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Facing up to the law: increasing surveillance raises privacy concerns
I spy the use of facial recognition systems by law enforcement agencies is becoming more widespread. Illustration: Sam Bennett
ABOUT 15,000 people have had images of their faces captured on an Australian Federal Police database in its first year of operation, igniting fears that the rise of facial recognition systems will lead to CCTV cameras being installed on every street corner.
The database includes pictures of alleged criminals who may not know their images are on file.
The AFP say facial recognition may eventually be considered as credible as fingerprints, but images on their database are not being shared with state police forces. Sharing images on a national database could be possible by 2015.
The president of Australian Councils for Civil Liberties, Terry O’Gorman, said it was troubling that technologies such as facial and number plate recognition had become so widespread and there appeared to be no independent monitoring of the impacts on privacy.
The justification for widespread CCTV has also been questioned, with a report by police in London, the most spied-upon city in the world, showing that only one crime was solved per 1000 cameras.
An AFP forensic and data centres biometrics co-ordinator, Simon Walsh, said international agencies were Read more…
FTC seeks public comments on facial recognition
The USA’s Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comments on facial recognition technology and the privacy and security implications raised by its increasing use.
A public workshop held in December – “Face Facts: A Forum on Facial Recognition Technology” – focused on the current and future commercial applications of facial detection and recognition technologies, and explored an array of current uses of these technologies, possible future uses and benefits, and potential privacy and security concerns. (The agenda for the workshop can be found here, and an archived webcast of the proceedings is viewable here).
The deadline for filing comments is 31 January 2012.
FTC says that facial detection and recognition technologies have been adopted in a variety of new contexts, ranging from online social networks to Read more…
5 Unexpected Places You Can Be Tracked With Facial Recognition Technology
Once people realized that Facebook was basically harvesting biometric data, the usual uproar over the site’s relentless corrosion of privacy ensued. Germany even threatened to sue Facebook for violating German and EU data protection laws and a few other countries are investigating. But facial recognition technology is hardly confined to Facebook — and unlike the social networking site, there’s no “opt-out” of leaving your house.
Post-9/11, many airports and Read more…
Expert warns facial biometrics could compromise privacy
As facial biometric technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, IT experts warn that these systems can easily be abused and therefore require stringent privacy policies and data encryption
As facial biometric technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, IT experts warn that these systems can easily be abused and therefore require stringent privacy policies and data encryption.
In an interview with Information Security Media Group, Beth Givens, the founder and director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, cautioned that organizations using biometric facial solutions should encrypt their data.
“If they back up those applications with good, solid privacy policies and practices, they’ll be in good shape,” she said.
Givens explained that a major problem with facial recognition technology is the chance that Read more…
Biometric recognition and privacy concerns
Face recognition software of the kind incorporated into biometric identification tools, photo-gallery applications and social media websites can be very useful but the technology raises privacy concerns, given the seeming ease with which faces in photos can now be tied to an individual. Researchers in Russia and Poland hope to take face recognition technology an important step forward with the even more powerful software they have developed.
Writing in the International Journal of Biometrics, Georgy Kukharev of Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University in Russia, and colleagues Paweł Forczmański and Andrzej Tujaka of the West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland, explain how Read more…
Facial recognition in use after riots
LONDON (AP) — Facial recognition technology being considered for London’s 2012 Games is getting a workout in the wake of Britain’s riots, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday, with officers feeding photographs of suspects through Scotland Yard’s newly updated face-matching program.
The official said that the Metropolitan Police’s sophisticated software was being used to help find those suspected of being involved in the worst unrest the force has faced in a generation, although he cautioned that police had a host of other strategies at their disposal.
“A lot of tools are being used to hunt down these criminals, and that’s just one of them,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation. “The issue is that you have to have a good picture of a suspect and it is only useful if you have something to match it against. In other words, the Read more…
Police Use of iPhone Iris Scanners Raise Privacy Concerns
The so-called “biometric” technology, which seems to take a page from TV shows like “MI-5″ or “CSI,” could improve speed and accuracy in some routine police work in the field. Dozens of police departments nationwide are gearing up to use a tech company’s already controversial iris- and facial-scanning device that slides over an iPhone and helps identify a person or track criminal suspects.
But its use has set off alarms with some people who are more concerned about possible civil liberties and privacy issues. Constitutional rights advocates are concerned, in part because the device can accurately scan an individual’s face from up to four feet away, potentially without a person’s being aware of it.
“This is (the technology) stepping out of the cruiser and riding on the officer’s belt, along with his flashlight, his handcuffs, his sidearm or the other myriad tools,” said John Birtwell, spokesman for the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department in southeastern Massachusetts, one of the first departments to use the devices.
“What we don’t want is for them to become a general surveillance tool, where the Read more…
Cops to Get Facial Recognition Devices; Will They Need Warrants to Use Them?
Police departments in several states are getting new high-tech devices that can scan irises, recognize faces and collect fingerprints.
The devices, made by BI2 Technologies, are attached to an iPhone for immediate searches of criminal databases, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The development is “raising significant questions about privacy and civil liberties,” the story says.
Currently the technology, called “Moris” for Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, is used by the military to identify insurgents. But B12 has Read more…
Analysts raise alarm on Facebook expansion of facial recognition technology
The expansion of Facebook’s facial recognition technology into Australia has raised privacy and security concerns, with local analysts warning information accumulated by the social networking giant could be used for malicious purposes.
In a statement on its blog on Tuesday, Facebook announced it had launched the feature beyond North America into most countries. The feature uses facial recognition technology to speed up the process of tagging friends in photos.
The technology scans new uploaded photos and determines if the faces in these new images resemble those in previously tagged photos. If they do, the feature will suggest friends to tag. Previously, users had to tag photos manually, without suggestions.
According to the social network’s blog, more than 100 million photos per day are uploaded to Facebook and the goal of the feature is to Read more…
‘Too creepy even for Google’: Search engine boss warns governments against facial recognition technology
Concerns: Google boss Eric Schmidt warned against facial recognition
The executive chairman of Google has warned governments against facial recognition technology – saying it is ‘too creepy’ even for the search engine.
Eric Schmidt said that the technology has advanced rapidly in recent years and that it could be rolled out across the internet.
But the controversial technique has angered privacy campaigners who claim that it would be a further erosion of privacy and civil liberties.
Now Schmidt has dispelled any suggestions that internet giant Google would be the first company to employ the system.
But he warned that there were likely to be other organisations who might ‘cross the line’ and use facial recognition.
Speaking today at Google’s Big Tent conference on internet privacy, technology and society, in Hertfordshire, Schmidt said that the accuracy of such technology was ‘very concerning’.
Facial recognition would work by scanning in a photograph of somebody’s face in order to Read more…
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