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Face-scan technology selling in China
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) — The company that supplied controversial face recognition technology to scan people on the streets of Tampa, Fla., is working with commercial partners in China to supply the same technology there. Face recognition software analyzes the spaces and angles between up to 80 key points on a person's face. Data from only 14 to 20 such points is enough to create a unique digital "face print" that can then be compared to a pre-existing database of face prints — derived, for example, from pictures of wanted criminals. When used with surveillance cameras, the monitoring system can scan the faces in a store, on a crowded street or at a sporting event for those wanted by the police. Such a system was used at this year's Super Bowl to scan for criminals and possible terrorists. Joseph Atick, Chairman and CEO of Visionics Corp. and an inventor of face recognition technology, told reporters Wednesday that his company is doing business in roughly 50 to 60 nations, including China. One application being considered for China is access control, he said, citing banking as an example. One's face becomes your password, a possibility especially useful where not all account holders are literate. There was no technology transfer involved in the Chinese transactions, Atick told United Press International. "They buy basically a finished product from us, just like they would buy a price of equipment, and integrate it into their applications," he said. The company would not sell to Iraq, Libya or Iran, said Atick. The revelation about the possible sale of such systems to China came during a press conference sponsored by the Security Industry Association. Privacy advocates in the United States have raised alarms over face recognition and other survelliance systems, such as closed circuit television. The industry association is calling for a refocusing on developing new policies to govern the responsible use of face recognition and CCTV, and away from what Richard Chase, SIA executive director termed "irresponsible granstanding and fear mongering." SIA would generally prefer voluntary rules and distributed internally-developed guidelines on the use of CCTV. The document suggested CCTV only be used for public safety and law enforcement and not be used for monitoring programs based on race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation or disability. It also suggested that public systems be set up to see only what a police officer on site would see and that tapes be erased after an appropriate amount of time. Not everyone is convinced of the usefullness of such guidelines. There are already guidelines against spying, giving out classified information and rifling IRS records said Richard Diamond -- implying that such rules have not stopped abuses. Diamond is the spokesman for House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who has has come out strongly against surveillance technologies. Industry representatives countered that such technolgies aid police in their duties and could help stop identity theft. They also asserted that such monitoring in public places does not infringe on protections against unreasonable search and seizure because the courts have ruled there is no expectation of privacy in the public places where such systems are used. Though no law appears to ban CCTV or face recognition, regulation may indeed be on the horizon. Hearings on the issue are planned for when Congress returns from recess in September said Diamond. "The point is this technology is too powerful and too open to abuse and guidelines aren't going to fix that problem," Diamond told UPI. |
