Over the previous decade an increasingly big number of pictures have become available through the rise of social media. Due to this huge amount of data available, many different facial recognition algorithms have been developed, leading to a high accuracy when detecting faces. While such features are best known to many due to features embedded in Facebook, there is multiple other uses next to suggesting which friend you should tag in a picture. Especially, within the security departments around the world, facial recognition has become an increasingly important topic.
China has for instance announced that it is currently building a facial recognition database containing pictures and information of every Chinese citizen. The project was first launched in 2015 and aims to obtain a 90% accuracy rate when recognizing faces. The total pictures in this database would accumulate to 13 Terabyte of data. This information will be combined with another database (90 Terabyte) of more general information and according to official sources, will be used to find fugitives. Furthermore, in recent years China has installed over 20 million surveillance cameras which can be used to recognize faces and track individual movements. The vast surge in surveillance technology in combination with the advancements in facial recognition software have multiple severe implications for individuals in China. First of all, to consider the advantages it should be pointed out that movement and individual tracking can be used to actively predict and prevent crime. Minorty report you think? But the reality is that UK researches have already developed such systems (Link in the references). Furthermore, the collected data could be used in order to improve efficiency in how people commute by being better able to analyse movement flows within a city.
However, a system of total surveillance can also be abused by controlling and monitoring people. No political system is save from power abuse and monitoring everyone can be seen as an impediment to freedom and a risk to democracy. If every opposing thought and action is monitored, it can also be shut down before it gains traction. Consider what would have happened during the Arabic spring if key figures would have been shut down very early on. Even if no action is taken and people are just passively monitored this can have a big impact on the behavior of people. Just think about the different conversations you have for instance in a tram full of people compared to in your own apartment. Lastly, given that this database has a relatively small size of only 13 Terabytes, there is always a risk that this database can be compromised and abused by third parties. With today’s technology, this amount of data can fit on a pen drive.
While this technology is pioneering in China where there are often less concerns about privacy, it is sure to also be further implemented within the European Union. It is therefore important to actively discuss the implications of such a surveillance system.
Lastly, here are some interesting additional facts in regards facial recognition in China. The reading can be found at the end.
– It is now possible to pay in some KFC stores only with a facial scan.
– Some companies in China give beautiful people a discount, based on the symmetry of their faces
– You can enter a university or board a plane through automatically facial recognition.
Some questions to the reader:
What are the implications for our life of such technologies?
Do you think it will become standard to that companies will advertise to us based on the things we do every day? Will Google for example start setting up cameras to better understand its users and then subsequently target people based on what they do offline as well?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2951012/The-CCTV-detects-crime-happens-Minority-Report-style-analyses-crowd-movements-alert-police.html
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2115094/china-build-giant-facial-recognition-database-identify-any
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2101061/shanghai-adopts-facial-recognition-system-name-shame-jaywalkers
http://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/2109321/alipay-rolls-out-worlds-first-smile-pay-facial-recognition-system-kfc
http://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/2109321/alipay-rolls-out-worlds-first-smile-pay-facial-recognition-system-kfc
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/29/170469038/in-china-beware-a-camera-may-be-watching-you
Hi Laurin,
That’s an interesting blogpost you wrote!
I agree with you that privacy is a big issue these days. Technological developments like face recognition are getting bigger and bigger. I think that many people aren’t aware of the big impact that modern technologies have on their lives.
In the Dutch book ‘Je hebt wel iets te verbergen’ (free translated: Your online privacy dóes matter) do the writers point out how much information about us gets sold to advertisement companies. Basically, your smartphone is the biggest source about your behavior. It can measure your online behavior, it knows your agenda and recognizes daily routines like going to work. All this information is put together as big data, and gets analyzed by companies, to optimize advertisements per person. And the government does not know how they can regulate these things.
To answer the question you raised in your blog, I don’t think that governments will allow google to set up camera’s to monitor our behavior. It is clear that that would be an infringement on our privacy. Besides that, Google has much more advanced techniques to monitor our behavior; your android smartphone you carry with you 24/7.
Hey Laurin, interesting post. I certainly have been hearing about the facial recognition features more and more often nowadays. The improved technologies bring much convenience and are very useful when targetting criminals. As you might know, new generations of mobile phones are also switching to the use of facial recognition to unlock screens. Yet one thing that concerns me are the privacy related issues. What if big brother watches you through your phone for no legit reason? Of course all new technologies come with the risk of being hacked or used for illegal and inappropriate activities, meaning that it should rather be seen as a concern to keep an eye on, and not a threat to further development. What is your opinion on this?
Thank you for the interesting post Laurin! Recently I read an article about mass surveillance of the police at a Chinese beer festival and I think it is a nice addition to your article.
At this event, the police put cameras at each entrance of the event in order to check everyone’s face with the police database. Whenever there was a match with the police database an alarm would go off and nearby policemen would verify that specific person (the accuracy rate was 98%). In this way, the police were able to arrest 25 people. Furthermore, people with a drug abuse were refused entrance.
The possibilities of mass facial recognition technologies are impressive, but scary at the same time, as we lose our ability to be anonymous.
Reference:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/01/facial-recognition-china-beer-festival
Agree with your opinions generally. People have less concerns on privacy in China but recently it is changing and the emphasis on personal privacy is increasing.
As you mentioned, this kind of surveillance system would cause offenses in EU. Introducing a third party to play the role of supervising is quite necessary which should be implemented in every country accompanied with installment of the surveillance system. Meanwhile, relative law should intervene personal privacy field. Compared with face recognition and general information collected, the worst is that the digital communications could be collected by the government(Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)). I guess It would lead to fears of expressing freely. Source: https://www.networkworld.com/article/2164315/lan-wan/4-internet-privacy-laws-you-should-know-about.html