Facial recognition app matches strangers to online profiles

redwing

redwing

Privacy??

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An upcoming app for Android, iOS and Google Glass uses facial recognition technology to match passersby to their online profiles.
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When you spot someone out and about that you want to identify, you can capture their face using your device's camera. The app will send the photo wirelessly to NameTag's server, where it will compare the photo to millions of online records and return with a name, more photos and social media profiles, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where the person (or their friends) might have publicly posted photos of themselves.

And, if you're interested in that person in a more-than-passing fashion, the app's creator ? FacialNetwork ? is working on technology that will allow scanning of profile pictures on online dating sites, such as Plenty of Fish, OKCupid and Match.com.

In the US, it will also match the photo against over 450,000 entries in the National Sex Offender Registry and other criminal databases.
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Intentions aside, it seems to cross some pretty serious privacy boundaries. Generally speaking, people like to choose to whom they identify themselves; and having your online information freely available to anyone who sees you in public seems an uncomfortable prospect.
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Getting one set of publicly available information and matching it to another set of publicly available information is not invading privacy.
 
If people want to post photos of themselves on facetube and other such sites then it's their problem because they know this info is available to anyone.
 
I travel a lot - and I have noticed that the "people you may know" bit on Facebook, aligns to the people who I am physcally closer to. So in a way I think this is already going on.

Blacky
 
vaughan said:
Getting one set of publicly available information and matching it to another set of publicly available information is not invading privacy.
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Sort of...

People should be able to choose *how* their information posted online is used.

I should be able to post a photo of my nephew online to share with family and friends. If Facebook then changes their privacy settings and this photo all of a sudden becomes public (as they regularily do), I don't think I'm 100% to blame here.

I can bet most people would not be happy with this use and it seems like they will be unable to opt out of this.
 
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