When, a month after the war began, it became clear that the military had access to the Clearview platforma facial recognition system that allows you to associate a face with a specific identity, taking advantage of a database of over 10 billion images, it has been speculated that this artificial intelligence, developed in America, was used to filter people at checkpoints, identify infiltrators and the Russian military. And, above all, to name the victims. Yes, but which victims?
In the first 50 days of the conflict, the Ukrainian army used Clearview 8,600 technology times to identify the corpses of Russian soldiers or captured soldiers. This data, reported by the Washington Post, is confirmed – in part – by a video released by the IT Armythe army of volunteer hackers created by Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister for Digital Transition in Ukraine.
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In the video reference is made only to the corpses of the Russians: “We were able to identify at least 582 bodies”. Then the method is explained: “When a corpse is found, it is photographed. The artificial intelligence will search among the accounts on social networks and among those of a friend or relative to understand if there are photos that correspond to the face of the lifeless soldier. We then communicate the soldier’s death to one of the close contacts and attach a photo of the body ”.
From the video it is clear that this communication takes place on the same social network in which, from time to time, a dead soldier is tracked down. For Ukrainian hackers, the operation would not harm the Geneva Conventions concerning prisoners of war: “Since the Russian government does not recognize this war, and calls it a special military operation, the thousands of Russian soldiers killed, captured and wounded in Ukraine must be treated as terrorists.”
The goal of macabre communications to Russian families, again according to the Ukrainian hackers, would be to “spread the truth” in a country, Russia, unaware of what is happening in Ukraine. The video ends with a message addressed to the mothers of fallen Russian soldiers in battle: “Say enough to the death of your children”.
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The IT Army, made up of volunteer hackers, works in partnership with the military. According to Mykhailo Fedorov, we live in an era in which “Cyberwar is more effective than bullets”. Ukrainian soldiers, when they come across the corpses of enemies, are invited to photograph them. The fact that this happens is confirmed by agency photos in which the military holds a smartphone in their handsor a small camera, facing a lifeless body, or what remains of it.
Hoan Ton-That, the CEO of Clearviewtold the Washington Post that more than 340 Ukrainian officers have been trained to use the platform, access to which has been provided for free to the Ukrainian government. Ton-That, in this regard, said that the same offer was not extended to Russia.
Clearview’s facial recognition experts, in short, would hold weekly training sessions on Zoom. According to what Ton-That reported, these remote ‘lessons’ would be marked with exclamations of amazement from the Ukrainian military, surprised by the power of the service’s artificial intelligence and the database it draws on. “This is a modern war – Ton-That told the Washington Post – and the Ukrainians are very creative in what they do”.
Ton-That certainly refers to the photos of the corpses sent to relatives of the dead Russian soldiers. A controversial initiative, at least according to debate triggered on social media by the Washington Post article. One of the most used terms to comment on the action of the IT Army is “backfire“, Which in Italian means”backfire“. Many are convinced that this operation, instead of sensitizing the Russians to what is happening in Ukraine, can get the exact oppositearousing a feeling of revenge in families who may not share the invasion or are crushed by the position (and decisions) of the Kremlin.
On Twitter, there are those who believe that the use of Clearview is “bad taste”: “Just because the Russian invasion is to be condemned – writes a user – it is not right that Ukrainians are so crude. Civilized countries don’t do these things. Harassing the families of dead soldiers, who may not want to be in Ukraine, will not make them friends ”.
For others, however, hackers would perform a dual service: fight the disinformation of the Russian regime and, at the same time, communicate to mothers – albeit in a cruel way – what happened to their children “who were abandoned to rot on the battlefield – writes the IT Army in its video – from their own comrades ”. For someone, finally, all this it is legitimate if one thinks of the suffering inflicted on the Ukrainian people by the Russian invasion: “Put yourself in the shoes of the Ukrainians – writes a user – and we will see how you would have reacted”.