jonocodes · June 23, 2018 04:54
diff --git a/gistfile1.txt b/gistfile1.txt
 I have an honest question:

 Could Facebook potentially help with the reunification of families? I’m being totally serious.

 Could Facebook work with immigration lawyers and social workers and shelters and government representatives, etc., in this insanely difficult—if not impossible—process of putting these families back together?

 Here’s why I ask:

 1. Facebook has facial-recognition software, which is the same software that helped locate 3,000 missing children in JUST FOUR DAYS in India, according to this news story from the UK: https://inews.co.uk/…/te…/facial-recognition-children-india/

 And here’s another article—from a while back—indicating that Facebook could use facial-recognition software to find missing persons: https://mashable.com/…/facebook-facial-recognition-missing/…

 2. Facebook has endless resources, facilities, money, people, connections, important allies, and the ability to mobilize pretty much anywhere in the world (including places where parents have already been deported). They also have the ability and know-how and connections to offer up its services to the government. They could easily form or hire a team to take this on, just as they could easily create a database where parents and relatives could post photos of their missing children. And then—once that child is photographed again, wherever they happen to be—that would create a possible match.

 3. Our government is saying that "no special efforts" will be made to bring families together and that it’s already considered pretty much impossible to reunify all these kids with their parents. It seems like they’re ready to give up, keep these kids in shelters, or give them over to foster parents.

 From a PBS news story: "Trump administration officials say they have no clear plan yet on how to reunite the thousands of children separated from their families at the border …”

 From a "New Yorker" story: “We hit a dead end. The person I spoke with just made a note in the file of the girl they thought it might be. But we didn’t get confirmation that we were talking about the same child.”

 There was an insane story in the Washington Post last night about how the government can’t even find the children in order to reunite them with their families. Direct quote: "The U.S. government has done little to help with the reunifications, attorneys say, prompting them to launch a frantic, improvised effort to find the children — some of them toddlers. One legal aid organization, the Texas Civil Rights Project, is representing more than 300 parents and has been able to track down only two children. Further complicating matters are bureaucratic errors.”

 ETC. ETC. ETC.

 This whole thing makes me so sick, I can’t stand it. It’s all I think about anymore.

 Who can chime in about this? Maybe some of my tech friends and/or journalist friends could look into this, or share this idea with somebody who might know something about this technology, how it works, and how it could potentially work in this scenario. Even if they just float the idea around and explain why it would—or wouldn’t—work in this case.

 I know that gaining access to the children in detention centers would require cooperation with the government (which seems unlikely, but still — Facebook has powerful allies). I know that some of the parents have already been deported, and that not everybody has access to the Internet. I know that there aren’t always photos of children to use as reference for the software, and I already know that this probably sounds farfetched, at best … but has anybody even THOUGHT about this as a possibility?

 Facebook could EASILY establish a gallery containing photos of the missing children (the photos would be provided by parents or relatives or attorneys or anybody working with these families) and then, when a child is photographed again—say, at a detention center—and added to the Facebook database, a positive match is potentially made, alerting parents to their whereabouts.

 If you read that linked story, above, it offers some hope. There's additional hope in the fact that I happen to be writing this message on a widespread platform that already has the technology to RECOGNIZE PEOPLES’ FACES ... including those faces of kids who don’t yet communicate verbally. Babies and toddlers.

 It’s seriously time to start thinking about alternative solutions that exist right now. Those options that would utilize our endless tech resources that we’ve been so busy developing ... for whatever reason.

 And hey, maybe this would finally be an opportunity for Facebook to use its reach and its money and its innovative technology and its resources for some *actual* good. Making the world more open and connected. Isn’t that the catchphrase? Right, Mark Zuckerberg? Right, Sheryl Sandberg? Right, any of my friends/acquaintances who work at Facebook, or know people who work at Facebook? Right, any tech friends who are familiar with this technology?

 I know there are other companies who do this facial recognition, too, but Facebook already has the infrastructure in place and 2+ billion active users. That’s more than enough to get started.

 I definitely know I’m in over my head, here, tech-wise. But I also know a lot of tech people and tech writers and journalists among my 1,500 Facebook friends. Who can tell me why this is possible or impossible? If the only reason that this is impossible is lack of access to the kids, Facebook could reach out to government officials to try to secure that access.

 As I see it, if Facebook worked alongside those who are trying to get families back together, using their facial-recognition software—and literally, all it would take is people with phones taking pictures and adding them to Facebook—how many children would it save and/or reunite with their parents? More than one, right? Probably WAY more than one.

 It would be worth it if it worked ONCE. I have a feeling Facebook could afford it.

 And hey, in terms of reputation repair, this would be a lot better than those commercials about trust & friendship that Facebook has been running on television. No offense to the Facebook PR team.

 From the story I linked to, above, here’s a quote: “If such a type of software helps trace missing children and reunite them with their families, nothing can be better than this.”

 P.S. Here's one more related story about a company (not Facebook) using this technology in an altruistic way to connect children and parents: http://www.vocativ.com/…/facial-recognition-lost…/index.html

 P.P.S. And here's that infuriating Washington Post story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/325cceb2-7563-11e8-bda1-18…
	I have an honest question:

	Could Facebook potentially help with the reunification of families? I’m being totally serious.

	Could Facebook work with immigration lawyers and social workers and shelters and government representatives, etc., in this insanely difficult—if not impossible—process of putting these families back together?

	Here’s why I ask:

	1. Facebook has facial-recognition software, which is the same software that helped locate 3,000 missing children in JUST FOUR DAYS in India, according to this news story from the UK: https://inews.co.uk/…/te…/facial-recognition-children-india/

	And here’s another article—from a while back—indicating that Facebook could use facial-recognition software to find missing persons: https://mashable.com/…/facebook-facial-recognition-missing/…

	2. Facebook has endless resources, facilities, money, people, connections, important allies, and the ability to mobilize pretty much anywhere in the world (including places where parents have already been deported). They also have the ability and know-how and connections to offer up its services to the government. They could easily form or hire a team to take this on, just as they could easily create a database where parents and relatives could post photos of their missing children. And then—once that child is photographed again, wherever they happen to be—that would create a possible match.

	3. Our government is saying that "no special efforts" will be made to bring families together and that it’s already considered pretty much impossible to reunify all these kids with their parents. It seems like they’re ready to give up, keep these kids in shelters, or give them over to foster parents.

	From a PBS news story: "Trump administration officials say they have no clear plan yet on how to reunite the thousands of children separated from their families at the border …”

	From a "New Yorker" story: “We hit a dead end. The person I spoke with just made a note in the file of the girl they thought it might be. But we didn’t get confirmation that we were talking about the same child.”

	There was an insane story in the Washington Post last night about how the government can’t even find the children in order to reunite them with their families. Direct quote: "The U.S. government has done little to help with the reunifications, attorneys say, prompting them to launch a frantic, improvised effort to find the children — some of them toddlers. One legal aid organization, the Texas Civil Rights Project, is representing more than 300 parents and has been able to track down only two children. Further complicating matters are bureaucratic errors.”

	ETC. ETC. ETC.

	This whole thing makes me so sick, I can’t stand it. It’s all I think about anymore.

	Who can chime in about this? Maybe some of my tech friends and/or journalist friends could look into this, or share this idea with somebody who might know something about this technology, how it works, and how it could potentially work in this scenario. Even if they just float the idea around and explain why it would—or wouldn’t—work in this case.

	I know that gaining access to the children in detention centers would require cooperation with the government (which seems unlikely, but still — Facebook has powerful allies). I know that some of the parents have already been deported, and that not everybody has access to the Internet. I know that there aren’t always photos of children to use as reference for the software, and I already know that this probably sounds farfetched, at best … but has anybody even THOUGHT about this as a possibility?

	Facebook could EASILY establish a gallery containing photos of the missing children (the photos would be provided by parents or relatives or attorneys or anybody working with these families) and then, when a child is photographed again—say, at a detention center—and added to the Facebook database, a positive match is potentially made, alerting parents to their whereabouts.

	If you read that linked story, above, it offers some hope. There's additional hope in the fact that I happen to be writing this message on a widespread platform that already has the technology to RECOGNIZE PEOPLES’ FACES ... including those faces of kids who don’t yet communicate verbally. Babies and toddlers.

	It’s seriously time to start thinking about alternative solutions that exist right now. Those options that would utilize our endless tech resources that we’ve been so busy developing ... for whatever reason.

	And hey, maybe this would finally be an opportunity for Facebook to use its reach and its money and its innovative technology and its resources for some actual good. Making the world more open and connected. Isn’t that the catchphrase? Right, Mark Zuckerberg? Right, Sheryl Sandberg? Right, any of my friends/acquaintances who work at Facebook, or know people who work at Facebook? Right, any tech friends who are familiar with this technology?

	I know there are other companies who do this facial recognition, too, but Facebook already has the infrastructure in place and 2+ billion active users. That’s more than enough to get started.

	I definitely know I’m in over my head, here, tech-wise. But I also know a lot of tech people and tech writers and journalists among my 1,500 Facebook friends. Who can tell me why this is possible or impossible? If the only reason that this is impossible is lack of access to the kids, Facebook could reach out to government officials to try to secure that access.

	As I see it, if Facebook worked alongside those who are trying to get families back together, using their facial-recognition software—and literally, all it would take is people with phones taking pictures and adding them to Facebook—how many children would it save and/or reunite with their parents? More than one, right? Probably WAY more than one.

	It would be worth it if it worked ONCE. I have a feeling Facebook could afford it.

	And hey, in terms of reputation repair, this would be a lot better than those commercials about trust & friendship that Facebook has been running on television. No offense to the Facebook PR team.

	From the story I linked to, above, here’s a quote: “If such a type of software helps trace missing children and reunite them with their families, nothing can be better than this.”

	P.S. Here's one more related story about a company (not Facebook) using this technology in an altruistic way to connect children and parents: http://www.vocativ.com/…/facial-recognition-lost…/index.html

	P.P.S. And here's that infuriating Washington Post story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/325cceb2-7563-11e8-bda1-18…