Greentext summary of the article:
>be me, computer nerd
>looking into the company that checks your ID when you sign up for websites (Persona)
>stumble across a weird hidden web address: "openai-watchlistdb"
>why the hell does OpenAI have a watchlist?
>dig a little deeper and find the company's secret portal for government agencies
>some idiot programmer accidentally left the site's entire source code completely public
>didn't have to hack, didn't need a password, literally just clicked download
>start reading the code to see what they are actually doing with your data
>turns out, when you upload your ID and selfie to use ChatGPT, it does way more than just check your age
>an AI scans your face to see if you "look suspicious"
>it compares your selfie to a massive database of world leaders, politicians, and criminals
>it runs over 200 background checks on you in seconds, including tracking your crypto wallets
>saves your face in a biometric database for up to 3 years
>if the AI decides it doesn't like your face or background, it flags you
>the system has a built-in button for the feds to instantly file a "suspicious activity report" on you to financial police and intelligence agencies
>the exact same company taking your passport photo for a chatbot is running a massive surveillance machine for the government
Hackers recently exposed parts of Discord's age verification system by discovering that the frontend code for their partner Persona was publicly accessible on the open internet.
This revealed details on how facial age estimation and ID verification are integrated.
โPersona's exposed code compares your selfie to watchlist photos using facial recognition, screens you against 14 categories of adverse media (from mentions of terrorism to espionage), and tags reports with codenames from active intelligence programs consisting of public-private partnerships.โ