Emerging Tech Trend: Faceprints as biometric identifiers

Key Insight: Faceprints identify a person’s unique face from near and far distances with astounding precision. Machine learning algorithms are used to analyze bone structure, skin color, musculature, capillaries, and movements to recognize someone or authenticate them. Faceprints are being used across many applications.



Examples: Researchers at Tokyo’s NEC Corp. plan to deploy faceprint technology for the 2020 Olympics, taking multiple 3D scans to quickly check a person’s face against those catalogued in a registry. Meanwhile, computer scientists in Japan and neighboring China are developing representation models that require only portions of faces, even in low light, to accurately predict identities. Facelifts and new hairstyles won’t impact the technology’s accuracy. In Germany, computer scientists create thermal faceprints by taking heat maps of faces and using machine vision to recognize patterns. The technology can accurately identify a face in less than 35 milliseconds, regardless of the amount of lighting or the facial expressions people make.



Near-Futures Scenarios (2018 - 2028): Optimistic : Faceprints make us safer, and they bring us back to physical offices and stores . With the right security in place, faceprints will allow us to leave our plastic credit cards and cash at home. We'll be able to shop effortlessly, and they'll empower retailers to offer us a more personalized experience in the real-world. Forget about lost car keys: Chinese auto manufacturer Byton sells an electric SUV that unlocks with a faceprint, rather than a key fob. As we transition to fully-autonomous cars, faceprints could mean safer driving. Drunk or distracted drivers wouldn't be able to drive without assistance.

With the right security in place, faceprints will allow us to leave our plastic credit cards and cash at home. We'll be able to shop effortlessly, and they'll empower retailers to offer us a more personalized experience in the real-world. Forget about lost car keys: Chinese auto manufacturer Byton sells an electric SUV that unlocks with a faceprint, rather than a key fob. As we transition to fully-autonomous cars, faceprints could mean safer driving. Drunk or distracted drivers wouldn't be able to drive without assistance. Pragmatic : As faceprint adoption grows, legal challenges mount.

In April, a U.S. federal judge ruled that Facebook must confront a class-action lawsuit that alleges its faceprint technology violates Illinois state privacy laws. Last year, a U.S. federal judge allowed a class-action suit to go forth against Shutterfly, claiming the company violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, which ensures companies receive written releases before collecting biometric data, including faces. Companies and device manufacturers, who are early developers but late to analyzing legal outcomes, are challenged to balance consumer privacy with new security benefits.

Catastrophic: Faceprints are used for widespread surveillance and authoritative control. Here's a simple question: Who owns your face? What if someone hacks your face...how would you get it back? As of June 2018, we don't have answers to these questions. Today, it’s easy to change a password to side-step or at least mitigate a hacking episode. But how could you replace your face? During the next decade, we could find ourselves being surveilled constantly. Faceprints can be taken from far away and without the user’s knowledge. China, which invested sovereign wealth funds, along with Russia, into startup Megvii Face++, is now using the technology to help its China’s police force perform widespread surveillance. For instance, if a Chinese citizen jaywalks in downtown Beijing, cameras will identify the person, post their photo on an electronic billboard and send a message to their employer, publicly shaming them and threatening their job. This kind of surveillance can easily be exported to other authoritative countries, further harming their safety and the human rights of citizens. A hacked database of biometrics could pose enormous threats to individuals, governments, companies and more. Action Meter:



Watchlist: FaceTec; Megvii; CyLab Biometrics Center at Carnegie Mellon University; Noveto; SenseTime; Sensible Vision; China; Russia; Alphabet; LG; Apple; Facebook; Alibaba; Samsung; Android; NEC; U.S. Government Accountability Office.