It was just a joke, but thousands of people didn’t think it was a laughing matter — and many were outraged. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * It was just a joke, but thousands of people didn’t think it was a laughing matter — and many were outraged. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? It was just a joke, but thousands of people didn’t think it was a laughing matter — and many were outraged.
They believed the City of Winnipeg was using facial recognition to track drivers for seatbelt and cellphone use based on a post from a satirical Facebook page called “The City of Winnipeg Complaints Department.” On Thursday, it posted a picture of street cameras and said the city had launched a pilot project to combat distracted drivers, including a seatbelt and cellphone distraction camera equipped with AI facial recognition. The post was shared more than 7,000 times and garnered 800 comments.
The Facebook page has around 35,000 followers and includes the description, “We take your complaints seriously and resolve them in a comedic and satirical fashion.” One Facebook user commented: “Well I would say stay away from that intersection.” The page administrator, who wished to stay anonymous, said they came across a photo of an allegedly real city speed enforcement camera on Reddit.
“Once we saw the photo, our creative juices started flowing and we came up with the idea of facial.
