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HP webcam can't see black people

Thomas Veil

Thomas Veil

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Feb 14, 2004
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Much greener pastures
HP looking into claim webcams can't see black people

By Mallory Simon, CNN

(CNN) -- Can Hewlett-Packard's motion-tracking webcams see black people? It's a question posed on a now-viral YouTube video and the company says it's looking into it.

In the video, two co-workers take turns in front of the camera -- the webcam appears to follow Wanda Zamen as she sways in front of the screen and stays still as Desi Cryer moves about.

HP acknowledged in a statement e-mailed to CNN that the cameras may have issues with contrast recognition in certain lighting situations.The webcams, built into HP's new computers, are supposed to keep people's faces and bodies in proportion and centered on the screen as they move.

The video went viral over the weekend, garnering more than 400,000 YouTube page views and a slew of comments on Twitter.

It was something neither Zamen nor Cryer expected to happen.

Zamen said she and Cryer, her co-worker, were playing around with the computer at work and testing it when they stumbled upon the facial recognition feature.

Cryer and Zamen said they were laughing when they realized the camera followed her and not him.

"We thought it was pretty funny, we thought it was hilarious," Zamen said.

So they made a video, which they planned to just share with friends on Facebook and YouTube. There was no script, no rehearsal, just two friends filming what they thought was a hilarious software glitch.

So again, the two took turns in front of the camera.

"As soon as my blackness enters the frame, it stopped," Cryer says in the video.

"Black Desi gets in there, no face recognition anymore, buddy," he says.

"I think my blackness is interfering with the computer's ability to follow me," he continues.

But now that the video has gotten so much attention, the two co-workers want everyone, including HP, to know they never intended the video to spark a discussion about whether the webcam was racist.

Zamen said she liked the computer so much, she suggested Cryer get one for his wife.

"The intent was definitely not to go after HP, it just so happened the computer was an HP and we recognized the software glitch," Cryer said.

"We did it for laughs, but if the video does make HP put out a better product, then great," Zamen added.

HP was quick to react, too.

The company quickly posted on the it's blog, TheNextBench.com, on Sunday after the video went viral, responding to concerns.

"The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose," wrote Tony Welch, the lead social media strategist for HP's Personal Systems Group. "We believe that the camera might have difficulty 'seeing' contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting."
Click to expand...
A "racist" webcam. :D Actually, that is pretty funny.

Of course, HP is right about contrast being the problem. The lower the camera's ability to see contrast -- and webcams usually rate pretty low in that regard -- the more it tends to have problems with darker-skinned people.

And you can actually have the same problem with white people. Just ask anyone who's ever tried to shoot video of someone standing in front of a window on a sunny day.

In fact, talking of background, I'd bet Cryer would have been "seen" by the camera better if the two of them had been standing against a darker background...say, a medium-to-dark blue or gray wall. The camera would've irised up a bit, enabling it to pick up more detail. As it is, it looks like the two of them are standing in front of not only a pale wall, but a fluorescent lighting fixture as well.

story.hp.webcam.youtube.jpg
 
Reminds me of the only episode of "Better Off Ted" that I watched. A very funny episode centered around a similar problem with motion detectors. Some of the characters unwillingly discover a glitch in the newly installed sensor system that opens doors/turns on lights when a person is near. Well, the company execs try half-witted and racially insensitive solutions instead of replacing the system.
 
mkrishnan said:
Wait, so in this image, the black face is harder to track because it has less contrast with the nearly saturated background? I feel like I'm missing something. Or is it that his skin color is so similar to his shirt? But his shirt moves too.

I would've guessed he would be easier to track.
Click to expand...

While motion of the darker skin would be easier to track the software does not do that. It tracks faces and to do that it looks for difference in contract between the eyes and the cheeks and nose. The area around the eyes will be darker than the cheeks and the nose. Problem is with the light background the camera is letting in less light so it is having trouble telling the difference between the dark skin and even darker area around the eyes
 
Rodimus Prime said:
While motion of the darker skin would be easier to track the software does not do that. It tracks faces and to do that it looks for difference in contract between the eyes and the cheeks and nose. The area around the eyes will be darker than the cheeks and the nose. Problem is with the light background the camera is letting in less light so it is having trouble telling the difference between the dark skin and even darker area around the eyes
Click to expand...

Ahhh, interesting. So that's how it identifies a face versus some other moving object? Cuz, you know, sometimes there are juggling basketballs behind me while I'm on webcam. :D Fascinating stuff.
 
Not if we keep mentioning it. ;)


"I'M SOOOOO SORRY TO Cryer AND White Girl FOR screwing up THE face recognition. I SPOKE TO White Girl RIGHT AFTER. Cryer IS VERY upset !!........... I'M IN THE WRONG FOR not recognising low-contrast AND disappointing y'all!!!!!!!! I'M SORRY TO MY FANS IF I LET YOU GUYS DOWN!!!!! I'M SORRY TO MY FRIENDS AT HP. I WILL APOLOGIZE TO Cryer 2MRW. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!!!! EVERYBODY WANNA BOOOOO ME BUT I'M A FAN OF black faces!!! Y'all KNOW!!! BOOOOYAAAWWWWW!!!!!! Wikki-wikki-what!?! I GAVE MY apology TO Taylor Swift WHEN THEY DESERVED IT... THAT'S WHAT IT IS!!!!!!!!!! I'M NOT CRAZY YALL, I'M JUST BEING REAL. SORRY FOR THAT!!!MUCH RESPECT!!!!!

Today"

Uh huh.
 
I think that computer needs to be packed up in the car and taken to race sensitivity training. It surely has a bad attitude!
 
Funny video.

What's even more funny, is that I have two friends who are similar to them. I did a double take at first.

On a side note, the Sony building in Ginza (Tokyo) has different displays each month. A few months ago, they had face recognition camera demos. The cameras tracked some individuals better than others. For some it was instantaneous. But for others, it would take a while to "see" them. Not quite as bad as HP, but still there were issues.

I guess typical face recognition software is not up to Hollywood standards. :rolleyes:
 
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