Imagine walking into a store to buy some milk. As you walk out, you may think that you left no trace behind in that simple grocery store, but the reality is very different. Facial recognition cameras were hard at work while you were shopping. These cameras collect your faceprint which is similar to a fingerprint. Companies and governments can use your faceprint to collect information about you – and you might have no idea this is happening.
The government keeping tabs on people through facial recognition technology might seem like a technique utilized by authoritative countries such as China and North Korea, but Australia uses this method too. In fact, Australia stands out as the only democracy in the world that uses facial recognition technology for regular use on the public. One example of this is shown in Covid-19 precautions that are carried out in Western Australia. After someone contracts Covid-19, the police send them text messages to make sure that they are quarantined correctly. The patient must send a selfie to confirm their location within 15 minutes, and this selfie is verified by facial recognition technology. Not complying will land them a knock on their door and a large fine. This seems eerie, but it is happening in Australia all the time.
On the other hand, some people believe that facial recognition is a crucial part of our safety. A famous facial recognition technology company, Clearview AI, is hoping that its technology could be used in US schools to manage visitors. Clearview AI claims that this will help stop school shootings because its cameras can detect various objects and specific people. If a camera senses a potential weapon or a registered criminal on their database, then the school would be alerted to the danger. Clearview AI’s Australian CEO, Hoan Ton-That states, “We have seen our technology used with great success by law enforcement to stop gun trafficking, and we are hopeful that our technology can be used to help prevent tragic gun crimes in the future”.
Many individuals trust facial recognition to achieve a great level of security. Passwords can be untrustworthy and faulty. Anyone can take advantage of anyone’s life by grabbing their not-so-secret passwords. But with facial recognition, the story is very different. Every faceprint is uniquely different because of the tiny bumps and gaps that occur randomly throughout someone’s face. Garret O’Hara, field chief technologist at security company Mimecast explains that “When you use a facial recognition app to open your phone, it isn’t a picture of your face that your phone stores. It stores an algorithmic derivation of what your face is mathematically. It looks like a long code of letters and numbers.”. Unlike with passwords, no one can steal your face and hack into your secrets. For this reason, facial recognition is extremely secure.
Although facial recognition seems like the future of technology, it still has many downfalls. Many facial recognition companies boast of having an extremely low error rate, which is the amount that the program incorrectly identifies someone. But this is only applicable to white men because most databases for information consist of white men. According to a study by researchers from Stanford and MIT University, the error rate for light-skinned men was around 0.8%. However, the error rate for dark-skinned women was around 20-34%.
When someone gets misidentified with facial identification, the consequences can be dire, especially if you are a black man living in America. CNN reports that a 31-year-old black man, Nijeer Parks, was wrongfully arrested for someone else’s crimes. The police’s evidence? A faulty facial recognition match. An innocent man spent time in jail because facial recognition can be very unreliable if the subject is not a white man.
As the future unfolds, technology keeps innovating to meet society’s needs. Who knows what the outcome of facial recognition will be? Are the promises of security and safety enough to outweigh the unethical and often immoral results? Whatever the answer is, one fact is undeniable. Change is coming with the tide of tomorrow, and we’ll keep on making breakthroughs in the world of facial recognition.
The government keeping tabs on people through facial recognition technology might seem like a technique utilized by authoritative countries such as China and North Korea, but Australia uses this method too. In fact, Australia stands out as the only democracy in the world that uses facial recognition technology for regular use on the public. One example of this is shown in Covid-19 precautions that are carried out in Western Australia. After someone contracts Covid-19, the police send them text messages to make sure that they are quarantined correctly. The patient must send a selfie to confirm their location within 15 minutes, and this selfie is verified by facial recognition technology. Not complying will land them a knock on their door and a large fine. This seems eerie, but it is happening in Australia all the time.
On the other hand, some people believe that facial recognition is a crucial part of our safety. A famous facial recognition technology company, Clearview AI, is hoping that its technology could be used in US schools to manage visitors. Clearview AI claims that this will help stop school shootings because its cameras can detect various objects and specific people. If a camera senses a potential weapon or a registered criminal on their database, then the school would be alerted to the danger. Clearview AI’s Australian CEO, Hoan Ton-That states, “We have seen our technology used with great success by law enforcement to stop gun trafficking, and we are hopeful that our technology can be used to help prevent tragic gun crimes in the future”.
Many individuals trust facial recognition to achieve a great level of security. Passwords can be untrustworthy and faulty. Anyone can take advantage of anyone’s life by grabbing their not-so-secret passwords. But with facial recognition, the story is very different. Every faceprint is uniquely different because of the tiny bumps and gaps that occur randomly throughout someone’s face. Garret O’Hara, field chief technologist at security company Mimecast explains that “When you use a facial recognition app to open your phone, it isn’t a picture of your face that your phone stores. It stores an algorithmic derivation of what your face is mathematically. It looks like a long code of letters and numbers.”. Unlike with passwords, no one can steal your face and hack into your secrets. For this reason, facial recognition is extremely secure.
Although facial recognition seems like the future of technology, it still has many downfalls. Many facial recognition companies boast of having an extremely low error rate, which is the amount that the program incorrectly identifies someone. But this is only applicable to white men because most databases for information consist of white men. According to a study by researchers from Stanford and MIT University, the error rate for light-skinned men was around 0.8%. However, the error rate for dark-skinned women was around 20-34%.
When someone gets misidentified with facial identification, the consequences can be dire, especially if you are a black man living in America. CNN reports that a 31-year-old black man, Nijeer Parks, was wrongfully arrested for someone else’s crimes. The police’s evidence? A faulty facial recognition match. An innocent man spent time in jail because facial recognition can be very unreliable if the subject is not a white man.
As the future unfolds, technology keeps innovating to meet society’s needs. Who knows what the outcome of facial recognition will be? Are the promises of security and safety enough to outweigh the unethical and often immoral results? Whatever the answer is, one fact is undeniable. Change is coming with the tide of tomorrow, and we’ll keep on making breakthroughs in the world of facial recognition.
