It's way past time for Mayor Adams to lift the NYPD bans on facial-ID tech
Ahmed was a pro-Palestinian protester accused of throwing a rock at a pro-Israel counter-demonstrator. Yet a judge ruled that he can't be charged because cops used prohibited AI facial-recognition tech (a tip provided by a FDNY fire marshal in response to a Crimestoppers post) to nail him.
Let's be clear: There's nothing wrong with such tools in the pursuit of justice.
In this case, FDNY fire investigators did what they always do — they shared crimefighting information with their colleagues.
Yet Judge Valentina 'Let-'em-go' Morales deemed that detectives ran afoul of departmental guidelines in using information obtained by a city fire marshal who was investigating the burning of an Israeli flag at the protest and turned up publicly sourced photos of Ahmed at high school social events.
Per The City, the Legal Aid Society filed suit targeting the FDNY's use of Clearview AI's facial-recognition software in previous investigations.
Bad enough the NYPD is banned from using such tech; but banning its use outside the department is just bonkers, ensuring that perps who could otherwise be made to pay for their crimes simply won't.
Plus, under the department's facial-recognition guidelines implemented in 2020, NYPD investigators are limited to searches of arrest and parole photos.
In 2019, NYPD's facial-recognition software helped ID the mystery man who left a pair of rice-cooker bombs in the subway. The man, Larry Griffin II was ID'd before the devices were found to be fakes.
Nor is this a matter of government spying or a breach of privacy: Cameras are all over the place these days, and pictures of people fill up the internet.
Meanwhile, facial-recognition tech — in combination with AI — is evolving and improving as an effective investigative tool.
Mayor Eric Adams needs to lift the ban pronto.
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Israelis will not and cannot agree to a Palestinian state unless this existential fear is addressed and resolved. That means one thing above all: Hamas must be gone. Not weakened, not partially sidelined, but gone, at least as an armed outfit, and completely delegitimized. Until that happens, any serious negotiation involving the West Bank is politically impossible in Israel. Moreover, any future Palestinian state must be demilitarized. That means no armed militias, no rocket factories, no independent chains of command. A future government — presumably a reformed Palestinian Authority — must hold a monopoly on the use of force, just as any legitimate state must. Hamas would never agree to this. Sidelining Hamas would be also in the interests of Palestinians. Hamas is a theocratic militia that has turned Gaza into a miserable prison and turned Israelis against the two-state solution. The Arab world, if it seeks Palestinian independence, must cut off Hamas's funding, deny it refuge and arrest its leaders-in-exile — and then grant maximal assistance of every kind to Palestinian leaders willing to coexist with Israel. I say all this not as an opponent of Palestinian independence, but as someone who indeed believes partition is essential to Israel's survival as a Jewish and democratic state. About 15 million people live between the river and the sea, split roughly evenly between Jews and Arabs. Without partition, Israel will either cease to be Jewish or cease to be democratic. This would seem to be so obvious that Israelis who support the occupation are caricatured as religious zealots, racists or idiots. But many are none of those things — they're simply scared. They remember the 1990s bombings after the Oslo Accords, the bloodshed of the Second Intifada after the Camp David Summit in the early 2000s, and now the slaughter of Oct. 7. This fear cannot be ignored, even if the occupation is cruel and the Jewish settlements in the West Bank indefensible. Palestinians deserve dignity, rights and even statehood — if they can agree to demilitarization. But none of that will happen if Hamas remains in place. What is needed now is maximal pressure on Hamas to disarm. A corollary of all this is that Israel's government will in turn have to be pressured to reengage with the Palestinian Authority, which Netanyahu has foolishly demonized. But recognizing Palestine now would probably stiffen right-wing forces in Israel. Recognition should be used not as a reward for terrorism, but as an incentive to abandon it. The promise of statehood should be conditioned on Palestinian unity under moderate leadership, the dismantling of armed factions and credible steps toward peaceful coexistence. Only then can recognition serve its intended purpose: to support a lasting peace. France and the U.K. no doubt mean well. And outlining a roadmap would be helpful. But an unconditional recognition would embolden Palestinian extremists, alienate Israelis and make a two-state solution harder to achieve. Macron and Starmer need to think more carefully. Dan Perry is the former Cairo-based Middle East editor and London-based Europe-Africa editor of the Associated Press, the former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem and the author of two books.
