Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
from NPR ...
(snip)"lack of recognition is precisely what the VIP-identification technology designed by NEC IT Solutions is supposed to prevent.
The U.K.-based company already supplies similar software to security services to help identify terrorists and criminals. The ID technology works by analyzing footage of people's faces as they walk through a door, taking measurements to create a numerical code known as a "face template," and checking it against a database.
In the retail setting, the database of customers' faces is comprised of celebrities and valued customers, according to London's Sunday Times. If a face is a match, the program sends an alert to staff via computer, iPad or smartphone, providing details like dress size, favorite buys or shopping history.
The software works even when people are wearing sunglasses, hats and scarves. Recent tests have found that facial hair, aging, or changes in weight or hair color do not affect the accuracy of the system.
The technology is being tested in a dozen undisclosed top stores and hotels in the U.S., the U.K., and the Far East. NEC hasn't responded to NPR's requests for an interview, so it hasn't addressed why the stores that are testing the software are staying quiet about it."(snip)
It's a bit disturbing that facial recognition software is leaving the 'vaults' of the FBI / CIA / whatever, and finding it's way to high end retailers and hotels already.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
and here is a specific reason for my concern ... from
(snip)"Patrick Hill -- an irregular visitor to strip clubs (allegedly) -- fascinates the doorman with his device so much that he's allowed into a New York strip club wearing Google Glass.
The heart of wearing Google Glass isn't merely the wish to be at the forefront of technology -- it's the excitement of seeing what you can get away with.
And so it was that last month New York web developer Patrick Hill decided he'd see if he could slide past the doorman of a strip club wearing Google Glass.
Accompanied by a New York Post reporter, Hill tried to enter the VIP club in Manhattan.
Subsequently, he posted the footage to YouTube(snip)
(snip)"Hill's quest, though, was even more daring. Strip clubs have doormen. They are men built like a door. They can be a lot less friendly than many of the staff inside.
Perhaps this doorman was charitable because Hill and friend entered before 9.
He was also quite fascinated by the device. He asked if it was a computer. The next question: "How much d'you pay for that?"
Hill proudly explained what it was and then promised that when Google Glass is available to consumers it will be "like five-, six hundred bucks."
That must be news to Google.
The doorman -- clearly a future Sergey Brin disciple -- was enchanted by one aspect: "So you don't have to pick up the "f***ing phone or nothing," he said.
I can see the perfect Google Glass tagline emerging through those words.
What's curious is that even though Hill explained to the doorman that Glass has a camera, he was allowed right in.
This belies the notion that all strip clubs have already banned the device.
When he entered the club, one bartender served him. However, a second bartender came over and asked if he was recording.
Her suspicions brought the manager over who requested he check it at the coat check.
"I told him I wasn't going to check my $1,500 device," Hill told me. So a compromise was reached. He kept it in his pocket and promised not to film.
Hill told me: "He agreed with that but warned if he saw it out of my pocket he would kick me out."
This sort of negotiation might become commonplace as Glass use becomes wider"(snip)
Putting these two technological developments together, it is a definite future possibility that many 'straight job' employers will begin to engage a facial recognition software service to run an internet search for matching faces for every potential job applicant. This could be a huge problem for camgirls, where the existence of webcam host promo pics, video streams posted to tube sites, etc. would very probably turn up a connection to her adult entertainment work history. However, this could also be a potential problem for exotic dancers, based on both strip club website promo pics, as well as on Google Glass customer recordings being posted to tube sites as described in the above news story.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
Greeeeeat.
Good thing I'm as happy with the adult industry as any other job, looks like I'm not leaving anytime soon.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
It looks as though google is under some pressure regarding facial recognition..they are banning developers from making facial-recognition apps for Android and Google Glass
I recall a few years back they purchased a facial-recognition startup from Pittsburgh who had created some groundbreaking technology and they've been keeping it under wraps more or less. However, the cat will get out of the bag eventually. Once that happens people will have to really keep an eye on their online presence. I think facial recognition will be the death knell for the "amateur" pornography genre.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
Wow have you seen that Google Glass? I'm in shock it seems way beyond our time. Or maybe this should have come out by now.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
but then there's plastic surgery..
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
^^^ true ... but somehow the thought of having to pony up thousands of dollars to have your face 'remodeled' in order to prevent future straight job employers from using facial recognition software to make a connection between your submitted / ID photo on a straight job application and the same face appearing on strip club websites, tube sites, webcam host sites, affiliate sites etc. sort of defeats the purpose !!!!
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I recall a few years back they purchased a facial-recognition startup from Pittsburgh who had created some groundbreaking technology and they've been keeping it under wraps more or less. However, the cat will get out of the bag eventually. Once that happens people will have to really keep an eye on their online presence. I think facial recognition will be the death knell for the "amateur" pornography genre.
Not wanting to drift off topic, but where Google may come under huge pressure from US interests to suppress the use of facial recognition software for 'average' consumers, Japanese based company NEC isn't likely to experience similar outcries ... and particularly so when their facial recognition software isn't being marketed to 'average' consumers but instead to major retailers, hotel chains etc. In other words, NEC markets facial recognition software to corporations not individuals !!! But it will be those corporations who are the prospective future employers.
Also, while Google Glass is currently a unique 'prototype', I can pretty much guarantee you that ... just like the original I-Phone ... within a few years competing manufacturers will offer similar products with similar capabilities. And at that point, Google will no longer control a 'captive' market for software development, facial recognition or otherwise.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
If in the future, employers are able to buy this face-recognition software, and use it to screen applicants for jobs, retiring strippers or cam-girls can also buy the same software and use it to have any unauthorized photos of herself removed from the internet. This would be more or less difficult to do, depending on how widespread her photos are. Also, if the site owner is in a different country, it will make it more difficult. Strippers and cam-girls will have to be careful about who they give legal authorization to use their photos, and what the terms are.
I wouldn't be surprised if in the future, there are businesses that specialize in getting such things removed from the internet.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
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retiring strippers or cam-girls can also buy the same software and use it to have any unauthorized photos of herself removed from the internet. This would be more or less difficult to do, depending on how widespread her photos are. Also, if the site owner is in a different country, it will make it more difficult. Strippers and cam-girls will have to be careful about who they give legal authorization to use their photos, and what the terms are.
Unfortunately, every adult webcam host and just about every strip club chain already inserts provisions into official 'employment' paperwork that grants copyright for camgirl / dancer pics and videos to the webcam host / strip club. Thus even if a camgirl / dancer were able to access facial recognition software in the future ( which is likely to remain expensive ... although probably much less expensive than NEC's current $880 per MONTH license fee ), and even if the camgirl / dancer were able to locate all online images of herself on strip club websites, webcam host sites, tube sites, affiliate sites, pirate sites etc., there is no practical way for the camgirl / dancer to actually get all of those pics and videos removed due to the fact that she is not the actual copyright owner. And, of course, refusing to accept the copyright provisions of official 'employment' paperwork also means that the camgirl / dancer will not be allowed to work in the first place, which obviously renders the point moot !
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I wouldn't be surprised if in the future, there are businesses that specialize in getting such things removed from the internet.
I would turn this around, i.e. not being surprised if in the future, there are businesses that specialize in performing facial recognition internet searches on demand for employer background checks on prospective straight job applicants. This in turn would widen the 'circle' of employers using facial recognition software from today's major corporations down to medium sized and perhaps even small businesses. Probable end result will be that future internet facial recognition checks on prospective employees may become as widespread as today's Facebook page checks on prospective employees.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
Melonie,
I agree with you that employers would certainly attempt to use facial recognition software as part of an applicant's background check, but I think such practices will have some pitfalls. Any facial recognition algorithm will have error in it and won't be able to say with 100% certainty that picture X contains person Y. Unless there are body markings/tattoos/etc. that could be used to further identify someone, an employer could never be able to completely prove that an applicant or employee was in a picture. After all, we all have our doppelgängers out there. Eventually someone will lose their job because they were misidentified and that's where the lawsuits will come in. I also think that public opinion will be strongly against this type of privacy invasion and not look kindly upon companies that are identified as using facial recognition software in their hiring decisions.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
^^^ Cabezon, I hope that you're right. However, if we're talking about pre-employment screening, the employers have no obligation whatsoever to provide prospective job applicants with a reason why they were not hired. Thus I expect that, as is the case today, as long as there remains a large pool of qualified prospective job applicants whose background checks do not turn up possible 'negative' attributes ... from today's poor credit rating to questionable Facebook postings to an adult entertainment industry 'paper' trail to tomorrow's facial recognition searches, those prospective employers have everything to gain and nothing to lose by simply dropping resumes from applicants with 'negative' attributes into the waste basket !!! Thus even if the prospective employer's 'negative' attribute determination was / will be inaccurate, the prospective job applicant will probably never know that and certainly can't prove that for purposes of any future lawsuit.
What you say about potential employer liability for wrongful dismissal AFTER an employee has in fact been hired is, and will remain, very true. However, this growing potential employer liability is PRECISELY the reason that present and future employer background checks will increasingly seek to prevent the hiring of prospective employees with 'negative' attributes which the employers perceive as being more likely to result in a future need for dismissal thus future lawsuits. For example, another SW thread raises the issue of a wrongful dismissal lawsuit related state supreme court case recently ruling that being 'too beautiful' is a justifiable reason for firing a female employee in some circumstances. Thus, with prospective employers having de-facto immunity in regard to reasons for NOT deciding to hire a particular person in the first place, simply being 'too beautiful' has already become a 'negative' attribute. Adding a possible adult entertainment industry connection only serves to increase that 'negative'.
As to your comments about public opinion re supposed privacy invasion, I would contend that in general most of the US population doesn't really care that much. After all, the Patriot Act already allowed a measure of privacy invasion in the supposed interest of national security, the IRS now tracks money flows of individuals in the supposed interest of national security, etc. thus future use of facial recognition software to screen prospective future employees for supposed national security reasons will arguably constitute just another small step down that same 'slippery slope'.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
Thank lawd I'm a 'lifer' in terms of staying in the adult industry forever! XD
I'd seriously hate to worry about this kind of thing. Technology is amazing though. It's getting so crazy... It makes me wonder what the world will be like in say, 40 years time!
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
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It makes me wonder what the world will be like in say, 40 years time!
IMHO the world that exists 40 years from now will have 'unimaginable' changes. But of far greater potential interest to dancers / camgirls who are college students will be the changes that take place over the next 4 years.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
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Originally Posted by
Melonie
Unfortunately, every adult webcam host and just about every strip club chain already inserts provisions into official 'employment' paperwork that grants copyright for camgirl / dancer pics and videos to the webcam host / strip club. Thus even if a camgirl / dancer were able to access facial recognition software in the future ( which is likely to remain expensive ... although probably much less expensive than NEC's current $880 per MONTH license fee ), and even if the camgirl / dancer were able to locate all online images of herself on strip club websites, webcam host sites, tube sites, affiliate sites, pirate sites etc., there is no practical way for the camgirl / dancer to actually get all of those pics and videos removed due to the fact that she is not the actual copyright owner. And, of course, refusing to accept the copyright provisions of official 'employment' paperwork also means that the camgirl / dancer will not be allowed to work in the first place, which obviously renders the point moot !
There are hundreds of strip clubs around this country. How do you know that most of them require dancers to grant copyrights to any photos of themselves? Most of the strip club websites I've seen, have very few, if any photos of their dancers, other than feature dancers. I don't work at a strip club and I could be wrong, but it's my guess that if a dancer told club management or the owners that she didn't want any photos of herself posted on the internet, to protect her privacy, many clubs would be okay with this. I think it's understandable that a dancer would want to keep what she does for a living private.
A feature dancer who has appeared in a number of adult movies and videos may have a hard time getting all photos of herself removed from the internet, but I would think that a college student dancing at a club to earn some extra dollars would most likely be okay.
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Originally Posted by
Melonie
I would turn this around, i.e. not being surprised if in the future, there are businesses that specialize in performing facial recognition internet searches on demand for employer background checks on prospective straight job applicants. This in turn would widen the 'circle' of employers using facial recognition software from today's major corporations down to medium sized and perhaps even small businesses. Probable end result will be that future internet facial recognition checks on prospective employees may become as widespread as today's Facebook page checks on prospective employees.
There are already businesses that specialize in background checks, and this may just be something they add to their investigations.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
I asked my friend who danced at clubs in Ohio and Pennsylvania if she had to sign any consent forms granting the strip club copyright to her pictures, and she said she didn't.
Re: Facial Recognition software takes another step towards 'mainstream'
^^^ did she read the fine print of the 'employment agreement' the club required her to sign ? Odds are that a copyright blurb was included. It's an absolute certainty that all of the corporate chain clubs include a copyright blurb. It's also an absolute certainty that every major webcam host site includes a copyright blurb.
Granted that privately owned individual clubs may or may not make mention of copyright. However, the dancer being the actual owner of the copyright to her pics and videos removes just one of several potential obstacles. As you yourself posted earlier, websites hosted in foreign countries have no legal obligation to remove pics and videos upon request. Similarly, US hosted websites may not remove pics posted by a 'third party' using the 'fair use' doctrine as justification. The point is that, for a large number of dancers, and for ALL camgirls, expecting to remove all internet pic and video 'evidence' of having worked in the adult entertainment industry is NOT a reasonable future expectation.
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There are already businesses that specialize in background checks, and this may just be something they add to their investigations
Indeed !!!