NEC, a Japan based tech establishment gathered acclaim for rustling out premier system meant for facial recognition, has now innovated software which is hailed to be a step forward in such cutting-edge technology, and the identity of those behind the masks can easily established, thanks to its virtue.
As is thought, the system focuses on the features that remain vivid and uncovered such as eyes, eye brows, forehead and hair during hi-tech identification.
The phenomenal outcome is that within seconds, verification gets completed with sublime accuracy that is quantified at 99.90%, as is hailed by NEC.
The Met Police makes use of the technology which is none other than NeoFace Live Facial Recognition during the pursuit of identification in a large gathering to cover those present on watch-list or following a tip-off.
Further, even Lufthansa and Swiss International Airline have become their quick happy subscribers.
Being motivated to just do it, even automated payment framework is put on trial at its headquarters located in Tokyo.
NEC’s assistant manager, Shinya Takushima, who takes care of digital platform section, revealed great hope to Reuters that people could be kept away from touching surfaces under an array of situations, by its advantage. Certainly, quoting his words, such tech innovation has been unveiled as “needs grew even more due to the coronavirus situation”.
Working of Live Facial Recognition:
- S/w maps the faces captured in police photos,
- Faces in crowd or of those present at events, are scanned with cameras,
- Comparison is drawn to strike a possible match and security officials are notified when a successful match is made,
- In case of false matches, such photos are stored for months,
Earlier to outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, it is said that such algorithms were unsuccessful to clearly match a great strength of people, say upto 50% of those scanned wearing facemasks, this is what is circulated in reports of National Institute of Standards and Technology.
But luckily, efforts bore success in form of massive refinement in technology.
Such a framework of facial recognition has remain in midst of controversy.
To present a few, queries have been raised about the ways darker skins would be brought under recognition and so is the violation of one’s privacy which is but ethical.
In August last year, Welsh police used such handy frameworks, which was made unlawful when a “smarter” civil rights crusader approached the court with it.
Considering US, prominent tech giants including Amazon and IBM, use of such software is suspended for now, and even cops are dissuaded from doing it. Now, lawmakers get away with sufficient time bubble to ponder over the legislation as well as to lay down ways through which, this software is to be implemented.
“Allow Law Enforcement To Imbibe Technology”, A Plea Says So:
“Do you want to put thousands of faces into scanning frame? Well, that’s unlawful !! This is the ruling by an appeal court judges while they reckoned upon a trial project, perceived by South Wales Police. Police didn’t argue much and never filed an appeal either.
Now, a tech group, proudly digging complex coding structures for facial recognition use in private sector, does opine that even the law enforcement should be given a free hand for it as it will open new avenues of efficiency and alacrity in capsizing crime and criminal intent.
Credas, a Welsh Company, is pretty critical of the laws claiming that such are not in accordance with the spirits of changing times, while the latter are inundated with digital technology everywhere.
Credas is of firm opinion that crimes can efficiently be dealt with, with use of technology.
Chief Executive, Rhys Davis believes, “Ten years ago, it would have felt space age, but now it’s everywhere- just logging into my phone or laptop, we’re all used to it now”.
Now, in Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan, there is yet another establishment which collaborates with other groups in making commercial places crime-free and thereby safe zones when customers’ individual identity is reliably established.
Businesses, such as casinos, bars, restaurants, accountancy and corporate offices, retail shops and stores and even the real estate offices have been among the prominent customers. Mr. David again intervenes, “There’s common stories of people buying houses with someone else identity and manipulating the paperwork so that the funds get transferred into the wrong account and it’s too late then- we can’t recover that”.
In case of Credas app, facial recognition is pretty simple as the snap of an individual is matched with the photograph tucked in their passport and full and fool-proof verification is thus carried out.
Claire Williams, an executive at FBM Estate Agents, operational in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, has been Credas patron for the past 2 years. He pours, “Before we take people’s passports or drivers’ license, they would either come into the office and we would photocopy it, or we would even accept a scanned, emailed copy.
There would be no way of knowing whether these were legitimate passports and driver’s licenses.
They might have been using fake Ids, trying to launder money through the property industry- putting money into the properties, then reselling them to launder money”.
But when it comes to confirming details concerning mortgage, scanning faces in automated framework meant for facial recognition, remains an uphill task and this is what was South Wales Police was after for trials, i.e. scanning faces in a given crowd, which would mostly be without informing or seeking permission from public and this is what was declared illegal when civil rights group Liberty and Ed Bridges, Cardiff, filed a check on it.
Mr. David shares insights further, “Real-time surveillance is considerably more complex than in the commercial space where it’s a fairly static, controlled environment. But we should be adopting it and encouraging it to reduce a criminal footprint.”
“I find it really sad that the police aren’t encouraged to use technology like this to keep our country safe”.
“Let’s be honest, the police don’t want to sell us trainers. They’re not looking to capture our images or biometric footprints to sell us goods. It’s to keep us safe, so the police can run very sophisticated facial matching programmes in real time to identify criminals”.
Such dismay as also expressed by commissioner of surveillance camera Tony Porter, who is appointed as an independent regulator to oversee the popular use of camera systems in England and Wales.
Now, in the aftermath of ruling on South Wales Police by appeal court, he again reiterated his thought-provoking narrative that calls for an upgraded code to the assistance of police.
Mr. Porter is astute in his opinion saying, “I believe adoption of new and advancing technologies is a important element of keeping citizens safe. ”
He has also outlined new set of rules regarding facial recognition, under the shadow of this case, but still, it is just guidance and lacks any legal backing as that of a law.
Not surprisingly, the court’s ruling has given way to scores of operational issues, such as likelihood of ethnic and gender biases, whom should the cam be used upon, when and where and under what conditions and so forth. As of 2018, the South Wales Police managed automatic technology of facial recognition and eminent science stalwart Prof Martin Innes from Universities Police Sciences Institute carried out an evaluation, after which ethical and regulatory issues move to the forefront, which police forces usually face with.
He says, ”If you look back at the history of new and innovative technologies in policing this is what always happens. You have to let the law catch up a little bit and find out what matters and where the key points of regulations are.”
He also feels different standards prevailing in public and private sectors, which are deeply confusing and discouraging. His feelings, “There is a risk that these technologies get introcuded almost by stealth and they start popping up everywhere.”
Clearly, some of such events have already started taking shape as we have certain smartphones with face detection features and then there are some doorbells too, programmed with such an objective.
Prof Innes arguments that checking criminal intent “seems to be an equally justifiable reason” to stand by, by such technology.
He further adds, “But we need to think quite carefully about how far do we want this to go and where is it appropriate for us to introduce these technologies in our lives”.
“There are issues- but there are potentially opportunities and benefits to be gained if it can be done in the right way, as well”.
Meanwhile, the Home Office and Police department have assured that any idea and tech tonic will be explored, which would help them in refining facial recognition technology. Going by their spokesperson, “We want police to use new technologies, like live facial recognition, in a way that reduces crime while maintaining public trust”.
“We are working closely with the police to ensure national college of Policing guidance complies with the Court of Appeal’s request to clarify how live facial recognition will be used.
“The government committed in the Home Office Biometrics Strategy to review the surveillance Camera Code of Practice and it will be updated in due course”.
