I suppose any wealthy individual could employ those technologies today, but to what end? What would I use facial recognition for? I can already recognize all the faces I need to.
Nothing good can come of these technologies as long as they are wielded by oppressors alone. They are existential threats to oppressors when all civilians have them.
I was going to say I agreed with that but I can't really divide the world into "oppressors" and "civilians", I don't consider myself to be either.
Just consider how rapidly the costs of such technologies are dropping, and how much more rapidly they disseminate today than in the recent past, and it will become apparent that quite soon even the desperately poor will have access to them and more, and that the rate of dispersal will continue to accelerate.
While you may not feel that you are in danger of being surveilled, stalked, or otherwise need to recognize faces that may belong to professional thugs, you might grasp that some folks are, do, and soon will. The Stasi were not benign, and the FAANGs, enemedia, and political bureaucracies are more and more resembling them, as they become more desperate to continue to wield power.
I hope you will not tarry long before joining the ranks of we civilian non-combatants successfully gaining our freedom.
I am a citizen of the united states, I don't know what "civilian" really means. I am already free to speak my mind and bear arms, I can consume whatever substances I like, I am protected from illegal searches and seizures and considered innocent unless found guilty in a court of law I am freer than 99% of the people on earth already, and much freer than any people who came before us, what else do you want?