Face Recognition Comes to Cameraphones

An anonymous reader writes "If you have a camera phone, you may soon have to take a picture of yourself before making a call or accessing data stored on the device. A Japanese company has developed face recognition software for camera phones that it says can authenticate users within one second of clicking the shutter. Omron (Japanese) will demonstrate its Okao Vision Face Recognition Sensor at tomorrow's Security Show Japan in Tokyo."

Comments

Secure?

[ackthpt]

One Fine Day In Court, Next Year:
"How did you do it, son? And by that I mean how did you break into Darl McBride's files?"
"I took a picture of a magazine cover and I got access to everything, his phone directory, his notes, pictures, even his personal phone messages from Pariahs Anonymous."

You'd think they'd avoid visible light and use IR or a combo to pull this off, though in IR we can also look different depending which end of the ski run we are on ...

Bullwinkle: "Eeeny meenie, chili beanie, the iPod is about to squeak"
Rocky: "Did it reveal anything Bullwinkle?"
Bullwinkle: "Did it?!? It's my new Linux boxen!"

How particular is the software?

[erick99]

I am wondering how particular the recognition software is. There could be some considerable day-to-day differences in a face if, say, one was ill, or had a bad fall, etc. Could I, for example, take a friends camera, take a pic of a good photo of my friend and then gain access to his phone/pda/device? The article didn't really address that though I don't think it was intended to be within it's scope. Still, it's something to think about.

Tinfoil

[Crash24]

Maybe it won't recognize me when I'm wearing my tinfoil hat...

Re:Skeptical

[lacheur]

Well, they forgot to mention you have to tattoo a barcode on your forehead for this to work...

Hmmm.. Another idea...

[Garion911]

I want the facial recon to filter out calls.. Kinda like the firefox cookie blocker:

1. Ed calls John.
2. John's phone asks Ed's phone for a picture
3. Ed takes a picture of his face.
4. Ed's phone sends it to John's phone.
5. John's phone does facial recon to determine if his face is in the whitelist, if so, then it rings.
6. Otherwise forward to voicemail automaticly

You could have various settings, like "Theatre mode" where it only rings if that person is on the emergency list.. "Ex-Girl/Boyfiend" mode, where it just forwards to "this number has been disconnected"

Face Recognition Work

[KingOfTheNerds]

My friend here at PennState University is working on face recognition research. He and I were suprised that such a technology was announced without us hearing about it ahead of time. Normally face recognition would not be useful for this purpose (security clearance). It is either too sensitive (not shaving, wearing sunglasses, etc) screws it up, or it's not sensitive enough to make it secure. Research here at the university was trying to find ways to fix these downfalls, but research on the subject is not even close to complete yet. I can't see this in anyway being as useful or complete as promised.