Is face recognition just high-tech snake oil?
By Mike Krause web posted January 14, 2002 Last July, Tampa, Florida began using face-recognition technology to scan the faces of citizens engaging in such noxious behavior as strolling down the street, to compare to a database of criminals and runaways. This January, using open-record requests, the American Civil Liberties Union found that the system was essentially abandoned within months of its rollout. While no positive matches were made to the criminal database, the system did manage to match up “male and female subjects and subjects with significant differences in age and weight.” It is an understatement to say that these are serious times. And our war on terrorism a serious task. And whether it’s mapping the faces of driver’s license holders, scanning faces of passengers at DIA or general scrutiny of the public as a crime-fighting tool, face recognition is worth at least some serious discussion. But the overblown statements made by those who wish to sell us all facial recognitio
