Slashdot Mirror
Cell Phones Learn to Recognize Their Owners' Faces
An anonymous reader writes "Oki Electric this week began marketing a technology that inexpensively adds face recognition to camera-equipped cell phones. Oki's 'Face Sensing Engine' middleware decodes facial images within 280 milliseconds on a 100 MHz ARM9 processor, and can restrict access to mobile devices by recognizing their owners. Its purpose is to safeguard sensitive personal data -- such as email addresses and phone numbers -- in the event of loss or theft of their devices. The technology works by locating and mapping key facial features -- such as eyes, eyebrows, and mouth -- and adapts to changing facial conditions such as winking and smiling, according to Oki."
I see a bruised accident victim denied access to make an emergency call.
All of this security is great if you're a secret agent, but I am not employed by the CIA. If I were to loose my phone, I would hope the finder would use the information in there to try to return the phone. What happens when someone with good intentions finds my phone and can't return it because I presumed him/her to be a theif and "safe"guarded it with this new technology?
It's easy to offhandedly say who cares about the phone numbers of my friends and family. But for a sales force, keeping their contacts' information secure is one very important aspect of the job. If it is possible to create this security without requiring large lagtimes (like entering a PIN) or fault-prone hardware (fingerprint scanners), security becomes easier and safer than before for the average user.
I'd be anxious to see how well it works in the real world before trying it out, but if it is an inexpensive piece of middleware, I wouldn't be surprised if it started turning up on the high-end phones in Japan and Korea. I'd be surprised if they started showing up here in the U.S., but I'd be surprised if any sort of cutting-edge technology showed up for general consumption here.
I wish they had a demo.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
my evil Twin gets hold of it ?
...if you're Michael Jackson.
And what if for some reason I need to use my cell phone in the [i]dark?[/i]
I think they are treating the phone a little too much like a gun.
It's not like it will be the end of the world if someone can access my personal phone information. I can control what I store on there; it's my own choice whether to put private things in a phone, and while the list of people I call is private, it's really not that big of a deal. And there are other ways of remotely restricting access.
Seems like a case of some technologists with a hammer, looking for a nail.
Face recognition? I think that's the last thing most people would want - It would be the high-school-blind-date-gone-wrong scenario. Millions would get their new "face recognition" phone in the mail...Open it up, and it takes one look at you and scrolls across the screen "Oh..wow..um yeah, I think that I just wanna be friends... you're a really nice guy though." Nothing like being shut down by a Motorola, especially the one with the nice ass (charger base).
~ slashdot.org - Where some of the world's greatest minds come together to scrutinize grammar.
A criminal might find it easier to take a photograph of you than to steal your face.
The shareholder is always right.
"who would pay the difference?"
People that are horrible with remembering passwords, and/or people that just don't know any better.
however, wouldn't the security of this "technology" be compromised by merely taking a picture of the owner with a camera and then stealing the phone? The phone will react to the face on the printed picture and allow access to it, potentionally allowing the thief to disable this "feature" and resell the phone..
How likely is this
In other words...
1. Take picture/video clip of person owning phone
2. Steal it!
3. Print picture or show vid clip using your computer monitor
4. disable the identity protection
5. ???
6. PROFIT!!!
... just go pick up a copy of People magazine and hold up the picture in front of the phone.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Yep, instead of losing a finger or getting your face pushed into a scanner (Solid Snake style) you get tortured for *hours* until you're willing to giveup not just your password but the whereabouts of the safe, your wife and children and those military secrets you never told anyone about. Good plan.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Maybe one day this will be built into 'augmented reality' spectacles : you see an old colleague after years, and your glasses mark him up as "Mark Jones"
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
I had the same problem, but I solved it. I added extra things on my schedule the potential thief would be sure to find...
.357 magnum arrives in mail - decide which gun i should sell (if only they made gun racks that could hold 25 guns instead of 24!)
-
- speak at the academy about my personal experience of the stopping power of armor-piercing vs. hollow point. Bring a few guns for the demo.
- Building inspector arrives - remember to disable the booby traps near the garage
- Feed the man-eating lion in the basement. Secure door so he doesn't get out again.
- Tell whacky Dave across the street that he can't stay up all night practicing for sniper school. It's not funny when he draws a bead on me at 3 am when I go to the bathroom.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets