The Reading / Listening - Big Brother - Level 2

San Francisco is the first city in the USA to ban facial recognition. The city has said police and other departments cannot use the software. The city already uses surveillance cameras for car number plates, and the police wear body cameras. Facial recognition is at airports. Officials want to start facial recognition to increase security. They said it would be cheaper and faster for police to find crime suspects and to identify missing people. An information technology expert said: "A ban on facial recognition will make [San Francisco] frozen in time with out-dated technology."

Many people oppose the technology. It is widely used in other parts of the world. A San Francisco official said facial recognition was a "Big Brother" technology. Big Brother is a character in the book "1984". The phrase Big Brother is used to describe attempts by governments to control and spy on citizens. The official said: "We can have security without being a security state. We can have good policing without being a police state." He added: "Part of that is building trust with the community based on good community information, not on Big Brother technology."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Big Brother - Level 0 Big Brother - Level 1   or  Big Brother - Level 3

Sources
  • https://news.sky.com/story/san-francisco-becomes-first-us-city-to-ban-police-from-using-facial-recognition-technology-11720324
  • https://www.foxnews.com/tech/san-francisco-1st-us-city-outlaw-police-facial-recognition-technology
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48276660


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. surveillance
  2. car number
  3. to increase
  4. find crime
  5. identify missing
  6. An information technology
  7. frozen in
  8. outdated
  1. suspects
  2. time
  3. plates
  4. technology
  5. security
  6. cameras
  7. people
  8. expert

Paragraph 2

  1. Many people oppose the
  2. It is widely
  3. in other
  4. Big Brother is a character
  5. control and spy
  6. have good policing without being
  7. Part of that is building
  8. based on good community
  1. information
  2. in the book "1984"
  3. trust
  4. technology
  5. a police state
  6. used
  7. on citizens
  8. parts of the world

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

San Francisco (1) ___________________ city in the USA to ban facial recognition. The city has said police (2) ___________________ cannot use the software. The city already uses surveillance cameras for (3) ___________________, and the police wear body cameras. Facial recognition is at airports. Officials want to start facial recognition (4) ___________________. They said it would be cheaper and faster for police to find (5) ___________________ to identify missing people. An information technology expert said: "A ban on facial recognition will make [San Francisco] frozen in time (6) ___________________ technology."

Many people (7) ___________________. It is widely used in other parts of the world. A San Francisco official said facial recognition was a "Big Brother" technology. Big Brother (8) ___________________ in the book "1984". The phrase Big Brother is used to (9) ___________________ governments to control and spy on citizens. The official said: "We can have security without being a security state. We can (10) ___________________ without being a police state." He added: "(11) __________________ is building trust with the community (12) ___________________ community information, not on Big Brother technology."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

SanFranciscoisthefirstcityintheUSAtobanfacialrecognition.Thecityh
assaidpoliceandotherdepartmentscannotusethesoftware.Thecityalr
eadyusessurveillancecamerasforcarnumberplates,andthepolicewe
arbodycameras.Facialrecognitionisatairports.Officialswanttostartfa
cialrecognitiontoincreasesecurity.Theysaiditwouldbecheaperandfas
terforpolicetofindcrimesuspectsandtoidentifymissingpeople.Aninfor
mationtechnologyexpertsaid:"Abanonfacialrecognitionwillmake[Sa
nFrancisco]frozenintimewithout-datedtechnology."Manypeopleo
pposethetechnology.Itiswidelyusedinotherpartsoftheworld.ASanFr
anciscoofficialsaidfacialrecognitionwasa"BigBrother"technology.Big
Brotherisacharacterinthebook"1984".ThephraseBigBrotherisusedt
odescribeattemptsbygovernmentstocontrolandspyoncitizens.Theof
ficialsaid:"Wecanhavesecuritywithoutbeingasecuritystate.Wecanh
avegoodpolicingwithoutbeingapolicestate."Headded:"Partofthatisb
uildingtrustwiththecommunitybasedongoodcommunityinformation
,notonBigBrothertechnology."

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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