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Anonymous ID: 9ff8c1 April 16, 2022, 9:26 a.m. No.16087613   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7665 >>7698 >>7787 >>7835 >>8024 >>8099

Ukraine is scanning faces of dead Russians, then contacting the mothers

 

Ukrainian officials say the use of facial recognition software could help end the brutal war. But some experts call it ‘classic psychological warfare’ that sets a gruesome precedent.

 

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By Drew Harwell

Yesterday at 5:00 a.m. EDT

 

Ukrainian officials have run more than 8,600 facial recognition searches on dead or captured Russian soldiers in the 50 days since Moscow’s invasion began, using the scans to identify bodies and contact hundreds of their families in what may be one of the most gruesome applications of the technology to date.

 

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The country’s IT Army, a volunteer force of hackers and activists that takes its direction from the Ukrainian government, says it has used those identifications to inform the families of the deaths of 582 Russians, including by sending them photos of the abandoned corpses.

 

The Ukrainians champion the use of face-scanning software from the U.S. tech firm Clearview AI as a brutal but effective way to stir up dissent inside Russia, discourage other fighters and hasten an end to a devastating war.

 

A screen shot of the narrator from a video the Ukrainian IT Army posted to Telegram showing their use of the Clearview AI facial recognition program to identify dead Russian Soldiers and then use it to find relatives and friends of the dead via social media to notify them. (Ukrainian IT Army/ Ukrainian IT Army)

But some military and technology analysts worry that the strategy could backfire, inflaming anger over a shock campaign directed at mothers who may be thousands of miles from the drivers of the Kremlin’s war machine.

 

The West’s solidarity with Ukraine makes it tempting to support such a radical act designed to capitalize on family grief, said Stephanie Hare, a surveillance researcher in London. But contacting soldiers’ parents, she said, is “classic psychological warfare” and could set a dangerous new standard for future conflicts.

 

“If it were Russian soldiers doing this with Ukrainian mothers, we might say, ‘Oh, my God, that’s barbaric,’ ” she said. “And is it actually working? Or is it making them say: ‘Look at these lawless, cruel Ukrainians, doing this to our boys?’ ”

 

Is Ukraine winning the information war? Depends on who you ask.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has effectively shown the world what Russia’s war has meant for Ukraine. But inside Russia, the story is different. (Video: Luis Velarde/The Washington Post)

As Russia’s war in Ukraine founders, ominous rhetoric gains ground

 

Clearview AI’s chief executive, Hoan Ton-That, told The Washington Post that more than 340 officials across five Ukrainian government agencies now can use its tool to run facial recognition searches whenever they want, free of charge.

 

Clearview employees now hold weekly, sometimes daily, training calls over Zoom with new police and military officials looking to gain access. Ton-That recounted several “‘oh, wow’ moments” as the Ukrainians witnessed how much data — including family photos, social media posts and relationship details — they could gather from a single cadaver scan.

 

Some of them are using Clearview’s mobile app to scan faces while on the battlefield, he said. Others have logged in for training while stationed at a checkpoint or out on patrol, the night sky visible behind their faces.

 

“They’re so enthusiastic,” Ton-That said. “Their energy is really high. They say they’re going to win, every call.”

 

In emails that Clearview shared with The Post, a representative of the Defense Ministry said it had tested Clearview by scanning photos of dead soldiers’ faces and were “pleasantly surprised” when the tool returned links to the Russians’ VK and Instagram accounts.

 

With the military’s encouragement, other agencies tested the technology, too, Ton-That said. A National Police official said in emails shared with The Post that the agency scanned the face of an unidentified body found in Kharkiv with its head caved in and was pointed to the VK profile of a 32-year-old man who had been photographed with supporters of the Kharkiv People’s Republic, a separatist group.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/15/ukraine-facial-recognition-warfare/