[0:07]Let me get a. Order confirmed citizen number five extra pickles, medium fries. Thank you for your order. But I never told you what I wanted to order. Order confirmed. Thank you, citizen. Next in line, please.
[0:27]Is it just me, or does facial recognition seem to be creeping more and more into our daily lives? I mean, my face is pretty much being scanned on the regular. Sometimes it's my choice, like when I use a Snapchat filters, they rely on facial recognition technology. And I don't seem to mind because, well, they're awesome. Facebook's auto tagging makes uploading my photos super easy. And instead of remembering a passcode, the new iPhone 10 uses your face to unlock it. Oh, and by the way, there actually is a KFC restaurant in China that scans your face and orders your food for you. So, look out for that, I guess, to become a thing. But for the most part, the media focuses on the darker aspects of the technology. nearly half of American adults are in facial recognition databases. The technology can single us out in real time as we go about our daily business. It's mass surveillance for the physical world. So they got me thinking, should we smile and welcome facial recognition, or should we be worried that it's going to be a major invasion of our privacy? Here's how facial recognition works. Computers map your face by analyzing dozens of different facial landmarks, like the depth of your eye sockets, the curve of your chin, and the size of your nose. Computers use artificial intelligence to analyze all this data. Basically, you have to train the computers on thousands of photos before they can accurately start identifying people by creating face prints. Which are kind of like fingerprints and that they're unique to each person. Now, there's a growing concern that facial recognition will be used by governments and law enforcement to monitor and track people. Now, if we're talking about catching terrorists or identifying criminals, the technology might be a great tool to help keep us safe. But the same technology can also be used on us law abiding citizens. In the US, there are an estimated 60 million surveillance cameras, meaning there's a pretty good chance that our faces are being recorded every day. So theoretically, if the FBI, CIA, NSA had access to that footage, they could track the movements of any person 24/7. They'd know where you work, where you shop, who you like to hang with. Like I don't want the government to know that I like to get my acupuncture done at 7:30 in the morning on a Tuesday. Now, this may sound futuristic and sci-fi, but the governments are using facial recognition right now. In some US airports, border agents are scanning the faces of foreign visitors and matching those scans to their visa applications. It could be a more secure way to track when people enter and leave the country. The government is also partnering with some airlines to use facial recognition instead of boarding passes. For US citizens, the facial scans are checked against photos stored in police databases. Now you may be thinking, I've never committed a crime. My face isn't going to be in a police database. Well, police and the FBI scan millions of faces using driver's licenses and passport photos. A recent report out of Georgetown University reveals that if you're an adult in the US, there's a 50-50 chance that your photo is stored in a massive face recognition database that law enforcement can access anytime it wants for pretty much any reason. You know the classic police line up you see in the movies, the detective invites the witness down to the station to pick out the criminal who's standing in the line with a bunch of other people. These photo databases are basically digital police lineups, allowing law enforcement to compare one face to millions of others. Check out what's happening in Moscow, Russia's capital. The government is adding facial recognition technology to its network of 170,000 surveillance cameras located throughout the city. It's supposed to be used to identify criminals and boost security, but what if you're at a rally protesting the government? The police could use facial recognition to pick you out of a crowd and maybe even punish you for your actions. And covering your face might not protect you. A new research paper demonstrated that facial recognition could correctly identify a concealed face 67% of the time. Yikes. In China, the government takes facial recognition to the next level. To curb jaywalking, which apparently is a big problem in the country, the Chinese government has resorted to public shaming. Jaywalkers get their photo snapped by government owned cameras, and then 20 minutes later, their picture is up on a giant screen with their ID number and home address. Again, yikes. Now, facial recognition is not just about safety and tracking down criminals. It's also about making money. When you and your friends are auto tagged when you upload a photo to Google or Facebook, that's one more data point that companies can use to track what you do online, what you like, and what you buy. But that's the cost of free technology. It's right there in the terms of service that none of us ever read. We use a super useful tool at no cost. The tech companies mind every photo, status, update and tweet for info that online advertisers are willing to pay big money for. Facebook and Google alone are predicted to make $106 billion from advertising this year. That's nearly half of all digital advertising worldwide. Big box retailers are getting into the game too. Walmart has filed a pat for facial recognition technology that can identify when shoppers are unhappy or frustrated, which the company says will allow it to provide better customer service. But that same data can also be used to track purchases and predict what items you might buy in the future. So now we'd like to hear from you. Where would you draw the line? In what situation would you be comfortable allowing facial recognition? Whenever, law enforcement only, just private companies, or pretty much never. Let us know in the comments below, and do not forget to subscribe. And if you want to learn more about technology and privacy, check out this episode we did on cyber security to learn how to keep all your digital info safe. Until next time, guys.
