Facial recognition systems and the privacy issues associated with them have greatly accelerated one of the most popular technological innovations of recent times. Equipped with capabilities for identification based on the uniqueness of features, these systems are now used in all parts of the security and surveillance of consumer products. However, facial recognition systems, as pioneering technologies, hold many prospective benefits with serious issues of privacy concerns. This article will try to explore what facial recognition systems are, how they work, who introduced them, the companies behind them, and the issues of privacy and security surrounding their use.
What is a Facial Recognition System?
A Facial Recognition System is a type of biometric technology that identifies or authenticates a person based on his facial features and matches similar patterns to one another. It applies a technique known as biometric face recognition whereby an image of the human’s face is converted into a unique digital signature that could be stored in a database or used for real-time matching in various identity applications.
The technology in these systems has improved since their inception so that greater accuracy is achieved at much faster speeds. The systems can capture multiple measurements including the distance between eyes, the shape of the jawline, and the contours of the nose- so it creates a highly detailed faceprint as your digital „ID card.“ When the system is for verification, then it can match the live or stored image to a database of known faces and mark a match if the person is already recorded.
What is Biometric Face Recognition?
Biometric face recognition is part of a broad range of biometric systems based on facial features for the identification or verification of an individual. As a word, biometrics is a very broad field wherein the foundation of identification ranges from fingerprints and iris scans to voice recognition and many others. Facial recognition just happens to be the most widely used system because it involves people the least but is easily fitted within most people’s spaces through camera application.
A biometric face recognition system works by catching a camera photo of the individual’s face, and then analyzing for characteristics. The picture might be just a photograph, or it may be a single frame from video footage. The main concept revolves around the mapping of points on the face. For instance: the distance between the eyes, the width of the nose, and even the contours of the jaw. And all these measures are used to create a mathematical model, more popularly known as a „faceprint.“
A biometric facial recognition system can be implemented in any kind of access control application, surveillance of law enforcement agencies, or even consumer electronics such as cell phones and laptops.
How Do Facial Recognition Systems Work?
Ordinarily, Facial Recognition experiences several identity verification or checks about the subject.
It images or records an image of the face of the user. This will be done even through a commonly available camera that has the technology to take the great resolution of imaging details.
- Face Detection: Algorithms are then applied to detect the face in the image. In this step, the face must be isolated from the background and other objects that may appear in the frame.
- Feature Extraction: Upon detection of the face, it captures other defining features that regard the face. These are the eyes, nose, mouth, and chin, among other facial feature characteristics and their corresponding positions.
- Face Matching: After the feature extraction, the system, during identification, will match the data against a database of known faces and during a verification system against a pre-existing template. The matching will be done through mathematical algorithms, which will produce a match score generated by the system.
- Decision Making: In this case, the system authenticates an individual’s identity or rejects the match if the score is lower than a specific value, which is obtained from the score of the match.
The accuracy and speed of the system are made sophisticated through the newest technologies of AI and machine learning. Today, facial recognition systems can process thousands of faces simultaneously in real time, thus dealing with massive datasets.
Who invented the facial recognition system?
Facial recognition systems have been around since the 1960s, but it was in the 1990s that technology emerged. Computer scientist and researcher Woodrow Wilson Bledsoe first came up with the first automated facial recognition system. It was primitive by today’s standards and relied on manually identifying facial landmarks from photographs.
Since the late 1990s and early 2000s, researchers and companies have attempted to extend face recognition. Most importantly, there was a great breakthrough in 1993 with the launch by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology of the FERET Facial Recognition Technology program. Since then, some robust facial recognition systems emerged.
Companies typically contribute to most ways in many companies that are causing the commercialization and spreading of facial recognition technologies. Many firms have greatly influenced the big companies in making modern facial recognition systems, and some of those firms are among the giants namely, IBM, NEC, and Microsoft.
Automatic Facial Recognition System
Generally, an automated facial recognition system could be defined as a self-working computer system that, through the application of algorithms and other artificial intelligence powers, would authenticate or identify particular persons through their facial information. Therefore, it would automatically differ from any manual system wherein human intervention could be exercised or required in the process of matching or even in the deciding process. Thus, it could work faster and faster, especially in the process of mass implementation for example, at some airports securing people or capturing crowds for video surveillance.
The Automated system can be used for various applications. The range of such applications can vary from unlocking cell phones to the identification of a suspect in any kind of crime. Such systems could be on a real-time scale and use live feed video or still images, and the system also can be applied on all angles along with different light conditions.
Software for Facial Recognition System
A piece that works in this facial recognition technology includes the software developed for the face recognition system. These are different pieces of software that detect faces and capture features from an image taken in comparison to data in a specific database. Using machine learning algorithms in deep learning, the available software improves upon the overall correctness with time.
Several providers can offer facials which may easily be added to the surveillance or access control packages already sold up to this date. For example, add Face++- a Chinese developer Megvii and Amazon Rekognition facial recognition capabilities for businesses and developers to use.
Installation for Facial Recognition
The scale and intended purpose of the facial recognition system will also determine its installation process. Installation procedure for a small, private application, for instance, to lock a smartphone might be as simple as setting up software to ensure the camera system gets high-quality images.
Installation becomes complicated as large-scale installations, like airports, shopping malls, or office building security systems go in. It then involves fitting of high-resolution cameras, equipping recognition software with security infrastructure installed into the building’s structure and configuration of known person databases.
Conclusion:
This is a powerful technology for facial recognition systems that may be the future in security, convenience, and access control. However, like any other invention, some balance needs to be struck with its benefits on the protection of individual privacy and human rights. Use should be stipulated by governments and business organizations as science is created so that deployment of facial recognition is a prudent obligation and morally proper. Issues regarding the concerns of privacy, abuse of the software, and susceptibility of data are sure to provide the foundation for much of the damage. The biometric facial recognition technology remains at the very infantile stages of development. Society needs to continue wrestling with means of balancing discovery with the private life of the individual.
