Facial Recall

Large gatherings such as weddings and conferences can be socially overwhelming. Pressure to learn people’s names only adds to the stress. A new facial-recognition app could come to the rescue--but privacy experts recommend proceeding with caution.

The app, called SocialRecall, connects names with faces via smartphone cameras and facial recognition, potentially eliminating the need for formal introductions. “It breaks down these social barriers we all have in terms of initiating the protocol to meet somebody,” says Barry Sandrew, whose start-up, also called SocialRecall, created the app and tested it at an event attended by about 1,000 people.

After receiving an invitation to download SocialRecall from an event organizer, a prospective user is asked to take two selfies and sign in via social media. At the event the app is active within a previously defined geographical area. When a user points his or her phone camera at an attendee’s face, the app identifies the individual, displays the person’s name, and links to his or her social media profile. To protect privacy, it recognizes only those who have consented to participate. And the app’s creators say it automatically wipes users’ data after an event.

Ann Cavoukian, a privacy expert who runs the Privacy by Design Center of Excellence at Ryerson University in Toronto, commends the app’s creators for these protective measures. She cautions, however, that when people choose to share their personal information with the app, they should know that “there may be unintended consequences down the road with that information being used in another context that might come back to bite you.”

The start-up has also developed a version of the app for individuals who suffer from prosopagnosia, or “face blindness,” a condition that prevents people from recognizing individuals they have met. (Sandrew, who has prosopagnosia himself, notes that the app has not yet been tested on others with the condition.) To use this app, a person first acquires an image of someone’s face, from either the smartphone’s camera or a photograph, and then tags it with a name. When the camera spots that same face in real life, the previously entered information is displayed. The collected data are stored only on a user’s phone, according to the team behind the app.

Jason Schultz, a professor of clinical law at New York University, who was not involved with the app’s creation, remains cautious: “The cost to everyone whom you are surveilling with this app is very, very high, and I don’t think it respects the consent politics involved with capturing people’s images.”

Recently, a facial recognition app "Deepfake" went popular, as it allowed users to replace the faces of actors or actresses with their own in video clips of popular TV series or movies. Yet merely days later, the app's developer, was summoned and questioned by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology about the problem of the user agreement and risks of data revealing. This has raised people's concerns about the use and regulation of the facial recognition technology.

Facial recognition refers to the process of identifying a person by capturing, comparing and matching the verifiable (可核实的)biometric(生物特征识别的)information unique to his or her face with the information in the existing biometric database. From sorting photographs on mobile phones to security certification, from identifying and tracking criminals to playing with face-swapping apps, the facial recognition technology has been extensively applied in our lives. Its use has made people's lives more convenient and helped maintain social order.

However, the results can be good or bad depending on the users and regulations on the use of the technology. Illegal use of the facial recognition technology without the permission of the subjects is a serious violation of people's basic rights, freedom and security; it could even threaten social order. So it is urgent to make specific laws to regulate the use of the facial recognition technology.

In fact, the European Commission (EC) has already introduced regulations to tighten the technology's use and safeguard human rights. In April, 2019, the European Union(EU) issued the draft "Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Al” for the development and use of artificial intelligence. However, it still remains a soft law. Now, the EC is exploring ways to regulate the application of the technology through legislation（立法）.

In some ways, the legislation on the facial recognition technology could become a touchstone of countries' bid to regulate and ensure the healthy development of new technologies. And, during this process, the interests of not only government organizations and individuals but also industry employees and companies should be reflected and balanced to help promote common prosperity.

According to the research published by Ofcom, most people in the UK are dependent on their digital devices and apparently need constant access to the Internet.

The smartphone slowly caught on in the UK in 2008. 【小题1】. More than ten years later, the figure reached 78%, with 95% of users aged 16—24. The smartphone is now a vital part of most people’s daily lives. It is the device that people say they would miss the most.

People now expect constant Internet access wherever they are, with 64% of adults saying that it is an essential part of their lives. Over the past years, access to the Internet has improved. 【小题2】. For example, while there are now more mobile phones in the UK than people, the number of actual calls from them has fallen as messaging apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat increase in popularity.

【小题3】. Smartphone users in the UK now check their devices, on average, every 12 minutes, which directly affects their work efficiency. 65% of adults under the age of 35 look at their phones within 5 minutes of waking up, which can make them unwilling to get out of bed. 【小题4】. They admitted that the use of connected devices interrupts face-to-face conversations with friends and family. They also admit to looking at their phones while they are watching TV with other people.

So how much time should we spend online? 【小题5】, since a large percentage of people use the Internet in their jobs.