Criminals ‘Can Find Everything’ About You, Warns Surveillance Expert

Exploiting AI systems can enable malicious operators to not only track individuals but also predict their movements

AI (Artificial Intelligence) security cameras with facial recognition technology are seen at the 14th China International Exhibition on Public Safety and Security at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing on Oct. 24, 2018. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images

Artificial intelligence (AI) has advanced to such a level that criminals can now surveil and know “everything” about their targets, including predicting where the targets could be at some point in the future, experts warn.

“There are services online that can use a photo of you, and I can find everything. Every instance of your face on the internet, every place you’ve been, and use that for stalker-type purposes,” Kevin Baragona, the founder of creative AI service DeepAI.org, told Fox News in a May 30 interview.

“So, for example, if you run into someone in public, and you’re able to get a photo of them, you might be able to find their name using online services. And if you pay enough, you might be able to find where they’ve been, where they might currently be, and even predict where they'll go.”

The rising threat of such AI surveillance has resulted in litigation as well. In November last year, privacy group Big Brother Watch filed a legal complaint against face recognition search engine service Pimeyes, which goes through the internet to find pictures containing a given face.

The group warned that Pimeyes is a “threat to privacy” to residents in the United Kingdom due to the company’s “malicious operation” of mining the biometric data of millions of individuals, according to a Nov. 8 post.

Pimeyes collects the target’s photos from websites, news articles, photo-sharing sites, and blog posts. The tool also returns URLs that lead back to the sources where the images were initially posted.

Madeline Stone, legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch, warned that a stalker could find out a person’s “place of work, or indications of the area in which they live” by clicking these links. “Images of anyone, including children, can be scoured and tracked across the internet.”

Fining AI Surveillance Tech

The use of AI in image searches is controversial due to the various privacy violations involved in such actions. In May last year, the UK watchdog Information Commissioner’s Office imposed a fine of over $9.4 million on facial recognition firm Clearview AI.

The company had built a face search engine by scraping images containing people’s faces from the web and social media. Clearview AI is said to have collected over 20 billion images. People were not informed that their images were collected by the company or how it intended to use them.

John Edwards, the UK information commissioner, pointed out that Clearview AI not only allows for “identification of those people, but it effectively monitors their behavior and offers it as a commercial service.”

“That is unacceptable. That is why we have acted to protect people in the UK by both fining the company and issuing an enforcement notice,” he said.

State AI Surveillance

AI surveillance tools not only allow criminals to target people but also nations to suppress their citizens. A July 2022 report (pdf) by the National Endowment for Democracy points out that “unchecked AI surveillance threatens democratic principles.”

“By enabling ubiquitous public monitoring, they may facilitate systematic repression against targeted groups, encourage investigative overreach, or have a chilling effect on expression and association.

“These capacities are being tested to their limits in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), where a sophisticated infrastructure of digital authoritarianism is emerging,” the report said while identifying China as a “leading provider” of AI surveillance tools.

In December, it came to light that Chinese AI surveillance technologies were being used by the Iranian regime in its crackdown on protesters. Local media reports suggest that Iran has installed 15 million cameras in 28 cities, with data being transferred to two control centers—one in the capital of Tehran and the other in China.

Chinese firm Tiandy is said to be the supplier of the cameras. In an interview with The Epoch Times, Sahar Tahvili, an AI researcher with a doctorate in software engineering, pointed out that such a level of surveillance involves massive quantities of data that must be stored, analyzed, and transported.

The most efficient way to manage data storage and processing costs is by selling access to such data, she noted. “The company that provides surveillance software needs this type of data, especially from other regions of the world, so that they can increase the quality of their own systems,” Tahvili said while referring to the Chinese companies.