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Facial-ID Tech Being Used to Send Russian Moms Photos of Their Dead Soldier Sons Left in Ukraine

Hackers and activists are hoping that by showing Russian families of the true cost of war, they will sow seeds of dissent against Vladimir Putin.

A group of Ukrainian hackers and activists are using U.S. made Clearview AI facial-recognition software on the corpses of dead Russian soldiers to try to stir up dissent among Russian troops. So far, around 8,600 dead soldiers have been scanned, of which more than 580 have been identified. Once identified, the group has being sending family members photos of the abandoned or hastily buried corpses, according to The Washington Post. The macabre use of cutting-edge technology is meant to incite dissent in Russia, both to seed anger against Vladimir Putin and to discourage troops from continuing the fight. But some in the West have wondered about the use of technology for such means. “If it were Russian soldiers doing this with Ukrainian mothers, we might say, ‘Oh, my God, that’s barbaric,’” Stephanie Hare, a surveillance researcher in London, told the Post. “And is it actually working? Or is it making them say: ‘Look at these lawless, cruel, Ukrainians doing this to our boys?’ ”