Lets say you have an extremely fun party life, which just happens to be caught in multiple photos, and video. Employers nowadays are googling new hires and looking up candidates on social networking sites. Depending on the position it may or may not be beneficial to you. Even if you try and remain offline, it’s guaranteed that there are photos of you online, somewhere. Is being found online, when you’ve made every precaution not to be, an invasion of privacy? I would definitely say yes, but others would say no. So, where is the invisible line that warns us when we have been virtually violated?
On the bright side, or any side, there are specific parameters that are needed for facial recognition to work. The concept works by mapping out the relative positions of the eyes, nose and mouth. Which means partial headshots will not be included in matches, but the matches do tend to work 9 out of 10 times, or so they claim.
Though the power of facial recognition is an extremely interesting technology, it causes me, and many others, a great deal of worry. No longer will we have to lookup acquaintances by name, we can simply snap a photo and become preview to more than enough information to harass or even stalk a person. My only concern now is how long it will take for a system to be put in place to protect us from ourselves, and each other.
So, Who’s keeping track of who’s tracking us?
[You think someone would have developed an app for that already.]
Sources:
http://www.disinfo.com/2010/08/facial-recognition-software-to-go-public-that-allows-identification-from-online-photos/
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/05/facial-recognition-slipped-into-google-image-search.ars
http://techcrunch.com/2008/09/02/picasa-refresh-brings-facial-recognition/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1280145/Google-facial-recognition-debate-goggles-privacy-controversy.html
HI,
ReplyDeleteI am personally not a fan of the new facial recognition software at all. I believe that it may be beneficial to our government and police for public security reasons, but it is extremely frightening that it will be for the public. Just the other day I published a cartoon photo of my boyfriend and myself as leprechauns for St. Patrick’s Day on Facebook and to my surprise both of our faces were automatically tagged correctly. The idea that anyone can snap a photo of me out on the street and have the opportunity to research my personal information is unbelievable. There are reasons why I don’t tell strangers my name, why I have my telephone numbers unlisted, and why I don’t invite just anyone into my home. Aside from facial recognition, people are able to search for a person by name, city, and state on websites such as www.peoplefinders.com. These types of websites give you a little free information such as family relatives names with their association, birthdays, and how many properties you own for FREE! If you want more information on the person such as their phone numbers and address, all you have to do is pay a small fee that might fall between $5 to $20 to become a member. Then at the click of a finger any stranger has all of your information… This truly bothers me because I searched my name under one of those websites and so much of my information was just there right in front of my eyes for free … Facial recognition is only going to make it easier for stalkers, and criminals to get what they want. I just wish I knew what Google and other websites that are offering facial recognition are really doing about privacy and safety issues. Better yet they should make that software unavailable to the public.
It is amazing to think that our identities can be revealed through merely the snap of a photo from a mobile phone camera. My question is just how much privacy can one expect to have when they have an online social presence? Although the online world has made it easy to be followed, this facial recognition technology can allow for stalkers and employers to track us down with greater ease than ever before. I agree that this technology can be dangerous in the wrong hands, but if used properly, this can allow for greater connectivity amongst people.
ReplyDeleteLike I had written in my blog, at the end of the day most of us are going to have some obscene pictures and there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is be clean at the moment and hope for sympathy when our background is being checked. I'm sure our elders including our parents and professors have had done even crazier things than us. Unfortunately for us, technology documents every single moment of our life. Luckily we don't live in a crazy time like the 80s like my parents did.
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