They Know Your Face

The degree to which we find ourselves under the surveillance of the government in this day and age is quite different from the past. With the creation of surveillance networks and electronic surveillance there is not much that goes unseen in our nation. Many watch the growing of surveillance networks and the corresponding technology with great interest, and even greater concern.

One of the major concerns is the use of facial recognition technology. This technology uses a wide variety of techniques to scan a persons face and recognize it.
-one technique involves the use of algorithms which extract landmarks or feature from a photograph of the subjects face
-another system uses galleries of photographs which have only compressed face data which contains only the data necessary for face detection. After which a probe image is compared to the facial data

An infrared illuminator. This component provides a day-like environment for the surveillance cameras in a facial recognition system from Switzerland.










The complete Swiss facial recognition system.











Facial recognition surveillance systems works in the same function as other biometric systems like fingerprint and iris scanners. Facial recognition has a few positive aspects and negative aspects which set it apart from the other systems. The positive aspects include the rapid ability to scan multiple individuals and the fact that individual does not have to have knowledge that he/she is being scanned (i.e. to catch criminals or terrorists by surprise). The cons involved with this system are the inaccuracy of the software, the fact that it can be used without consent, and the systems apparent inability to read a face with a different facial expression.

The creation and use of this technology encourages both governments and the companies manufacturing the products to continue research and investment. This continued interest will continue until laws are passed or measures are taken to prevent this technology from being applied on a large scale, or in a way that infringes upon the rights of the individual.