In what sounds like an action movie scene, Chinese police last month arrested a wanted criminal at a concert by Hong Kong pop star Jacky Cheung in Nanchang, Jiangxi province. Facial Recognition and Policingįacial recognition technology, while convenient for tagging pictures on social media, was always destined to assist law enforcement in catching criminals. The social media giant has infamously been pretty lax when it comes to asking for consent to use data, and this time it could cost it both money and reputation. The move was approved because of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, which insists tech companies need to follow strict guidelines in the use of biometric technology, the primary of which is consent. Illinois residents were recently given the go-ahead to proceed with a class-action lawsuit against Facebook due to its use facial recognition technology. And if that sounds potentially illegal to you, you're kind of right! Facebook can now recognize individuals within photos that they never personally uploaded to the internet. These auto-tagging features have come a long way since the early days, when they were barely accurate enough to be consistent. This smart tool looks through all your pictures, and suggests which of your friends might be in those pictures. Entire cities are getting in on the action, partnering with companies like AnyVision and Nvidia to set up smart cameras equipped with facial recognition technology that is said to be “99 percent accurate.” They even claim to be able to identify marathon runners in real time, according to a pretty convincing video:įacebook's Tag Suggestions feature is one of the most recognizable iterations of facial recognition technology. Google’s Arts & Culture app can match users’ pictures to old paintings, though the suspicious backlash it received showed there’s still a degree of distrust around handing facial data over to the tech giants.Īnd the face-spotting fun doesn’t stop at tech companies. Microsoft is developing a software for businesses that will effectively track everything anyone says in a meeting through voice and facial recognition technology. In 1966, Woody Bledsoe, viewed as one of the pioneers of the tech, admitted that, while he'd made strides, facial recognition technology “is certain to fail in cases where the variability is great.” Unfortunately, for Bledsoe, variability is the name of the game when it comes to people's faces.Įven last year’s Apple iPhone X Face ID demonstration made advanced facial recognition technology seem like quite a ways off, with a demo bust that, while explainable, didn’t do much to inspire confidence in the tech.ĭespite such bumps in the road, the evolution of facial recognition tech has been swift and impressive, and all the big tech companies have begun to take their piece of the pie. The Evolution of Facial Recognitionįacial recognition didn’t start out quite so smart. When your own face becomes a data asset that’s personally identifiable, trackable, and usable by profit-hungry companies, government organizations, and legal bodies, the right to remain faceless should become a priority concern. Its deployment is based on target data that effectively can't be blocked or circumvented, short of wearing a ski-mask. Unlike smartphones and social media, facial recognition technology leverages the fact that everyone, well, has a face. However, with innovations to “smart” cameras loaded with facial recognition technology, there’s a pressing existential problem: the fact that you can't opt out at all. Granted, these aren’t easy or popular choices, but opting out is still an option. It's as easy as not buying a smartphone, disconnecting your WiFi, or even deleting Facebook. The beauty of technology lies in your ability to opt out if you so choose.
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