It’s Time to Face The Facts
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- May 18, 2007
OFFICIALS at the Department of Homeland Security are investing time in the exploration of futuristic and possibly privacy-invading technology aimed at finding terrorists and criminals by using digital surveillance photos that analyze facial characteristics.
That sounds just fine for criminals and terrorists, but the same analysis also will scan your face and mine. It should be OK during the war on terror, right?
Wrong.
The fact that the technology invades one’s privacy is enough to put a full and complete stop to the project.
In its infinite wisdom, the government is already paying for some of the most advanced research into controversial face recognition technology. This is the same technology that converts photos into numerical sequences that can be compared to millions of photos in a database. Federal air marshals wanted the facial recognition technology to surreptitiously photograph people in airports, and bus and train stations to check if that person is in a government database. The research continues and could help police identify someone photographed by a security camera. The technology has been tested at Boston’s Logan International Airport, in busy city centers and at the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa.
Call it turbocharged video surveillance that turns dumb camera lenses into smart observers that not only capture images, but also attach an identity to the image. It will likely increase the attractiveness of surveillance cameras, but the technology endangers privacy by enabling ordinary security cameras to find out the names of people being observed.
Homeland Security research seeks to make the technology work in the area of surveillance; however, Tampa and Virginia Beach police have removed face recognition systems that did not yield a single arrest, and during a test at Logan International Airport in 2002, the system failed 39 percent of the time to identify volunteers posing as terrorists at security checkpoints. Terrorists can defeat the system with disguises or hats that shield their faces. Face recognition for surveillance is enormously difficult because images are often captured at oblique angles or in weak light, resulting poor images.
The government’s interest in this technology begs the question: Why are you being tracked if you’re not doing anything wrong?
About the Author
Ralph C. Jensen is the Publisher/Editor in chief of Security Today magazine.