Identify Internet Users With Auto-Face Recognition Software

Internet users can now be automatically recognised from photographs posted on the Internet. A software company, Face.com, claims to have developed the technology that can be used by social networking sites such as Facebook, and photo galleries such as Flickr etc to identify people from a database of images belonging to a particular person.

Daily Mail reports that the program will create an algorithm of the face i.e. a measurement how features such as the eyes, nose and mouth are arranged with incredible accuracy of up to 90%. The Photo Finder software has already been released to developers who are interested in building programs and applications that will make it possible to conduct a picture search for anyone on the Internet. As a result third-party developers will also be able to apply the facial recognition technology on their Websites or commercial Web applications.

Believe it or not, there are people or organisations who are in support of the use of facial recognition technology on the Web for example, the Red Cross is reported as saying “it could be used to track people lost in humanitarian disasters”. However, concerns are being expressed in some circles over privacy issues and the fact that the program’s accuracy is less than 100% which could be translated as meaning that there is still a significant possibility of error.

Talking Point

Do you have any concerns over the potential use of facial recognising software on the Internet?