Sources and Facts Over Time

Narrative Poem

Emily Cocchiola

English 2

Ms. McKoy

Block 1

9 October 2013

Are You Watching Me?

Innocent 15 year old girl,

Hair so pretty with luscious curls.

Curls bouncing like a ball,

Soon her friends seem to call.

Buying new clothes for her date,

Not realizing that she is direct bait.

Minding her own business it seems to be

Not knowing that she is being seen

Having a good time, meeting with her friends

When suddenly the mannequin slowly bends.

She thinks it was just her eyes,

When suddenly the commercial ad changed by surprise!

To a girl almost like her

She questioned, “How did that happen, sir?”

The mannequins have cameras he dares to say,

But the secret of the cameras was something he did not want to say

They are facial scanners to see who shops,

For all of those million dollar tops.

The girl looks in fear,

That’s not a good thing to hear,

I don’t want to be stalked

In this store, or any store, she says with a shock

No signs, no postings, nothing!

You would think that there would be at least something!

To scan my face with no permission

That right there can put your store in bad condition

Without signs or postings to warn,

You are invading my privacy, with no return

American Eagle, Aeropostale, Hollister, and more

Might all going to be going into a little business war

I don’t see why stores use these

Or think they do not have to say anything, geez!

These mannequins need to be gone

Preferably before the next dawn

These mannequins are invading my space,

They need to go to another place.

Either get signs, or get rid of them

To make us all very happy like a hen! 

Letter to The Editor

Emily Cocchiola

HCS Early College High School

2050 Hwy. 501 E

Conway, SC 29529

(843-349-3131)

emilycocchiola@gmail.com

September 19, 2013

The Sun News

Letter to the Editor

P.O. Box 406

Myrtle Beach, SC 29578

Dear Editor-in-chief,

I am writing to inform about mannequins that use facial recognition technology without the consent of customers.

This act is going against the privacy laws. The point of privacy laws is to protect people from invasion of privacy. Stores everywhere have implemented mannequins that use facial scanners to help their business. The stores do not see it affecting customers, and that is because customers do not know about them. The people that do know about them find them to creepy because they scan your face revealing your age, gender, and race. If you've ever been tagged in a picture on Facebook then they can go into the memory and find out exactly who and where you are. Stores do not give you any warning that they use these, so they need to be put to a stop now.

Sincerely,

Emily Cocchiola

           

            

Exploratory Essay

Emily Cocchiola         

McKoy-1

English 2

4 September 2013

Mannequins That Watch You Shop

Do you ever feel as if you're being watched when nobody is there? If so, you might be right. Stores across the nation have been using EyeSee mannequins to help the stores business. While some people think that their face is not as important as a social security number, others might. The mannequins scan your face revealing your age, gender, and race. If you have ever been tagged in a picture on facebook, then these mannequins can find out exactly who, and where you are. While these mannequins might be good to help track and stop bad guys, they are an invasion of privacy to the common man and I. We already have to deal with surveillance cameras, for security reasons, and now this? EyeSee mannequins might be new across the globe, but they need to be put to a stop now.

The privacy acts of 1974 states, "Give a Privacy Act Statement (PAS) orally or in writing to the subject of the record when you are collecting information that will go in a system of records." When stores do have these EyeSee mannequins there is nothing posted about them being there, and a lot of the customers do not even know they exist. EyeSee mannequins use facial technology, so it is important to have warning about facial scanners because some people might not be comfortable with that. Other people might claim that the information is not being stored, but once it is recorded it will always be in the memory of the camera. In addition, The Air force Writer, states the whole privacy act of 1974, along with how to orally give or write a PAS. This website is dependable because it states the most recent update in the top left corner. It is also dependable because it is quoting the law, with information explaining it. This website will help me with my research because it will help me argue that these mannequins are going against the privacy act. Starting off with this research has helped me make my point about the mannequins. It has helped me to do this by telling me what is and isn't an invasion of privacy. I personally did not know until I did this research, and there are a lot of people out in the world that do not know of the privacy act either. In the article, Mannequins Eyes are Watching You, it states, "the computer contains facial recognition software, as well as, audio, and video recording capabilities." This article helped defend my point that they finding out unneeded information about the shoppers without their permission. They say that the information being collected is not used in any harmful way, but why does it matter? It is still our personal information.

I would like to do further research on EyeSee mannequins being an invasion of privacy because I want students to know about the technology they are using in the world today. I want everyone to come to a realization that anyone can watch them at anytime. For stores wanting to increase business does not have to become a privacy issue. A possible argument that I make is, are these EyeSee mannequins an invasion of privacy or not? Although some people might now seem to think so, I do, and it will be a great opportunity to grab a hold of all this new technology. Research helped me to come up with my essential question: "Should stores be allowed to use facial recognition technology without consent of their customers?" To develop my thesis statement more which states, I do not think stores should be allowed to use facial recognition technology without consent of the customer; I did more research and analyzing on the mannequins themselves, proving that they go against the privacy act.

Works Cited

Henley, Nicole. “Mannequin Eyes Are Watching You.”  Techcrunch.com. 14 August 2013. HubPages. 28 August 2013. <http://nicolehenley.hubpages.com/hub/Almax-Mannequins-Their-Eyes-are-Watching-You.>

Lee, Nicole. “EyeSee mannequins used to spy on shoppers, confirm paranoid fears.” Engadget.com. 20 Nov 2012. Engad. 28 August 2013. <http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/20/eyesee-mannequins/>.

“Privacy Act Statement.” www.airforcewriter.com.  2013. Air Force Writer. 1 September 2013. <http://www.airforcewriter.com/privacy_act_statement.htm>.