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."

Comments

many special cases to ponder

[has2k1]

I see a bruised accident victim denied access to make an emergency call.

Re:many special cases to ponder

[smclean]

I see someone taking a picture of someone, stealing their cellphone, and holding up the picture in front of it for face recognition.

I am not a secret agent.

[tuna_boat_tony]

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?

Re:I am not a secret agent.

[Kaimelar]

If I were to loose my phone . . . What happens when someone with good intentions finds my phone and can't return it?

Dude, what to you think will happen if you just turn your phone loose like that? Keep it on a leash and you won't have to worry about someone returning it. ;-)

All in good fun. Now let me post something on-topic so I don't seem like a jerk. My last PDA had a feature that would show a certain screen when locked -- the idea being that if it was lost, your data was still behind a password, but you could put a message saying, "If you find this device, please contact John Doe at . . . " on the chance that the finder would have the good intentions you speak of and return it. Perhaps phones could have something similar? Of course, a similar solution in your case would simply to not turn this security feature on.

Very interesting idea

[ReformedExCon]

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.

But what if

[OneArmedMan]

my evil Twin gets hold of it ?

Sounds really inconvenient...

[RandomPrecision]

...if you're Michael Jackson.

Uh, great.

[Anonymous Coward]

And what if for some reason I need to use my cell phone in the [i]dark?[/i]

Cost of failure is too low to justify this

[Anonymous Cowdog]

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.

Just Great..

[Druox]

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).

Once you've stolen Paris Hilton's phone...

[ScentCone]

... just go pick up a copy of People magazine and hold up the picture in front of the phone.

Re:Is this really cost effective?

[Fred_A]

"who would pay the difference?"

• drunks
  
• people with fat fingers
  
• blind people
  
• women with long nails
  
• chinese criminal masterminds with long nails
  
• aliens with soft tentacles