People
in Russia are narrow-minded and have not yet realized how
beautiful, convenient and progressive biometrics are.
Therefore, whether they want it or not, the authorities will
introduce it wherever possible.
Approximately the same reasoning (without these words, but
with this meaning) was heard at SPIEF in the section devoted
to biometrics.
Nakanune.RU provides
characteristic statements about the attitude of business
towards people.
At first, the presenter of the Russia 24
channel, Maria Kudryavtseva, advertised
biometrics, showing how she enters the Unified
Biometric System using her face and even the greeting
"Hello, Maria!" appears there, which she enthusiastically
shows to the audience.
At the same time, there was a feeling of
a white gentleman showing "digital beads" to the local
natives.
And the whole "discussion" came down to
one thing:
intrusive advertising...
It
is characteristic that the governor of the Moscow region
Andrei Vorobyov, who is a public servant, but showed himself
to be a business lobbyist, was also involved in this.
As with artificial
intelligence in healthcare, the panel included only
proponents of biometrics.
Those who might object were simply not
invited. Those present were
mainly engaged in advertising.
Old
people do not understand the digital world, but young people
were already born with a gadget in their hand, they are very
flexible, progressive, digital.
They
understand how convenient, cool and fast it is. In
general, the conversation became very revealing in its
vacuity and disregard for the position of citizens.
The first question to the speakers was
provocative:
is society ready to use biometrics...?
That is, don't people want it, does the
country need it, not what it will give, not what the risks
are - but is society ready, as if the issue has been
fundamentally resolved. Which is obscene...
Let us recall that according to a 2023 survey,
a third of Russians have a positive attitude towards taking
biometrics, but almost half are opposed - 48%.
[…]
Vorobiev spoke as if he had gone back in
time a hundred years ago and was telling backward people of
the past about the wonders of the technology of the future.
Here are just a few quotes.
"You
don't need a paper or a passport, all this will be a
thing of the past, it's absurd to resist it. We all
already use biometrics, including children at school...
It's
convenient, you don't need to twist anything, you just
look and that's it," said Vorobiev. […]
It is
characteristic that one of the main experts in the field of
artificial intelligence (AI) in the country, a member of the
Human Rights Council, Igor Ashmanov,
was not invited to the section, who was forced to make
remarks from the audience several times, and the section
participants politely drew attention to the fact that
someone might disagree.
So, when
Lebedev said that 'all people are for biometrics', he objected
that this was not true.
And when
they started talking about different points of view, he very
briefly but accurately described what was happening.
"You
haven't invited anyone to the presidium, you're all
blowing the same tune!
As a
member of the Presidential Human Rights Council, I hear
completely obscene advertising, and nothing more!" said
Ashmanov.
