Facial Recognition Software in the Digital Age
Introduction
Facial Recognition Software, depending on who you ask, can either be viewed as an astonishing technological mapping advancement, or feared as an all-watching eye of the Government. In this paper, we will be covering the benefits of facial recognition software, it’s current uses in our society, the moral and ethical of issues of reaching a new level of visibility in our society, security aspects within public technology and Government surveillance, and potential future uses for facial recognition software, although I’m almost positive that what will be happening for this sort of technology would be improved facial mapping with much higher accuracy, smoother rendering features, and faster processing speed. The purpose of this paper is to review what Facial Recognition Software does, and how its uses are simultaneously beneficial overall for a safer society, as well as potentially hazardous tool to abuse by higher authorities. For the sake of an individual’s privacy, it’s crucial to analyze emerging technologies in this rapidly evolving society, and how these new systems will affect your life as an individual, as a citizen of the United States, and as a collective whole.
Current Use
Corporate Giants like Apple and Facebook have already begun to implement this software into their newest features. As stated by Ari Shapiro in NPR’s News Report about Apple’s new Iphone X, “Apple's new device, the iPhone X, has a feature that's getting a lot of attention. The phone has face recognition technology built in. You can unlock it by looking at it or rather letting it look at you.” (Washington D.C.:NPR, News Segment, 2017). The concern of consumers, expressed by Laura Sydell, that the user’s scanned face data can be, “used for other purposes” by those other than the user themselves (Washington D.C.:NPR, News Segment, 2017) Facebook has also been implementing this software, but it’s primarily used to identify and tag friends and family in photographs another user may have taken, creating a web map of a person’s life: who they’re friends with, where they’ve been and when, who they’re connected to, etc. (Domonoske, 2017) The fact that we even have this kind of facial mapping technology is absolutely amazing, and has led to several different avenues of improvement, in fields reaching as far as game developers using this face mapping software to capture stronger details, all the way to police departments and the FBI to track wanted fugitives. Although the use of facial recognition software can create new, and hopefully improved, security measures and tweaks made in the software for higher accuracy, one should always look at these technological leaps forward with a grain of caution and skepticism.
Security Aspects
While there are more personal security uses for this kind of software, like unlocking a phone, this software can also be useful for identifying wanted persons. For instance, it was reported that a man in Nevada attempted to renew his driver’s license under a false name, and Nevada DMV’s system was able to identify this man’s face under a different identity, leading to the arrest of the career criminal, who was wanted for his current crimes under his false identity: multiple robberies with a deadly weapon, possession of stolen property, burglaries and escape from a Nevada holding facility with a deadly weapon (Kravets, 2017). It’s been reported that the Los Angeles Police Department has been using Facial recognition software that’s been pre-built into surveillance cameras, as well as within police car cameras to scan license plates (Crime Control Digest, 2005). The benefit here is that police aren’t having to reach over to their in-car computers and risk causing an accident. When it comes to the in-car cameras, the benefit of having all of this data at their fingertips is that it makes processing time of records much faster, so cops can spend their time more efficiently. It’s hard to say, however, how accurate the facial recognition software would truly be, considering that with a partial face shot, you could be missing specific moles of odd details that are specific markers only to that one individual, and possibly cause a case of mistaken identity to occur.
Ethical and Social Implications
One of the most pointed out problems of facial recognition technology, like many other biometric security systems, is the storage of such data. Government run public safety agencies are the ones who are particularly interested in collecting data like this; the department of Homeland Security runs one of the largest biometric Optical Surveillance Systems (IDENT), that has a database over one hundred and twenty six million records (Cooper, 2014, para. 4). A major concern that occurs is when data is shared over multiple databases, it’s possible that thieves may be able to use this information to steal sensitive data, such as banking information (Cooper, 2014, Para. 8)
However, it’s not just thieves we should be looking out for. In his book, The End of Anonymity, Erik Sofge expresses concern about the FBI’s Next Generation Identification program (NGI):
“The $1.2-billion NGI program already collects more than faces. Its repositories include fingerprints and palm prints; other biometric markers such as iris scans and vocal patterns may also be incorporated. But faces are different from most markers; they can be collected without consent or specialized equipment-any cameraphone will do the trick. And that makes them particularly ripe for abuse. If there's any lesson to be drawn from the National Security Agency's (NSA) PRISM scandal, in which the agency monitored millions of e-mail accounts for years, it's that the line between protecting citizens and violating their privacy is easily blurred.” (Sofge, 2014, 02, para. 7). Knowing that facial markers and data relating to facial recognition software don’t require any consent to obtain and record, it’s very difficult to say that this is worth the invasion of privacy. On the one hand, facial recognition software has been helping the FBI and police departments catch their fugitives, making life safer for the law-abiding citizens. However, this security really does come at the cost of our privacy.
Future Use
Melissa Maleske offers an amusing, but completely potential, future use of facial recognition software by referencing the movie, Minority Report, in which the protagonist’s character, John Anderton, is targeted by a talking billboard (Malseke, 2012). As a user of Facebook and other social media platforms myself, I have noticed that many of these platforms are advertising different products based on my browsing history, some I could swear were being linked to topical conversations I had had on Facebook’s messenger app. Seeing as how social media platforms already incorporate these kinds of algorithms to tailor advertisements to each individual user, who’s to say that we won’t have animatronic, interactive devices that sense who’s coming by, and directly advertise to them? One can only hope that it will be as benign as an annoying talking advertisement, but considering that the FBI and their surveillance departments have already begun to implement facial recognition software, one can speculate that there will be more security cameras with facial recognition software that has a much higher accuracy rate, and a faster processing speed to pull up the subject’s information, allowing those in authority to view information on many subjects at once, within seconds. One really can’t help but to think about the wilder aspects of science fiction when it comes to thinking about how invasive that could potentially be. I personally question what kind of information is already kept somewhere, and why anyone would bother, or why it concerns me as deeply as it does. Perhaps it’s because we already live in a world of surveillance, which has had great benefits at the loss of privacy to the world’s citizens. However, the hysteria built up around these new innovations in security related technology will allow for a reasonable, continuing discussion on what we, as a society, are willing to sacrifice for the comforts of modern living in this digitized age.
References[edit]
References
1. “Apple’s Facial Recognition Software has Privacy Advocates Worried”
Apple's facial recognition software has privacy advocates worried (2017). . Washington, D.C.: NPR. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1940078619?accountid=14541
2. “Facebook Expands Use of Facial Recognition to ID Users in Photos”
Domonoske, C. (2017). Facebook expands use of facial recognition to ID users in photos. Washington: NPR. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1978511214?accountid=14541
3. “Biometrics Catches Violent Fugitive 25 Years On The Run”
Kravets, D. (2017). Biometrics catches violent fugitive 25 years on the run. New York: Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1918956025?accountid=14541
4. “Preparing for Biometrics and Drones in the “Post Privacy” Era”
Cooper, C. (2014). Preparing for biometrics and drones in the 'post-privacy' era.Inside Counsel.Breaking News, Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1627675284?accountid=14541
5. “Los Angeles Uses Technology to cut Crime Without Adding New Officers”
Los angeles uses technology to cut crime without adding new officers. (2005). Crime Control Digest, 39(5), 1-2. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/204727046?accountid=14541
6. “The End Of Anonymity”
Sofge, E. (2014, 02). THE END OF ANONYMITY. Popular Science, 284, 46-53,82,2. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1510259653?accountid=14541
7. “Facial Recognition Presents Privacy Concerns”
Maleske, M. (2012). Facial recognition presents privacy concerns. Inside Counsel,Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/924141966?accountid=14541
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