Argentina wants to fight and predict crime with AI
A new special unit is to use modern technology to combat crime, including by permanently monitoring social networks. Critics are alarmed.
Recording from the Argentine monitoring center for emergencies and disasters.
(Image: Ministerio de Seguridad Argentina)
The Argentinian government has set up a special unit within its security authorities to use artificial intelligence to comprehensively combat and predict crime. Critics are alarmed as the Unidad de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada a la Seguridad (UIAAS) is to perform comprehensive surveillance tasks.
The UIAAS is to "patrol" social networks and websites to investigate criminal offenses, as the government decree puts it, i.e. permanently monitor them, including the dark web. It will use image recognition to identify suspects, but also to identify potential threats from criminal groups or predict "unrest".
The special unit will also identify situations that pose a risk to national security and analyze images from surveillance cameras in real time to identify suspicious activities or find wanted persons. Historical crime data will be analyzed using algorithms and machine learning to predict future crimes.
Unusual patterns, profiling
The UIAAS also has the task of recognizing unusual patterns in computer networks to deduce cyber threats even before malware or phishing attacks occur. Analyzing large amounts of data from various sources will help to create profiles of suspects and identify links between different crimes. The UIAAS is also designed to detect suspicious financial transactions.
Beyond cyberspace, the UIAAS is also responsible for patrolling with drones and defusing explosives with robots. It also aims to improve communication and coordination between different law enforcement agencies so that important information is available more quickly.
According to the Guardian, Mariela Belski from Amnesty International Argentina sees the danger of people censoring themselves through the comprehensive monitoring of social media. Professor of media and information technology Martín Becerra analyzes for the Argentinian daily newspaper El Diario that predicting crimes with data analysis attacks the principle of the presumption of innocence.
"Illegal activities under the guise of modern technologies"
A person who lives in a district where, according to statistics, there is more crime than elsewhere is more likely to be the target of surveillance than residents of other parts of the city, writes Becerra. Classifying behavior as criminal based on algorithmic criteria is disproportionate, and crime prediction techniques suffer from the fact that they are programmed with bias anyway. Overall, Becerra believes that the privacy of users of digital platforms is at risk. National laws protect every type of private communication and data, but this principle would also be undermined and could lead to a new form of surveillance.
For journalist Natalia Zuazo, the UIAAS provides illegal state activities with the cover of "modern technologies". She fears that many different security forces will have uncontrolled access to the information collected.
Beatriz Busaniche from the Argentinian civil rights organization Vía Libre Foundation judged the planned constant monitoring of social networks to be illegal. She gave the example that it is normal for police officers to patrol the city. However, if a law enforcement officer were to join two people and record their conversation, this would cross the line of what is permitted.
The Argentinian government points to countries such as the USA, China, the UK, Israel, France, Singapore and India, which are pioneers in video analysis and facial recognition, crime prediction, cybersecurity, data analysis, drones and robotics, to establish the special unit. Under the European Union's AI Act, which came into force today, August 1, individual predictive police surveillance, for example, is prohibited.
(anw)