Monday, October 2, 2017

Tech Breifing: Paying with Your Face

Face++, a Chinese start-up valued at a billion dollars, has created face detecting systems that authorize payments, provide access to facilities, and track down criminals through surveillance. Over the past few years, computers have 'learned' how to recognize faces with little to no error, and this technology has expanded throughout China for two purposes: surveillance and convenience. Facial recognition has the power to change everything, from security, to the way we pay, and interact with banks, stores, and transportation services.
"The facial recognition market is huge, lots of companies are working on it" says Shiliang Zhang, an assistant professor at Peking University who specializes in machine learning and processing. Facial Recognition has been around for a long time, but only recently has been accurate enough to be used in secure financial transactions. The most updated versions use deep learning, an AI technique that makes a computer zero in on the facial features that will most reliably identify a person.

Technology from Face++ is already being used in many popular apps like Alipay, which is a mobile payment app with about 120 million users. Now, they are working on a system that allows people to pick up rail tickets, which is the most common form of transportation in China, by using this facial recognition process. Jie Tang, an associate professor at Tsinghua University said its important to note that most users are attracted to this technology because they are most appealed to the convenience of the whole process.

It is said that facial recognition technology is taking off in China, partly due to their feelings towards surveillance and privacy. China has a large, and frequently updated, centralized database of ID Cards and photos, unlike the United States. The local Chinese governments have adopted this program use it to identify suspected criminals and much more.

In order for FR software to be implemented across the United States, we must accept the idea of a centralized photo/video database. One that contains every criminal or regular citizen that participates in an app, business or even ticket purchasing. Although facial recognition is convenient, does it violate our rights and privacy? Is it constitutional for a business to develop this software and force their employees to be apart of it in order to gain entrance to their daily jobs?

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603494/10-breakthrough-technologies-2017-paying-with-your-face/

7 comments:

  1. I usually post the Tech Review breakthrough technologies. Great link for 2017.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a lot of privacy laws must be repealed in order for this to be implemented. I would rather keep my privacy than give up my photo for government surveillance. Could you imagine if this was hacked? I do agree that this would be useful for transactions, but I am not willing to give up my privacy just to catch a few criminals.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really like your post because facial recognition technology is accepted by thousands of enterprises not only from China but also from countries in Europe and South Asia.
    However, facial recognition is a very controversial topic because of the privacy issues it brings. But we shouldn't focus solely on the disadvantages of a new technology, instead we need to evaluate the how many profits a company can generate by using this tech to improve productivity. I truly believe that Chinese government will enforce law on this technology soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would not like using this tech. One for privacy concerns and two the security of transactions. I have attached an article I read a long time ago about how it is relativity easy to hack facial recognition with technology today. Mostly using cyber stalking and a 3D model rendering of a person's face, depending on the complexity of the software. For example some facial recognition only requires a picture to hack.
    https://www.wired.com/2016/08/hackers-trick-facial-recognition-logins-photos-facebook-thanks-zuck/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Sarah,

    I think this technology will become more prevalent in the future. Although it will have to jump through many legal loops, I think the growing demand for personalized technology is continuing to provide controversial products. Technology has always been very controversial due to privacy issues, so this was not that much of a surprise to hear that Face++ is controversial due to privacy. However, I do think it is in fact a violation to human rights to force someone to use this technology, as I would think it is inhumane to force someone to own a phone. One cannot force technology onto someone, and it is up to the potential user to decide if they want to use it or not. No company should force their employees to use this facial recognition, and a company should always provide alternatives for people who feel uncomfortable doing certain things. I do think that this Face++ technology needs to be incredibly intelligent, because as Marc discussed above, there has been studies how it is relatively easy to hack facial recognition. Do you think using your face for identification is the most efficient way? What do you think about using finger prints instead?

    ReplyDelete
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