Facial Recognition Technology
It was not long ago that facial recognition technology was considered nothing but science fiction. But over the past few years, facial recognition technology has rapidly increased from something we used to see in the movies to a tool now used in law enforcement, banking, and financial institutions, and even on our cell phones.
The question arises; why is facial recognition becoming so common and is it a breach of an individual’s privacy? Let us delve into the usage of facial recognition in today’s world.
One of the most important usages of facial recognition is to combat fraud. This includes identity frauds, credit card frauds, chargeback frauds, etc.
See Also: Cyber security threats and protection from phishing attacks.
Financial institutions started incorporated facial recognition services as part of their KYC (Know-Your-Customer) regulations.
How does Face Recognition Work?
Before going any further, we should know how facial recognition technology works. The algorithms of biometric facial recognition follow several stages which include:
- Capture: The 1st step includes the collection of a sample of facial records during a certain period.
- Extraction: Then the gathered data is used to make templates based on them.
- Comparison: The collected data is then compared with the existing templates.
- Matching: Then the algorithm decides whether the facial features of a new sample match with the one from the facial database or not.
Facial Recognition Technology in Law Enforcement
As the terrorist happenings increased in the world, so did the need to combat it. One of the major ways was to incorporate face recognition services in law enforcement. There has been a lot of backlashes regarding the surveillance system.
For example, in the UK, in June 2019, the results of facial recognition trials were published which showed how invasive and ineffective the system is. 42 people were stopped as a result of these trials but only 8 of them were identified as wanted.
Read Also: Tips to protect your online business and customer data security.
Facial Recognition Technology in Financial Institutions
Financial institutions started using facial recognition as a means to combat all kinds of frauds. It is worth mentioning that these frauds have been on the rise every year. According to Javelin Strategy and Research, between 2015 and 2016, the number of fraud cases increased by 16 percent in the US.
This problem is global and goes far and beyond the US. Around the world, people suffer from identity theft frauds and this is the reason why plenty of software has been developed to incorporate facial recognition services in financial institutions.
According to Megan Goulding, a lawyer from the civil liberties group, Liberty, using FRT is: “just like taking people’s DNA or fingerprints, without their knowledge or their consent.”.
Liberty also issued a statement saying,
“Facial Recognition Technology catches the biometric data of everyone who passes the cameras, violating our right to privacy and undermining our freedom of expression”.
This shows that although facial recognition technology services can and should be used by financial institutes.
Like – banks, the idea of surveillance type facial recognition is widely considered a breach of privacy.
The idea of consent comes into play since people give their consent for face verification for security regarding their bank accounts etc.