Slashdot Mirror
App Uses Facial Profiling To Identify Perps
Hugh Pickens writes "Emily Steel writes that a new iPhone accessory that uses a picture of the person's face or iris to identify them will help police units identify suspects and look up their criminal record. To scan a person's iris, police officers can hold the special iris-scanning camera on device, called MORIS, about 5 to 6 inches away from an individual's irises. After snapping a high resolution photo, the MORIS system analyzes 235 unique features in each iris and uses an algorithm to match that person with their identity if they are in the database. To use the facial recognition system an officer takes a photo of a person at a distance of about 2 feet to 5 feet that analyzes about 130 distinguishing points on the face (video), such as the distance between a person's eye and nose, then scans the database for likely matches. Bernard Melekian says challenges remain in developing guidelines for the proper use of the mobile recognition technology for police work. 'If the purpose is to determine instantly an individual's identity and determine whether they are wanted or have serious criminal history, that is not only a desirable use, it is an important use,' says Melekian. 'To simply collect information on individuals to add to the database would not in my opinion be a desirable use of the technology.'" The range of offenses for which conviction (and sometimes mere arrest) now triggers the collection of DNA samples is expanding; I suspect that iris information, seemingly less intrusive to collect, will soon enough become part of applications for passports, driver's licenses, and concealed carry permits.
You have your number.
But don't bother waiting for a turn...
Somehow, I don't think that any of this is compatible with the classical conception of a representative, parliamentary republic.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Racial profilng is racist.
Therefore facial profiling is facist!
*ba dum ching*
And it would be called "iSpy."
Straight after 2001-09-11 there was a clamour for more CCTV. Britain was already riddled with the things and they're getting better and better at recognising "known" criminals. Big Brother really is watching you. This article from the New York Times nearly 10 years ago rings very true and is well worth the time taken to read in its entirety: http://www.daclarke.org/WTChit/Rosen.html
I particularly shuddered at the quote:
"But CCTV cameras have a mysterious knack for justifying themselves regardless of what happens to crime. When crime goes up the cameras get the credit for detecting it, and when crime goes down, they get the credit for preventing it."
True enough, but to get a driver's license they almost always take a photo.
In the past that photo was of rather low quality, shot on Polaroid film and not retained.
I would expect this to change, and the picture will be taken in very high quality, stored in a data base, and used for
this type of application. All unbeknownst to the applicant.
Any pretense to photograph you will then quickly yield an instant ID without even touching you.
Its not just the US either. There seems to be a world wide rush by governments to control
all citizens. I doubt this will end well, or soon.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
To a computer, you're not human, you're just data. You're either a perp, or a potential perp.
In the United States it was determined by the supreme court that requiring someone to identify him/herself is unconstitutional*.
That is not true.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I'll just betcha this app works on police, too!
We could take a facial scan whenever we interact with a policeman, get a list of prior complaints and check out review sites.
We could find out whether he's been accused of rights violations, racist behaviour, corruption - and the percent chance that he'll settle out of court versus fighting a conviction.
So... this tech will help keep me safe from criminals *and* cops?
I love this new tech! Let's do it! Woo-hoo!
I've wanted an App like that on my iPhone ever since I got it. Actually, I've wanted one for wearable computing since the first prototypes.
See, I have a great memory for faces, and a horrible memory for names and other details. I see people all the time and know that I know them - but I can't recall anything about them. Sometimes, a minute or two of hard thinking and it comes back to me. Sometimes I have to start up a conversation and hope that hints drop.
I'd love to death an App that I can point at someone and it matches their face to my database and shows me the Contacts entry with name, birthday and notes.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org