Okay, we made it sound a little foreboding, but facial recognition can honestly be a bit of a spooky topic depending on who you talk to. On one hand, it’s nice to just look at your phone and have it unlock for you. That’s a convenient, immediate application of facial recognition software. No passcodes or extra steps, plus it’s another layer of security thanks to biometric technologies.
On the other side of the coin, you might be familiar with the scare that ran through the social media world during the huge trend of using an aging app to predict what you might look like in 10, 20, or 50 years. It was fun and harmless, until people connected the dots and realized that this would be a super easy way to harvest vast amounts of facial data.
While there will always be risks and rewards to using certain types of technology, it’s important to dig deeper and look for all the other potential applications. Good, bad, or indifferent, there’s a lot to sift through.
What is facial recognition?
Think of it like a fingerprint: each one is unique, and if you have a fingerprint saved in a system already, yours can be quickly matched and used to identify you. Facial recognition systems are much the same, scanning all those diverse attributes, then lining them up against other faces on record.
Going back to our example of the app that ages you, the fear there is that your facial identity could be harvested and saved, allowing you to be recognized and identified in the future for a variety of purposes.
How is facial recognition used?
Identification
The uses are nearly endless here. The technology could quickly scan your face, then serve up all the information about you that’s on file. No need to show your license or boarding pass the next time you’re at the airport.
Security/access
You know the sci-fi movies from the 1990’s with the high-tech retina scanners? This would be an even faster and more useful security measure, with a quick scan of your face replacing the need for badges, clearance paperwork, or security checks. Overhead cameras have eyes on the facility and can instantly ensure that only authorized people are accessing certain areas.
Criminal investigations
The BOLO law enforcement code immediately alerts officers to “Be On the Lookout.” But what if you could enter a perpetrator’s face into your database, then have every traffic camera in the city be watching for a specific person? The recognition technology flags the individual, and the police department is notified. By eliminating the need to manually review footage, a vast amount of time and resources would be saved.
Find missing persons
Even the most vigilant law enforcement agency doesn’t have the same focus and bandwidth that sophisticated technology can offer. Facial recognition software is a powerful tool for finding missing people, leveraging camera systems to watch around the clock for a matching face.
Medical diagnosis
A discerning medical professional can pick up on a number of red flags by simply looking at a person. Discoloration, swelling, sweat, movement… All can be indicators. Facial recognition technology can be harnessed for the medical industry to do exactly that: scanning for indicators that a person may need medical attention, or watching for early signs of a specific condition. If your smartwatch can sense certain health markers and make recommendations, think of the potential for advanced facial scans.
Track populations
Track populations in the broader sense, like deeper government oversight (yikes!), but also track populations in a more localized sense. Think, for example, of an overhead camera that scans students as they walk into school. You can track attendance, contact parents of students who aren’t present, and simultaneously ensure that nobody is entering the building who shouldn’t be there.
Marketing insights
A savvy internet marketer can view the number of people who visit a website, see where they click, where they spend time, and what interests them, then use that information to develop highly targeted and effective marketing campaigns. Facial recognition systems would allow for the same type of marketing insights, collecting data about who is visiting your store, their age, interests, habits, and where they spend the most time. What resonates with them and what doesn’t? You can then more effectively profile and cater to your client base.
How can I use facial recognition technology?
It really depends on your specific industry and unique needs. The low hanging fruit certainly involves pairing facial recognition with your security camera system as a way to track people in your building and provide an extra measure of security. Regardless of how you use it, however, it’s essential that it’s done in an ethical and transparent way that complies with privacy laws. People are more aware and sensitive to potential privacy issues, and are wary of personal identification without permission.
Our recommendation is to talk with an IT service provider about how you can incorporate elements of facial recognition technology into your network architecture, taking advantage of the efficiencies it offers. The applications are evolving all the time, and if used appropriately the benefits are certainly exciting.