9781422272657

Facial recognition has other uses besides serving as a personal convenience. Police agencies use facial recognition programs to identify persons of interest in criminal investigations or cases involving national security. In these instances, a person’s image that was captured in a real-time situation, either on live surveillance video or in a still image, is then compared to images of identified individuals that appear on the agency’s database. If the program determines that they match, their identity is established. Facial recognition software incorporates algorithms to mathematically map distinguishable facial features. These can be used to establish a data pattern that can be compared to data contained in the image of an identified person on its database, resulting in biometric authentication . Facial recognition algorithms have a wealth of material to draw from, thanks to today’s propensity for people to voluntarily upload photos to Facebook, Instagram, and other social media outlets. It also relies on data already captured on CCTV and network footage, as well as government collections of post-arrest mugshots, images on “most wanted” lists, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) watch lists. The technology works by measuring and mapping the unique shapes and structures of a face, such as nose length and width, eye socket depth, and mouth width, as well as the proportional distance separating them, and uses them as dimensional landmarks. Next, an algorithm converts them to numerical data for use as a code, or “faceprint.” Like a

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Contemporary Issues: Drones and Surveillance