｢セルフィー［自撮り］現象は、間違いなくNSAの仕事を楽にしている。オンラインにアップされた大量のタグ付き写真を、顔認識システムに流し込むだけだ。
The New York Timesは、NSA告発者エドワード・スノーデンが入手した2011年の文書に基づき、米国諜報機関の顔認識技術への依存度は、オバマ政権になって飛躍的に高まったと報じた。ソーシャルネットワークに自撮り写真をアップしてタグ付けする習慣が広まったタイミングと一致している。
同紙によると、ソーシャルメディア、Eメール、メッセージ、ビデオ会議その他のデジタルコミュニケーションで送られる大量の画像を処理するために、NSAは新しいソフトウェアを導入した。2011年文書には、顔認識ソフトウェアの技術進歩によって、NSAが世界中のターゲットを探す方法が革新されることを諜報局幹部は信じていると、書かれている。
文書によると、同局は1日に「数百万枚」の画像 ― うち約5万5000枚の「顔認識品質画像」 ― を傍受しているが、合計で何枚の画像を蓄積しているかは現時点で不明だ。NSAは顔認識技術について、諜報ターゲットの追跡に「とてつもない未知の可能性」があると説明している。
内部の顔認識ソフトウェアだけでなく、同文書によるとNSAは、商用顔認識技術、例えばPittPatt ― Googleが所有する会社 ― 等を使って収集データを処理している。
顔写真、指紋、その他の個人を特定する情報は、NSAにとって文書あるいは会話と同様に重要と考えられていると記事は伝えている。
同紙はNSAの顔認識技術の利用が、以前詳しく報じられてたものよりはるかに進歩していると書いている。去る2月、NSAおよび英国諜報機関GCHQによるウェブカム画像収集の協同プログラムが発覚した。2008～2012年に、Yahooユーザーの画像が集められ、その中には露骨な性描写も含まれていた。
New York Timesによると、NSAは米国の運転免許証あるいはパスポートの写真データベースをアクセスすることはできないが、タグ付けされたオンラインデータを無数に持つ他の情報源 ― Facebook、Instagram等々 ― にある大量の自撮り写真から、米国市民の個人情報を得ることができる。
「われわれが追跡しているのは、伝統的通信手段だけではない。ターゲットがネット上の日常生活で残したヒントを元に、正確なターゲティングに役立つ履歴や生体情報を構築できる」と2010年の諜報文書が指摘している。
New York Times記者が接触したNSA広報担当者は、Facebookその他のソーシャルメディアから、通信傍受以外の方法で顔写真を集めているかどうかのコメントを控えた。しかしその「ノーコメント」が多くをものがたったいる。
顔認識ソフトウェアは、技術の進歩と共にビッグブラザーになりつつある。もちろん山ほどのタグ付顔写真を保有するFacebookは、DeepFace projectと呼ばれるプロジェクトで独自の顔認識ソフトウェア改善に力を入れている。今年3月、Facebookは、DeepFaceが群集の中からら個人を認識する精度が人間並みになったことを発表した（平均97.25%、人間は97.5%）。
こうした企業努力がNSAの仕事を楽にすることは間違いない。Facebookの持つタグ付画像の精度が上がるほど、NSAのデータ収集は効果的になる。米国プライバシー法が、顔認識データを明示的に保護していないことも重要だとNYTは指摘している。
しかし、NSA広報によると、こうした画像は米国におけるコンテンツ通信手段の一形態と考えられているため、NSAが監視プログラムを通じて米国人の写真を集めるためには、裁判所の承認が必要になる ― メールを読んだり通話を傍受する場合と同様。しかし、国境を越えた通信 ― NSAが標的にした海外の人物の画像を米国人がメールやテキストメッセージで送るケースが相当する ― は例外になり得る。つまり、自撮り写真を送る相手と相手の住んでいる場所次第というわけだ。
ヨーロッパで、Facebookは顔認識アルゴリズムを生かしたタグ推奨機能を2012年に中止した。アイルランドのデータ保護局が実施した、ユーザーデータおよびプライバシーの透明性に関する捜査の和解手続きの一環だ。
この顔認識ソフトウェアを利用した機能は、米国を含め他の国々のFacebookユーザーには有効で、自撮り写真に手動でタグ付けする面倒な手順を迅速化している。
それはしかし、NSAにとってより価値が高くなっている可能性が高いという意味でもある。
[原文へ]
（翻訳：Nob Takahashi / facebook）
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