How does facial recognition confirm identity?

A facial recognition system uses biometrics to map facial features from a photograph or video. It compares the information with a database of known faces to find a match. Facial recognition can help verify a person’s identity, but it also raises privacy issues.

What are some potential biases in facial recognition software?

According to the researchers, facial recognition technologies falsely identified Black and Asian faces 10 to 100 times more often than they did white faces. The technologies also falsely identified women more than they did men—making Black women particularly vulnerable to algorithmic bias.

What are the benefits of facial recognition?

Those in favor of the technology cite the following benefits of face recognition:

• Face recognition makes it easier to track down burglars, thieves and trespassers.
• The technology is not limited to tracking down criminals.
• Face recognition could make security checkpoints at airports less intrusive to passengers.

How accurate are face recognition algorithms for different skin tones?

The Gender Shades project revealed discrepancies in the classification accuracy of face recognition technologies for different skin tones and sexes. These algorithms consistently demonstrated the poorest accuracy for darker-skinned females and the highest for lighter-skinned males.

What can legislation do about face recognition technology?

Legislation can monitor the use of face recognition technology, as even if face recognition algorithms are made perfectly accurate, their contributions to mass surveillance and selective deployment against racial minorities must be curtailed.

Can dark skin be detected by facial recognition technology?

The Department of Homeland Security has also found that darker skin challenges commercial facial recognition. In February, DHS staff published results from testing 11 commercial systems designed to check a person’s identity, as at an airport security checkpoint. Test subjects had their skin pigment measured.

Is there racial discrimination in face recognition?

Another key source of racial discrimination in face recognition lies in its utilization. In 18 th century New York, “lantern laws” required enslaved people to carry lanterns after dark to be publicly visible.