Software To Recognize Faces Is Found To Be Biased

The majority ( )of commercial facial-recognition systems exhibit bias ( ), according to a study from a federal agency released recently, underscoring ( )questions about a technology increasingly used by police departments and federal agencies to identify suspected criminals.

The systems falsely identified African American and Asian faces 10 times to 100 times more than Caucasian faces, the National Institute of Standards and Technology reported. Among a database of photos used by law enforcement ( )agencies in the United States, the highest error rates came in identifying Native Americans, the study found.

The technology also had more difficulty identifying women than men. And it falsely identified older adults up to 10 times more than middle-aged adults.

The new report comes at a time of mounting ( )concern from lawmakers and civil rights groups over the proliferation ( )of facial recognition. Proponents ( ) view it as ( )an important tool for catching criminals and tracking terrorists. Tech companies market it as a convenience that can be used to help identify people in photos or in lieu of ( )a password to unlock smartphones.

Civil liberties experts, however, warn that the technology — which can be used to track people at a distance without their knowledge — has the potential to lead to ubiquitous ( ) surveillance ( ), chilling freedom of movement and speech. Last year, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley in California and the Massachusetts communities of Somerville and Brookline banned government use of the technology.

“One false match can lead to missed flights, lengthy interrogations ( ), watch list placements, tense police encounters, false arrests or worse,” Jay Stanley, a policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “Government agencies including the FBI, Customs ( )and Border Protection and local law enforcement must immediately halt ( )the deployment ( )of this dystopian ( )technology.”

The federal report is one of the largest studies of its kind. The researchers had access ( )to more than 18 million photos of about 8.5 million people from American mug shots ( ), visa applications and border-crossing databases.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology tested 189 facial-recognition algorithms ( )from 99 developers, representing the majority of commercial developers. They included systems from Microsoft, biometric ( )technology companies like Cognitec, and Megvii, an artificial intelligence company in China.

The federal report confirms earlier studies from MIT that reported that facial-recognition systems from some large tech companies had much lower accuracy ( )rates in identifying the female and darker-skinned faces than the white male faces.

臉部辨識系統 有種族性別「偏見」

根據美國聯邦機構新近發表的研究結果，多數商用臉部辨識系統存在偏差，凸顯出這種科技的問題，而警察部門和聯邦機構使用這項科技辨識可疑罪犯的程度正不斷增高。

國家標準及科技研究所指出，比起白人臉孔，這些系統錯誤辨識非裔美國人和亞洲臉孔的機率高出10至100倍。研究發現，在美國執法單位使用的照片資料庫中，辨識美國原住民的錯誤率最高。

這項科技辨識女性也比男性更困難，而且辨識老人的錯誤率高達中年人的10倍。

這份新報告發表之際，國會議員和公民運動團體對臉部辨識的普及正日益感到憂慮。支持者視它為抓捕罪犯和追蹤恐怖分子的重要工具，科技公司將它行銷成方便好用的東西，可辨識照片中的人或作為密碼解鎖智慧手機。

然而，公民自由專家警告，這項科技能在人們不知情的狀況下從一定距離外追蹤他們，有可能導致無所不在的監控，壓抑行動和言論自由。去年，加州的舊金山、奧克蘭和柏克萊，以及麻州的薩默維爾和布魯克萊恩等社區，皆明令禁止政府使用此一科技。

「一個錯誤的比對，就可能導致錯過班機、冗長的訊問、列入觀察名單、與警察緊張的遭遇、錯誤逮捕甚至更糟的狀況。」美國公民自由聯盟的政策分析師傑．史丹利在聲明中這麼說。「包括聯邦調查局、海關及邊境保護局和地方執法單位等政府機構，必須立即停止部署這項反烏托邦科技。」

這份聯邦報告是同類報告中規模最大者之一。研究人員取用來自美國嫌犯大頭照、簽證申請及跨越邊境資料庫中，約850萬人的1800萬張以上的照片。

國家標準及科技研究所測試來自99個開發商的189個臉部辨識演算程式，涵蓋大多數商用開發商，包括微軟系統，生物科技公司如Cognitec，以及中國人工智慧公司曠視科技。

這份聯邦報告證實麻省理工學院先前的研究結果，一些大型科技公司的臉部辨識系統，辨識女性和較深膚色臉孔的正確率，比辨識白人男性低得多。

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#高中英文 #成人英文

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#國立大學外國語文學系講師

#新聞英文

【每日國際選讀】
❓Why Clorox Wipes Are Still So Hard to Find
衛生紙之亂後是消毒濕巾？
有覺得台灣的各種防疫物資供給都正常了嗎？

開啟「接收通知」和「搶先看」每天吸收雙語時事新知
來讀華爾街日報獨家

🧻Toilet paper is back on shelves and hand sanitizer is easier to find, but one item remains as elusive as ever: disinfectant wipes.
衛生紙已經重新在架上出現，洗手乳也更容易買到了，但有一樣物品卻依然難以捉摸：消毒濕巾

-elusive: difficult to describe, find or achieve, 難以描述、模糊的
-disinfectant: 消毒劑、清潔劑

🧼Clorox Co. and Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser Group have seen sales of sanitizing wipes more than double in the past two months amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Nielsen. But while makers of other hard-to-find staples are catching up with demand, the producers of Clorox, Lysol and
private-label wipes are as far behind as ever. Clorox said it doesn’t expect to catch up until summer, while Reckitt Benckiser said it is unsure when supplies will replenish.
根據尼爾森公司的數據顯示，在過去兩個月冠狀病毒大流行期間，高樂氏以及來蘇兩家公司的消毒濕巾銷量都成長了一倍以上，但正當其他疫情期間相關防疫物資的生產廠商慢慢將供給量趕上了需求量，幾家消毒濕巾的製造商包含高樂氏、來蘇及其他自有品牌在產量上卻依然大幅落後。高樂氏表示預計要到夏天產量才能夠趕得上市場的需求，Reckitt Benckiser則表示不卻何時才能穩定供貨。

-staples: 主要產品（不是釘書針喔！）
-replenish: to fill something up again, 補充、再補足

🧻“We’re shipping canisters of wipes every day to our customers, and within 30-45 minutes they’re gone from shelves,” Clorox finance chief Kevin Jacobsen said in an interview. “Demand has outstripped what anybody could have imagined.”
我們每天都會把一罐罐的濕巾運到客戶手中，接著30-45分鐘內他們就會從銷售一空，”高樂氏財務總監Kevin Jacobsen在接受採訪時說。”需求量超出了所有人的想象。”

-canister: 金屬罐
-outstrip: 遠超過

未完待續...
為什麼在美國消毒濕巾會這麼熱銷？
加入文末每日國際選讀計畫，解鎖完整語音導讀版

——
原文連結請看留言
——

❓Quiz: After its invention, plastic bags are _______ now, ______ the inventor’s imagination. 🙋🏻‍♀️💁🙋🏼‍♀️
塑膠袋發明後，現今已無所不在，遠超過其發明者的想像。
（發明者曾說當初是覺得大家會隨身帶著一個塑膠袋並重複使用，殊不知…）

A. rare, surpass
B. ubiquitous, outstripping
C. Batman, kill

【每日商業英文計畫，熱烈招生中！】
華爾街日報訂閱超值方案 📰
專屬 #臉書社團，浩爾 #每日語音導讀
「留言+1」，就送你 #優惠碼 及 #導讀試聽！

【古巴 Cuba】

被偷走的時間 Stolen Time

古巴人有個笑話：「古巴唯一家電信公司是國營的，所以也是古巴最好的電信公司。」網路在這裡使用不像在其他國家那樣便利，所以來古巴有些人選擇戒網路，而另一些人則會購買網路卡片（簡稱網卡）在特定的地點或餐廳使用。雖然被告知Wifi 用完要登出網卡帳戶，不然可能會被非官方提供的網路入口店家偷走剩下的網卡時間，但我仍然因為大意而被偷走了一些時間。一如那些我被偷走的時光一樣，古巴被偷走的時光被凍結在來自舊時的街道和住宅中進退兩難。
A Cuban joke goes “the only telecom in Cuba is state owned, so it is also the best in Cuba.“ Unlike other countries, using the Internet here is not so easy. So, some travelers chose to do full Internet detox whereas others will purchase some Internet Cards that connect only at designated spots or restaurants. Even though I was told to log out after using the Card because some private hotspot providers might steal my remaining time by copying my account number and password, my time was still stolen. Like what happened to me, Cuba’s time and future has also been stolen, as is evident when strolling down its time-frozen streets with buildings from a distant past.

因為美國迫使世界其他國家對古巴禁運的關係，這裡的市街光景就像「停」（PARE）的交通標誌所暗示一般給凍結在介於50到60年代之間 。許多車子都是50年代的拉風老爺車。路上隨處可見的馬車讓我有種時空錯亂的幻覺。在Santa Clara我甚至看到了大包廂馬車當作 collectivo （黑牌共乘計程車）使用。
Because the US requires other countries comply with its embargo on Cuba, life here seems to be frozen from the period between the 1950’s and 1960’s, as suggested by the PARE/ stop sign. Many eye-catching classic cars are actually from the 50’s. The ubiquitous horse carriages create the illusion of time and space disconnect. To add to the confusion, I even saw a large horse carriage in Santa Clara being used as a collectivo, which means an unlicensed shared taxi for the locals.

時光偷竊變得更不仁的地方是位於古巴中部的千里達。因為鄰近其他加勒比海國家，從十七世紀開始千里達就受惠於非法買賣黑奴來經營蔗糖、咖啡和菸草產業。19世紀千里達升級成為古巴最重要的蔗糖貿易中心。隨著蔗糖產業蓬勃發展所需要的人力，千里達自然就成為了黑奴買賣的大本營。許多白人殖民者使用非洲黑奴被偷走一百多年的人生時光來致富。這也是後來卡斯楚在1953年領導革命之戰來弭平種族歧視的原因，同時順便消除1901年以來美國趁古巴獨立初期的政治空檔而掌控古巴的政治與經濟，更進一步造就貧富懸殊的社會動盪，如賣淫、毒品、賭博和暴力等亂象。
Time-theft becomes unkinder in Trinidad, located in central Cuba. Due to its location being closer to other Caribbean countries, Trinidad long benefited from the slave trade to support the manpower needs of its cane sugar, coffee and tobacco industries. By the 19th century, Trinidad became the center of the cane sugar trade. With its increased demand for manpower in the burgeoning cane sugar industry, Trinidad naturally turned into a stronghold for black slave trade. Many colonizers made their fortune with time stolen from black slaves for more than 100 years. This is one of the reasons Fidel Castro led the revolution in 1953 to close the gap between the black and the white. Meanwhile, the revolution served as another way to erase social turmoil caused by the enormous gap between the rich and the poor. Such turmoil, including prostitution, drugs, gambling and violence, was a direct result of the US taking advantage of the vulnerable Cuban economy and political instability from its time as a young nation in 1901 all the way through to the attempt to overthrow Castro’s government with the infamous US-led Bay of Pigs invasion in April, 1961.

雖然被美國政府偷走了古巴時間，但卻偷不走古巴人的尊嚴。雖然路上可以見到乞討的人，但基本上都仍然衣著乾淨無體味。古巴雖然一度被美國的禁運逼到連嬰孩沒有足夠的食物而轉而投入共產主義的懷抱，從而接受蘇聯的物資救濟與貿易，實際上骨子裡卻是個不折不扣的社會主義國度。這讓古巴人民享有良好的免費教育以及免費的醫療，驕傲地活在那被偷走時間的國度中。
While the US government has stolen Cuba’s time, they cannot steal Cubans’ pride. Beggars can be seen in the streets, but most of them are personally clean as well as dressed in clean clothes. At one time, Cuba was sanctioned and embargoed to the point where it had little choice but to embrace communism in order to receive much needed financial aid and resources from the Soviet Union. However, Cuba has always been a true socialist nation at heart; Cuban people enjoy free education as well as free medical care, which allows them to live proudly in their time-stolen country.

在被偷走的時光中，雖然日子過的苦，但人們卻不能沒有娛樂。古巴的娛樂似乎也以一種時光倒流六七十年的狀態存在。在Viñales鎮上的主要廣場角落的Centro Cultural Polo Montañez文化中心，說明白點就是個夜店，而且是個跳舞不做作的人適合的好去處。在這裡人們盡情享受熱情的音樂混合跳著salsa, rumba和lambada。有別於現在一些台灣夜店的陰暗與萎靡，這裡在溫暖的光線下呈現的是種自然的社交娛樂，人們夜夜盡情舞出60年代的歡樂。
While Cuba’s time has been stolen, and although life can often be tough, one cannot live without entertainment and fun. Cuban entertainment seems to exist in a frozen state where the clock has been turned back 60 or 70 years. In the corner of Plaza Mayor in Viñales sits the Centro Cultural Polo Montañez. To be more specific, it is a dance club, a great place for unpretentious and carefree dancers. Here people appreciate passionate music mixed with salsa, rumba and lambada. Much different from the dark and sometimes seedy modern dance clubs in Taiwan, what prevails here is a natural way of socializing and entertaining. They dance to their heart’s content and each night recreate that happy atmosphere of the 60’s.

Viñales夜店熱舞的影檔連結如下：
Here is a link to a YouTube video to see the feverish dancing at the club.
https://youtu.be/WekosJlvw04

我不清楚偷走的時光該如何還來，也不理解繼續這樣懲罰他們有什麼意義？我只能如實地呈現我所見到的古巴當下。如果真能為這個苦難的國家做點什麼，也許可以在這裡呼籲所有去古巴旅行的同好，請多帶一些基本物資當作小禮物送給途中你將遇到的堅韌而美麗的靈魂。
I’m not smart enough to possibly know how Cubans can get back their stolen time, nor why they continue to be punished by their big neighbor to the north. But what I can do is show you today’s Cuba as I saw it. What you, as a visitor, can also do is bring along some basic goods with you as small tokens of your appreciation for seeing Cuba and give them to the strong and beautiful souls that cross your path along the way.

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#Cuba #古巴 #千里達 #聖塔克拉拉 #trinidad #旅行 #哈瓦那 #歷史