From jim_windle@eudoramail.com Wed Jul 18 15:21:01 2001 From: Jim Windle To: cypherpunks-legacy@lists.cpunks.org Subject: Re: [isml] Facial-recognition tech has people pegged (fwd) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 15:21:01 +0000 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="===============5623601523709072287==" --===============5623601523709072287== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable There is a very interesting and pretty thorough article on iris recognition i= n the current (July-August) issue of "American Scientist". The site has an a= bstract of the article and some links: http://www.americanscientist.org/articles/01articles/Daugman.html=20 Jim Windle -- On Wed, 18 Jul 2001 18:58:11 Eugene Leitl wrote: > >-- Eugen* Leitl leitl >______________________________________________________________ >ICBMTO : N48 10'07'' E011 33'53'' http://www.lrz.de/~ui22204 >57F9CFD3: ED90 0433 EB74 E4A9 537F CFF5 86E7 629B 57F9 CFD3 > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 12:51:40 -0700 >From: DS2000 >To: isml >Subject: [isml] Facial-recognition tech has people pegged > >From CNN, >http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/07/17/face.time.idg/index.html >- >Facial-recognition tech has people pegged > >July 17, 2001 Posted: 1:01 p.m. EDT (1701 GMT) > >By Emelie Rutherford > >(IDG) -- Forget ID badges, passwords and access cards. Pretty soon, to get >in and out of your office you might start using something you can't forget >or misplace: your face. > >Once the stuff of science fiction, facial recognition technology has started >to appear in real-life buildings and public places. Setups consist of >cameras that capture images of people who pose or simply walk by, and >software that matches those pictures with those stored in a database. > >Institutions of all kinds -- such as those that want to protect buildings or >internal networks and banks in need of greater security for ATMs -- have >recently begun to use facial recognition to verify users. Physical access >control will be the main source of revenue for biometrics companies over the >next five years, according to Marlene Bourne, a senior analyst for emerging >semiconductor applications at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Cahners In-Stat Group. >Currently, though, it is being used most in casinos (more than 100 across >the country have facial recognition in operation) and neighborhoods (the >city of Tampa uses it in outdoor cameras to spot missing children and >lawbreakers). > >Facial recognition is a technology that has been around for a while. >University scientists have been working on facial recognition for over a >decade, with financial support from the U.S. Defense Department, in an >attempt to find a technology that can spot criminals at border crossings. >Companies began commercializing the technology in the mid 90s. It made >headlines last February, when word got out that authorities used it at Super >Bowl XXXV in Tampa to search for felons and terrorists among the crowd of >100,000 spectators. > >Facial recognition technology falls under the umbrella of biometrics, >technologies that identify people based on features such as faces, hands, >fingerprints and eyes. Electronic readers can be affixed to entryways, >keyboards, laptops and mobile phones. The biometrics market rose from $6.6 >million in 1990 to $63 million in 1999, according to the San Jose-based U.S. >National Biometrics Test Center. And pundits say it will continue to grow >substantially, fueled by companies in need of more advanced security >precautions. Cahners In-Stat Group predicts sales of biometrics will reach >$520 million by 2006. > >While other types of biometrics, such as iris scanning, are even more >accurate than facial recognition (which has a relatively low error rate; >just under 1 percent), facial recognition will probably be accepted more >widely because it is not intrusive. It does not require that the user push, >insert or click on anything. Companies often do not need to install anything >beyond the new software because most already have cameras in place and >pictures of employees on file -- making it cheaper than iris reading setups. > >"Unlike other biometrics, facial recognition provides for inherent human >backup because we naturally recognize one another," says Frances Zelazney, >the director of corporate communications at Visionics, a leading biometric >developer based in Jersey City. "If the system goes down, someone can pull >out an ID with a picture as backup, something you can't do with fingerprint >devices." > >How it works >Visionics' FaceIt software measures a face according to its peaks and >valleys -- such as the tip of the nose, the depth of the eye sockets --which >are known as nodal points. "While a human face has 80 nodal points," says >Zelazney, "we require only 14 to 22 to do the recognition. We concentrate on >the inner region of the face, which runs from temple to temple and just over >the lip, called the 'golden triangle.' This is the most stable because if >you grow beard, put on glasses, put on weight or age, that region tends no >to be affected, while places such as under chin would be." > >FaceIt plots the relative positions of these points and comes up with a long >string of numbers, called a faceprint. The software matches faceprints in >the existing file with those of the people passing in front of the cameras. >Faceprints can also be stored on a smart card that users swipe through a >door without looking into a camera. > >Visionics' main competitor, Littleton, Mass.-based Viisage Technology, has a >slightly different model. Its software compares faces to 128 archetypes it >has on record. Faces are then assigned numbers according to how they are >similar or different from these models. > >The use of facial recognition technology upsets some civil libertarians, who >call covertly scanning people's faces an invasion of privacy. Soon after >Tampa installed cameras in nightlife neighborhood Ybor City in June, House >Majority Leader Dick Armey issued a statement blasting the program's >Orwellian aspects. > >"The technology is blind as a bat if you're not in the database," counters >Zelazney. "It's not automatically adding people to the database. It's simply >matching faces in field-of-view against known criminals, or in the case of >access control, employees who have access. So no one's privacy is at stake, >except for the privacy of criminals and intruders." > >-- >Dan S > > >[ISML] Insane Science Mailing List > >- To subscribe: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/isml > > > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account= at http://www.eudoramail.com --===============5623601523709072287==--