14 DAY TRIAL // Google contractors have been tasked with the mission of building a massive facial recognition database in anticipation of the Pixel 4 debut, and according to a new report, teams trying to collect data for the search giant specifically targeted homeless darker skin people.
New York Daily News reveals in a lengthy article citing “multiple sources with direct knowledge of the project” that Google turned to a group called TVC (temps, vendors, and contractors) to collect face data from unsuspecting individuals in several regions, including Atlanta and Los Angeles.
These TVCs were paid though a third-party employment firm known as Randstad, the report adds, and were told to get the facial scans without telling people they were being recorded.
Google’s contractor often offered gift certificates to individuals who agreed to have their faces scanned, but most often, these people were told they were trying a selfie game similar to the ones found on Snapchat.
Homeless people were specifically targeted because they are less likely to get in touch with the media should they suspect anything unusual, one person with knowledge of the matter told the source.
“They said to target homeless people because they’re the least likely to say anything to the media. The homeless people didn’t know what was going on at all,” a former employee involved in the project was quoted as saying.
Going after homeless people
TVCs participating in the project were required to take part in training sessions where they learned all kinds of questionable tactics to distract people scanning their faces. A consent agreement was displayed for every individual before the scanning started, but the TVCs tried to rush things so they didn’t notice a facial scanning process was happening.
“They said they wanted us to test out a new phone, an Android. I put in my email. My guy told me to do it all really quick. He kept saying, ‘Hit next and upload. Next and upload.’ I thought they were students. We’re new here and trying to make friends,” one student who unknowingly had her face scanned explained for the source.
The contractor used special phones encased in large metal frames with all kinds of security measures and sometime told homeless people the gift cards could be exchanged for cash.
“He asked if I wanted to get a free $5 card by doing data analytics. They didn’t say it was a scan. I was just thinking about the Starbucks. I put in a fake email,” one student is quoted as saying. “We asked who they worked for before anyone did it. They said it was something related to Google.”
Neither Google nor its contractor offered statements regarding the claimed practices.