Smart Cameras Blog

[From FBI says facial recognition not ready for prime time | Homeland Security News Wire]

James Loudermilk II, a senior level technologist at the FBI, said “the agency sees no point in facial recognition.” I believe part of the problem is that facial recognition doesn’t work as effectively as other biometric technologies for the FBI.

Facial recognition would be the killer application of biometrics, Loudermilk told the hundreds of conference delegates, and the FBI would dearly love to be able to use facial recognition in its fight against crime. It can not, though. The algorithms just do not exist to deliver the highly reliable verification required. This is even though the FBI has been evaluating facial recognition technology since 1963, he said. It did not invest then. It is not investing now.

Instead, the future strategy for the FBI focused on iris prints and existing fingerprint and DNA databases. In another presentation, Loudermilk noted several other biometric measures. These included “facial, retinal, population comparison studies, voice patterns, etc.”, with the use of near real time matching.

As an example, consider how the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) operates. Currently, 18,000 law enforcement agencies contribute fingerprints and DNA samples to the FBI’s databases and, at their peak, they submit 200,000+ identity verification queries a day.   IAFIS database contains the fingerprints and corresponding criminal history information for more than 55 million people.

This older presentation offers some interesting statistics on the IAFIS system. The average response time is 15 minutes in FY07 and 98% are done within 2 hours. IAFIS processed 26.1 million submissions in FY07 (44% Criminal, 56% Civil) and 92% are received electronically. 85% of fingerprint checks handled without human review. Facial recognition can’t claim the same level of efficiency.

rshah Facial Recognition

[From Lenovo adds multi-touch, facial recognition to its S10 netbook]

One of my new interests is facial recognition technology for consumers. We know about Google’s name tags (or Faces from Iphoto).

A few days ago, Lenovo announced its Veriface technology in its new notebook. It uses facial recognition with the built in camera to allow you to log on to your computer. It also logs pictures of unsuccessful attempts. I can’t vouch for its effectiveness (or usefulness) have no idea how it works, but its another example of facial recognition technology moving to consumers.

Here is a video of the technology being used:

rshah Facial Recognition

[From Japanese railway company scanning employees' smiles | FP Passport]

Keihin Electric Express Railway Company is not happy with how their employees are smiling, and have introduced a “Smile Scan” to improve their grinning abilities:

The smile-measuring software has been developed by Kyoto-based precision equipment maker Omron Corp. The device analyzes the facial characteristics of a person, including eye movements, lip curves and wrinkles, and rates a smile on a scale between 0 and 100 percent using a camera and computer.

For those with low scores, advice like “You still look too serious,” or “Lift up your mouth corners,” will be displayed on the screen.

Some 530 employees of the Tokyo-based railway company will check their smiles with Smile Scan before starting work each day. They will print out and carry around an image of their best smile in an attempt to remember it.

rshah Facial Recognition

Lucas D. Introna and Helen Nissenbaum have put together a comprehensive look at facial recognition. The title of the report is Facial Recognition Technology: A Survey of Policy and Implementation Issues.

The report:

highlights the potential and limitations of the technology, noting those tasks for which it seems ready for deployment, those areas where performance obstacles may be overcome by future technological developments or sound operating procedures, and still other issues which appear intractable. Its concern with efficacy extends to ethical considerations.

For the purposes of this summary, the main findings and recommendations of the report are broken down into five broad categories: performance, evaluation, operation, policy concerns, and moral and political considerations.

Introna also wrote a more scholarly paper a few years ago on facial recognition titled, Picturing Algorithmic Surveillance: The Politics of Facial Recognition Systems.

rshah Applications, Facial Recognition, Policy

[From In Hard Focus: Manchester Airport Downgrades Matching Threshold on Facial Scanners]

Here is the money quote from the Telegraph article that was posted:

Airport face scanners designed to verify travellers’ identity against their passport photographs are working at such a low level that they would be unable to tell the difference between Osama bin Laden and the actress Winona Ryder, it has been claimed.

Here is more detail:

In a leaked memo, an official says the machines have been recalibrated to an “unacceptable” level meaning travellers whose faces are shown to have only a 30 per cent likeness to their passport photographs can pass through.

The machines, undergoing trials at Manchester airport, have apparently been questioning so many passengers’ identities that they were creating huge queues. The technology was designed to help immigration officials spot people traveling under false passports, particularly terrorists, but the multi-million pound scheme now appears to be in jeopardy.

Rob Jenkins, an expert in facial recognition at Glasgow University’s psychology department, said lowering the match level to 30 per cent would make the system almost worthless. Using facial recognition software from Sydney airport in Australia set at 30 per cent, he found the machines could not tell the difference between Osama bin Laden and the actors Kevin Spacey or even the actress Winona Ryder while Gordon Brown was indistinguishable from Mel Gibson.

Stephen Russell adds a comment:

I’ll be interested to see if an official response to this “leaked memo” is released that explains the drastic drop in standards and their reason for the large number of false-positives. It could be the result of their technology choice, or just the result of poor, old, and varied photos common to passports. Likely both.

rshah Applications, Facial Recognition

[From Google’s Photo Face Recognition is Wow Marketing - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com]

Google has introduced facial recognition software in its photo sharing site. With Picassa web albums, users can now tag photos by name. The software then looks at other pictures in your albums and finds matches using facial recognition software. Judging from the early feedback, it works pretty good. Here is some more info on the feature. The software was acquired from Neven Vision. Here is an explanation of the process:

As I was dutifully uploading my summer vacation photos last night, the Picasa site alerted me to this new feature, which was introduced Tuesday and lost in the noise about Google’s Chrome browser. I clicked a button that set some Google server farm looking closely at my stored photos (mainly of my two constantly preening daughters).

Just a few minutes later, it presented a cluster of photos of what the software assumed were of the same person. Indeed, they were all of my six-year-old, Daphne. I typed in her name. Then it presented another batch it thought were of Daphne. I could click to confirm. I could also uncheck some photos that were not her. It similarly offered clusters of photos of my other daughter, Clare, as well as my wife and other people who I tend to photograph.

rshah Applications, Facial Recognition

[From Racist CCTV - facial recognition techniques used to classify people by race - thankfully this is only an art project ! - Spy Blog - SpyBlog.org.uk]

An interesting art project from Benjamin Wales. He has setup a smart camera system that has the ability to find and follow faces and then analyse and store their race data. His motivation was to critique our ideas about surveillance.

He also has another interesting project, Static Obesity Logging (SOLA), which analyzes BMI. The system is able to remotely calculate Body Mass Index and publish the data via wired and wireless networks.

Both of these applications are interesting ways to use the power of smart cameras.

rshah Applications, Facial Recognition

[From Biometric technology catches on with DMVs but privacy concerns slow broader reach]

A nice article on the growing use of facial recognition. A couple of interesting points:

After a driver sits for a photo at the Illinois Secretary of State office to renew a license, officials use facial-recognition technology to give the resulting image a close look. First, state officials verify that the face matches the images portrayed on previous licenses issued under the driver’s name. The second, more extensive run-through determines if the same face appears on other Illinois driver’s licenses with different names.

Since starting the program in 1999, the state has uncovered more than 5,000 cases of multiple identity fraud, said Beth Langen, policy and program division administrator at the Illinois Secretary of State office. The state pays Digimarc Corp. about 25 cents per license for the service, she said. . . . About 40 percent of the nation’s drivers are set to undergo such facial-recognition database checks when they renew their licenses in 20 states. . . . .

Police departments, eager for more investigative tools, are pressing for access to the millions of photographs in the motor vehicle databases. A few states prohibit such sharing, but many allow it.

rshah Applications, Facial Recognition

I was looking up the latest on facial recognition and I found a few interesting sites and stories.

First, the Metro Nashville, TN school system is installing face-recognition technology, which is suppose to be operational by December 2007. Its a bit strange that this is installed in an elementary school, but I will be awaiting the results of the test.

Second, a facial recognition research group is online at http://www.face-rec.org/newsgroup/. There are lots of techie articles, but also an active google group (face-rec) discussing the issues.

Third, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has been evaluating and testing facial recognition technologies. The project is known as FRVT. Its too bad there haven’t been other public tests for other features of smart cameras.

rshah Applications, Facial Recognition

[From Keeping an Eye on China’s Security - New York Times]

The article notes the Commerce Department is drafting new rules on what security equipment companies can sell to China. They could restrict the export of facial recognition software:

The move comes in response to rapid advances in surveillance technology and the increasing involvement of American companies in the Chinese market as the Olympics approach. People involved with the process said the Commerce Department was singling out biometric technology — face-recognition software, in particular — which Chinese security agencies could use to identify political and religious dissidents.

Chinese security agencies are rapidly increasing their spending on video systems with powerful computer analysis tools. American companies, with heavy financial backing from American hedge funds, have played a central role in helping Chinese cities install thousands of street surveillance cameras and use computers to process the video.

Congress has become concerned about the export controls on such activity. “It remains extremely important to have such controls in place so that our country’s exports do not enable governments abroad to repress the fundamental freedoms that we cherish here at home,” said Representative Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who presides over the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. “I will be watching closely as this process develops to ensure that current U.S. export controls are not weakened.”

rshah Facial Recognition, Policy