Face Recognition - Is it ethical software?

[Jon-Luke]

The current version of iPhoto has a technology that enables it to identify faces and the more you confirm the better it becomes at finding that person's face.

Now I have no doubt that this technology has been available for some time and possibly used by passport control, government agencies and the like... But is it ethical to have this kind of technology available to the general public? What is to stop people taking high resolution pictures of crowded places to see if certain people where there... Isn't this an invasion of privacy?

Now I know the feature doesn't work at high speed and it struggles with more complex images - but the technology is there and that means its easier for hackers to modify what it does...

What are your thoughts?

 

[-aggie-]

Uh, I don't think the general public has access to FBI/police files, so how are they going to use face recog to find out who someone is? Besides, the FBI/police database is only for criminals.

 

[wywern209]

i think he is saying, if u knew who u were looking for, then would it be a invasion?

 

[chown33]

What is to stop people taking high resolution pictures of crowded places to see if certain people where there... Isn't this an invasion of privacy?

It's a public place. What privacy?

Would taking the picture be the invasion of privacy, or only the automated identification, or any identification at all? It matters, because photographs of crowds are not illegal (generally, depending on jurisdiction), nor is having a person identify someone in the picture of a crowd.