapt by avoiding cameras or disguising their identities.
Police to Debut Facial Recognition for First Time in Oxford
(Oxford Mail, Dec 16, 2025)
Face coverings such as masks will not deter the van from detecting people, police say, as it does not need a whole face to make a match. "As it uses biometric data, just a partial scan can provide enough measurements to make a match," a police spokesman said.
The Spoofing Problem: Why Tech Platforms’ Age Verification May Not Protect Minors
(Syracuse University Today, Dec 16, 2025)
While AI-powered facial recognition can estimate age within two to three years by analyzing wrinkles and skin condition, Phoha warns the systems are “highly susceptible to spoofing.”
U.S. Proposal Could Require Tourists to Share Social Media, Biometrics, and More
(Travel Noire, Dec 16, 2025)
CBP wants the person’s email addresses over the past 10 years, biometric data, and extensive personal information about that traveler’s family members. The organization also wants “IP addresses and metadata” from a traveler’s electronically submitted photos.
