San Francisco to become first major US city to pass facial recognition ban

Facial Recognition Ban - Biometric technology

The Californian city has banned the use of the technology by its police and other agencies. A facial recognition ban is likely to be enforced in San Francisco after an 8-to-1 vote in favor of banning the technology was carried out by the Board of Supervisors. This will make San Francisco the first major city in America to reject using the biometrics search tool to identify criminal suspects. Civil liberty groups have expressed concerns about the use of the technology after it was used last June. Back in June 2018,…

Read More

US facial recognition to be used on nearly all commercial airline passengers

US facial recognition - facial recognition tech - woman

Over 97% of departing airline passengers will be subject to facial scans within four years. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intends to use US facial recognition scans on 97% of all departing airline passengers within four years. The system will help to keep tabs on departing foreigners as well as those who overstay their visas. Pictures are taken of passengers before they board their planes. According to a recent report from Homeland Security the way that the US facial recognition system at airports will work is passengers approach…

Read More

New facial recognition app Preshow earns users free movie tickets via ads

Facial recognition app - Free Movie Ticket

The founder of MoviePass has launched a campaign on Kickstarter in support of his new company PreShow. Stacy Spikes, the founder of PreShow, is developing a facial recognition app that lets users earn free movie tickets – to any film in any theater – by watching advertisements. There’s a catch, however. Users have to watch all the advertising to get the “free” ticket. Prepare to watch 15 to 20 minutes of high-end advertising. PreShow might sound like a pretty good deal if you like the idea of a free movie…

Read More

Free facial recognition software has ability to ID faces in photos

Facial Recognition Software - Photo Sleuth - Virginia Tech

A Virginia Tech assistant professor of computer science seeks to uncover the identities of Civil War soldiers. Kurt Luther, the computer science assistant prof, has developed a free facial recognition software platform that utilizes crowdsourcing to significantly enhance the ability of algorithms to identify faces in photographs. The software program, which is known as Photo Sleuth, was developed by Luther in his efforts to uncover the mysteries of the almost 4 million photographs of Civil War-era images that may exist in the historical record, reports EurekAlert!. Via Photo Sleuth, users…

Read More

An Apple facial recognition system could allow drivers to unlock their cars

Apple Facial Recognition - Man in car

A newly-published patent reveals that Apple is working on a new biometric unlock feature for cars. Apple facial recognition tech for cars could be the future. The California-based tech giant, who is no stranger to patenting technology, is now patenting a system that lets drivers gain access to their vehicles via biometrics. The system would allow a car to recognize the owner as they approach. A newly published patent called “System and Method for Vehicle Authorization” describes technology that could use face identification to secure cars. The mobile biometric authentication…

Read More