We’ve been familiar with facial recognition technology for some time now. It has been in used in law enforcement and security circles since the mid-1990s in one form or another. More recently, the technology has been used at large scale events (Super Bowl) to identify terrorists, in Mexico to prevent voter fraud and by an increasing amount of private companies to assist with time and attendance record keeping. While the technology is still being perfected, we’ve seen it in action in conjunction with access control systems. Apartment and condo communities have been able to cut back on personnel such as a doorman when switching to technology that will not only recognize a resident of the building, but also open the door and greet them by name.
Not surprisingly, Apple watchers say the company’s new Face ID technology could help revolutionize facial recognition and bring it to the mainstream. A chief complaint of the technology has been the ability to fool it by wearing masks or printing out photos of faces. But Apple’s iPhone X that was recently unveiled can confirm that a warm-blooded person is looking back at the phone by projecting infrared dots on faces to create a 3-D facial model. Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller says only 1 in a million people could unlock another person’s phone with their face.
Like many other innovative ideas, Apple’s entry into the field will help bring awareness to facial recognition and help people view it as a viable solution to everyday problems. While this technology is already in use for security purposes, those in our background screening division wonder if it will be long before it will become an important feature in the screening process. We sometimes struggle with matching criminal records to specific job applicants because courts, intending to help thwart identity theft have redacted social security numbers, dates of birth and other identifiers from court records. Could this also replace digital signatures? With applicants more frequently signing documents digitally, how much more secure would signing a disclosure and authorization be if it were done by signing with our faces?
Like a lot of new technology, this one also comes with privacy concerns. As we discover new ways to use this and other new technology to make us safer and make our lives better, a balance will have to be achieved to protect our privacy.