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Facial Recognition: 6 (or MORE!) reminders from CNN Money

Yesterday, I saw an interesting article about facial recognition on CNN Money. The link on the main CNN page is GONE already, today!

The article is interesting in two ways:

  1. Its LATENESS with regard to the technology being deployed, and
  2. The “mixed signals” about the capability of the technology, within the single article!

Since many businesspeople in America are not known for their innovation, that fact might explain #1. Some privacy advocates might be consoled (foolishly) by #2.

First, a quick rundown of the six “slides” in the article, then, some analysis.

  1. Intel AIM Suite digital signs that use facial “detection” (they really mean “recognition”) cameras and software to determine age and sex (“gender” is for nouns!) of their customers to tailor the ad displayed. The AIM Suite “… is designed to detect broad age ranges: 18 and under, 18-34, 34-59, and 60 and over.” According to the article, “the software cannot, however, record images or recognize specific faces.” (More about THOSE two details, below.) The signs send information back to advertisers about how long they are watching a particular advertisement and how far away from the sign they are standing. ‘Brian Huseman, senior counsel :-) for Intel, estimates that of the “millions” of digital signs around the world, AIM Suite is in a “low single-digit percentage” of them.’
  2. Facial “detection” sensors and software by a company named SceneTap that determine the number of males and females in a bar or club and the average age of the males and females. The demographic data is compiled and sent to the SceneTap smartphone app in real time. As we learned last week at a facial recognition conference set up by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in Washington, you “opt in” to participate by choosing to walk into the club! If you don’t want to participate, choose another club or stay home! :-) Look for the decal at the entrance though, SceneTap is currently set up in 50 bars and clubs in Chicago. Since the total number of people in the venue is ALSO computed, I wonder whether it recognizes INDIVIDUALS (to avoid counting people twice or more) or infrared “hot spots” for this measurement.
  3. Software by Affective Interfaces seeks to understand how you are FEELING from moment to moment, by tracking your facial expressions. “Though the product is currently in a closed, test stage, CEO Jai Haissman said that the company has worked with beer maker Anheuser-Busch InBev to determine test subjects’ reactions to commercials in real-time. Haissman believes the technology’s possibilities go beyond advertising.” <So do I!> Haissman envisions video games that become more challenging in response to your boredom and iTunes playlists that match music to your mood, as well as the detection of regional hotspots of sentiment that scientists could use to determine their cause. (Hmmmmm… “The natives are restless” in Chicago – let’s send them medical help [or a SWAT Team :-) ].)
  4. Google uses facial recognition in its Picasa app (starting several YEARS ago) and in refining searches. Google detects (it appears to be “detection” this time) faces in Google Maps Street View and BLURS them. The Google app, Find My Face scans the photos of users and friends for faces (“recognition”) and suggests name tags using profile photos and tagged photos. The latest version of the Android OS can use facial recognition to unlock the phone. (Hackers have “beaten” this TYPE of unlocking in systems by other manufacturers – hopefully, Google’s is better.) Google CHOSE NOT TO IMPLEMENT facial recognition in Google Goggles (there is a typo in the CNN article). which would have allowed people to snap photos and search for their identities on the Web. Although the technology clearly EXISTS, Google said that it was concerned about privacy implications.
  5. Ah, yes… Facebook. The social network with 800 million users and billions of photographs is the largest single repository of photographs in the world and, according to CNN Money “… has singlehandedly made facial recognition a viable business.” “We wouldn’t exist without Facebook,” said Gil Hirsch, CEO of Face.com, a preeminent provider of facial recognition technology on the Internet. “By far the biggest scale for face recognition is your friends on Facebook.” Facebook’s own Photo Tag Suggest application automatically “opts in” users. When the app was quietly turned on in December 2010, without being announced to users, it drew a lot of “fire” from privacy advocates and regulators. Facebook’s apology and way to “opt out” did not come until JUNE of 2010. (Maybe they had gotten most of the photos that they REALLY wanted by then. :-) )
  6. Find Your Facemate searches for a potential love interest for you among users of the service who LOOK like you! “Research shows that people are more likely to be attracted to others whose facial features are similar to their own,” the company says on its site. “Find Your FaceMate is a revolutionary new dating site that uses facial recognition technology to identify partners more likely to ignite real passion.” This page also mentions one “fun” toy and Fareclock which is described as a “practical tool” that scans the faces of employees to determine when they engage in that quaint relic of the Industrial Age, (1) punching in” on a time clock.

OK, why is this CNN Money article so LATE? :-)

About a year-and-a-half ago, on July 4, 2010, I wrote a blog entry entitled, “Freedom, in a Technical Age.” That entry describes the difference between (crude) facial “detection” and much-more-sophisticated “facial recognition.” (Facial recognition HAS to be more sophisticated, because it does face “detection” FIRST.) The persistent use of “detection” instead of “recognition” by authors APPEARS designed to assuage the fears of those who are (justifiably) concerned about their rapidly-vanishing privacy.

The recognition (identification) of individual faces in crowds was possible (and used) even earlier than 2001, when 19 people with pending arrest warrants were identified in the crowd of over 72,000 people who attended Super Bowl XXXV. The technology has obviously IMPROVED over the last DECADE. The ability to identify individuals is OBVIOUSLY possible for some of the applications mentioned in the latest CNN Money article, in order to WORK!

Even earlier, in March of 2010, I wrote a blog entry entitled, “While you watch the ads watch YOU…” That blog entry discusses electronic signs in Tokyo that used facial recognition to do the same things as the “NEW” Intel AIM Suite described above. Back in March of 2010, the latest technology could guess a person’s age TO THE YEAR. Is it really surprising that Intel’s AIM Suite is only in the “low single-digit percentage” of these millions of “smart” signs worldwide, with Intel so late to the market? Of course, a HUGE company like Intel can sometimes afford to lag behind the “bleeding edge” and still capture (or acquire :-) ) market share. The March 2010 blog entry also discusses the HISTORY of facial recognition technology and some similarities of the “smart signs” with the movie “Minority Report,” in which signs in a mall scanned the retinas of Tom Cruise as he was running through, and offered him appropriate ads.

So, if identification of individuals by facial recognition existed so long ago, why do some of the new products above identify only the sex and age GROUP of the people scanned (if this is indeed true)? I suspect that the answer is to make the introduction of the technology more palatable to privacy advocates and to avoid a regulatory backlash until the products are firmly implanted into our cultures, and we have come to accept them. Such “dumbed down” technology can be accomplished in hardware by deactivating capabilities on a chip, but is better accomplished in software, so that the CAPABILITY for full facial recognition still exists in hardware and can be “switched on” by a later (or “SILENT”) software update.

Why “test market” in Chicago?

I’m not sure. Maybe the demographics are “good” (more representative) in Chicago, or maybe the population is less “techno-savvy” (the politically-correct term [marketing phrase] would be “accepting of new technologies” [blindly!] :-) ) than, for example, San Jose or San Francisco… or maybe San Jose or San Francisco accepts new technologies more blindly because the Bay Area is so used to them! :-)

The new software by Affective Interfaces (it would be interesting to learn the SOURCES of their funding :-) ) seems to continue a trend in the never-ending search for the ability to read minds. I got a mental image of a helicopter with Arnold Schwarzenegger in it, flying over food riots in Bakersfield, CA  (Hmmm… The “natives” ARE restless! :-) ) in the movie “The Running Man,” in which he was smeared as “The Butcher of Bakersfield.” A pleasant scenario for the future…. 😉 (Note added December 20, 2011: I had another thought this morning [I know, AMAZING, huh]! :-) Since many computers and phones have built-in cameras that face the user, software like that of Affective Interfaces that gauge the emotions and mood of the user could be used to “check in” on you, depending upon what kind of “opt-in” language is buried in the paragraphs of legalese! It could be used to make games more challenging, or to flash words or photos and note your facial response! [We actually participated in an early experiment like this over 30 years ago, with our infant son – just pictures, no words, of course!] Let’s see how Bill is doing today!)

The fact that Fareclock (a pun on “Fair Clock?” :-) ) can still MAKE MONEY by selling brand-new technology to update the “ancient” time clock practice and keep employees from having someone else “punch in” for them, to business owners who seem to be living in the 1800s, suggests to me that we have not advanced far beyond the days (1843) of Ebeneezer Scrooge! The fact that time clocks still exist seems further proof!

On the “plus side,” facial recognition technology might eliminate the word “paranoia” from the dictionary! :-) (Much to the dismay of some psychiatrists…!) What would be an “unreasonable fear?” :-) “Opting IN” might be as simple as turning on your computer, leaving it turned on, turning on the cable TV, BUYING a cell phone or a land line or computer or networked gaming device, or setting foot outside of your home (like SceneTap, where you opt in by seeing the decal and walking in the door of the club, anyway)! With thermal imaging, staying INSIDE your home with NO technology (a cabin in Montana comes to mind) would not ensure privacy, either! Opting in MIGHT mean something as simple as choosing to live in a particular location or country. California likes to IMPRISON a large number of people (China does, too! :-) ). It would certainly be CHEAPER if people CHOSE to “imprison THEMSELVES” in their own homes, so long as they continued to pay for the rent or mortgage, utilities, and food! 😉 Oh, and taxes….

In biology classes, I learned that “every culture sows the seeds of its own destruction.” We are well on our way! Although individual “traps” and “pitfalls” exist for EACH of us, the trap of GREED has already ensnared quite a few!

All in all, facial recognition technology has given me an EVEN GREATER reason to love “The Great Outdoors” though – FEWER CAMERAS! (I’ll still have the one around my neck. :-) Don’t forget the satellites and Predators, overhead! [They’re supposedly unarmed, for now.]) :-) (Note added December 18, 2011: Unarmed for those of us in the United States, of course. Those of you in Pakistan, Yemen, and other places KNOW better!)

`All right,’ said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.

-Bill at

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