Police and federal agencies are using it to get around a growing patchwork of laws that curb how they use facial recognition. 

The system scans various video sources including closed-circuit security cameras, body-worn cameras, drones, Ring cameras, and publicly shared social media footage. Users select specific attributes, such as type and color of clothing, accessories like bags or hats, and physical features, to filter and identify subjects in the footage.

Privacy advocates warned that Track raises many of the same privacy concerns as facial recognition but also introduces new ones at a time when the Trump administration is pushing federal agencies to ramp up monitoring of protesters, immigrants, and students.

Police and federal agencies have found a new type of AI to skirt the growing patchwork of laws that curb how they use facial recognition.

According to Project Counsel Media (How a new type of AI is helping police skirt facial recognition bans, available here), police and federal agencies have found a controversial new way to skirt the growing patchwork of laws that curb how they use facial recognition: an AI model that can track people using attributes like body size, gender, hair color and style, clothing, and accessories.

The authors "recently saw a demo of the technology courtesy of one of our media partners, the MIT Technology Review." The tool, called Track and built by the video analytics (and eDiscovery) company Veritone, is used by 400 customers, including state and local police departments and universities all over the US.