University of Matej Bel

Faculty of Natural Sciences

Dominika Kamenská

Facial Recognition

Professional English

Department of Computer Science

Banská Bystrica 2021

 INTRODUCTION

Facial recognition has in recent years exploded in popularity. Whether it´s the tagged
pictures on Facebook from a family gathering or a celebration with friends, facial recognition
can be found anywhere at any time. It has been even integrated into smartphones by Google,
Microsoft, Apple, and others to assemble albums of people that hang out together. Unlocking
your phone when your hands are wet or full of stuff, has also never been easier.

It sounds like the perfect technology to have and use, but facial recognition has its
downsides. The main goal of this work is to introduce the reader to facial recognition –
especially how it works – and to also state the possible risks and disadvantages of such widely
used technology.
1 FACIAL RECOGNITION

Facial or face recognition is a technology that uses an image, video, or other audio-
visual aspect of a person's face to recognize or verify him. This identification is typically used
to gain access to a program, device, or service.

It is a method of biometric identification that uses body measurements, in this case the
face and head, to verify a person's identity by looking at their facial biometric pattern and
details. To identify, verify, and/or authenticate an individual, the technology collects a
collection of specific biometric data associated with their face and facial expression. (1)

Speech recognition, fingerprint recognition, and eye retina or iris recognition are all
examples of biometric software. While the technology is primarily used for security and law
enforcement, there is growing interest in other applications.

Biometric facial recognition, unlike other forms of identification such as passwords,

email authentication, selfies or photographs, or fingerprint identification, employs specific
mathematical and dynamic patterns that make it one of the safest and most efficient.

The facial recognition process can perform two variants depending on when it is
performed (1):

 The one in which a facial recognition system addresses a face for the first time
to register it and link it with an identity in a way that it is registered in the
system. Digital onboarding with facial recognition is another name for this
procedure.
 The variant in which the user is authenticated, prior to being registered. The
incoming data from the camera is compared to the database's existing data in
this process. If the user's face matches an already-registered identity, the device
grants him access using his credentials.

1.2 How does facial recognition work?

Facial technology systems can vary, but in general, they tend to operate as follows:

1) Face detection

Page 1
 The algorithm detects and locates the image of a face, either alone or in a crowd.
The image may show the person looking straight ahead or in profile.

2) Face recognition or analysis

This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, but the most common is to use a
second neural network. It is fed a series of face images and is taught how to distinguish
between them over several rounds. Some algorithms map the face directly, taking into
account the distances between the eyes, nose, and mouth, among other things. Or in other
words the software reads the geometry of the face. Others use more abstract features to
chart the face. (2)

In either case, the network generates a vector for each face, which is a string of
numbers that distinguishes the individual from the rest of the training set. Therefore, the
goal is to figure out what facial landmarks are essential for recognizing your face.

Image 1: Example of facial recognition – how the vectors are being used

3) Converting the image to data

Based on a person's facial features, the face capture process converts analog
information (a face) into a collection of digital information (data). The analysis of your
face is basically reduced to a mathematical formula. Faceprint refers to the numerical
code. Each individual has their own faceprint, similar to how thumbprints are special.

4) Finding a match

After that, the faceprint is linked to a database of other people's faces. The FBI, for
example, has access to up to 650 million images extracted from a variety of state
databases.

Page 2
 Any picture tagged with a person's
name on Facebook is stored in Facebook's
database, which can be used for facial
recognition. A determination is made if the
faceprint matches a picture in a facial
recognition database.

Unlike fingerprints and DNA, which

do not change during a person’s life, facial
recognition has to take into account
different factors, such as – ageing, plastic
surgery, cosmetics, effects of drug abuse or
Image 2: Short explanation on how facial recognition works
smoking, or the pose of the subject. (3)

1.3 Uses of Facial Recognition

A. Unlocking phones

Face recognition is used to unlock a variety of phones, including the most popular
iPhones. The technology provides a powerful way to secure personal information and
guarantees that confidential data is unavailable even if the phone is stolen. According to
Apple, the chances of a random face unlocking your phone are one in one million. (4)

B. Law enforcements

Law enforcement also employs facial recognition technology. According to this NBC
article (5), law enforcement departments in the United States are becoming more
technologically advanced, and the same is true in other countries. Arrestees' mugshots are
collected and compared to facial recognition databases at the local, national, and federal
levels. When an arrestee's photo is taken, it will be entered into databases and scanned if
police conduct another criminal investigation.

C. Finding missing persons

Missing people and victims of human trafficking may be identified using facial
recognition technology. Assuming that a database is created to track down missing people. In
any scenario, law enforcement will be notified as soon as a person is recognized by face
recognition, whether in an airport, a convenience store, or another public location.

Page 3
 D. Reducing retail crime

When known shoplifters, organized retail criminals, or individuals with a history of

fraud visit shops, facial recognition is used to recognize them. Loss prevention and retail
security experts will be alerted when customers who might pose a threat enter the store by
matching their photographs against vast databases of offenders.

2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

2.1 Advantages

Advantages according to (4):

Increased security

As mentioned before, facial recognition will assist governments in identifying

terrorists and other offenders. Face recognition can be used as a security method for locking
personal devices and for personal surveillance cameras on a personal level. There is nothing
to steal or alter, unlike a password, so in principle, the technology cannot be exploited.

Reduced crime

Burglars, robbers, and trespassers can be identified more easily through facial
recognition. The mere knowledge of a face recognition system will act as a deterrent,
particularly in the case of petty crime. There are advantages of cybersecurity in addition to
physical defence. Facial recognition technology can be used to unlock machines in place of
passwords.

Greater convenience

Customers will be able to pay in supermarkets with their faces rather than credit cards
or cash as the system becomes more widely used. This will reduce the amount of time spent in
checkout lines. Since facial recognition requires no touch, unlike fingerprinting or other
security measures – which would be useful in the post-COVID environment – it provides a
simple, automated, and seamless authentication experience.

Integration with other technologies

Page 4
 The majority of facial recognition software is compliant with security software. It is,
in effect, simple to integrate. This reduces the amount of extra money needed to put it in
place.

2.2 Disadvantages

Disadvantages according to (4):

Surveillance

Some fear that the use of facial recognition, in combination with pervasive video
cameras, artificial intelligence, and data analytics, would lead to mass surveillance, limiting
human rights. Governments can use face recognition technologies to track down terrorists, but
it may also be used to track down average, innocent individuals at any moment.

Possible errors

Facial recognition data is not error-free, which means that individuals could be
accused of offences they did not commit. A minor difference in camera angle, for example, or
a change in appearance, such as a new hairstyle, may result in an error. For example, in 2018,
Newsweek revealed that Amazon's facial recognition system had mistakenly named 28
members of the US Congress as criminals.

Breach of privacy

The most controversial issue is one of ethics and privacy. Governments have been
known to store photos of people without their permission. In 2020, the European Commission
announced that it was proposing a five-year ban on facial recognition technologies in public
spaces to give it time to develop a legal system to deter privacy and ethical violations.

Massive data storage

Facial recognition software is based on machine learning, which takes a large amount
of data to "read" and provide correct results. Wide data sets require reliable data storage.
Small and medium-sized businesses may not have the necessary capacity to retain the data.

Page 5
3 CONCLUSIONS

Although biometric data is widely regarded as one of the most secure authentication
mechanisms, it also carries significant risks. If a person's credit card information is stolen,
they will freeze their credit and take action to alter the stolen personal information. But what
happens when you lose your digital identity, such as your faceprint?

Biometric data is being collected, processed, and analysed in ever-increasing amounts

all over the globe, mostly by organisations and governments with a poor track record when it
comes to cybersecurity.

Deepfakes also pose a threat to such security, especially with its ability to replace a
person in an existing image or video with someone else. Therefore it´s easy to assume that
such technologies can be used to fake your digital identity and get access to your personal
data. And as facial recognition becomes even more widely spread, the potential for hackers to
steal your facial data and use it to commit fraud grows.

Image 3: An example of a deepfake

Despite all the possible risks, biometric technology – such as facial recognition – has a
lot of potential in terms of defence. Regardless of the dangers, the devices are practical and
difficult to replicate.

In conclusion, as these technologies continue to grow and evolve, the biggest

challenge will certainly be to maximize their advantages while reducing their risks.

Page 6
 REFERENCES

1. Electronic IDentification. Face Recognition: how it works and its safety.

www.electronicid.eu. [Online] 27 July 2020. [Cited: 15 April 2021.]
https://www.electronicid.eu/en/blog/post/face-recognition/en.

2. Sample, Ian. What is facial recognition - and how sinister is it?

www.theguardian.com. [Online] 29 July 2019. [Cited: 15 April 2021.]
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/29/what-is-facial-recognition-and-how-
sinister-is-it.

3. Interpol. Facial Recognition. www.interpol.int. [Online] [Cited: 15 April 2021.]

https://www.interpol.int/How-we-work/Forensics/Facial-Recognition.

4. Kaspersky. What is Facial Recognition – Definition and Explanation.

www.kaspersky.com. [Online] [Cited: 15 April 2021.] https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-
center/definitions/what-is-facial-recognition.

5. Schuppe, Jon. How facial recognition became a routine policing tool in Americ.
www.nbcnews.com. [Online] 11 May 2019. [Cited: 15 April 2021.]
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/how-facial-recognition-became-routine-policing-
tool-america-n1004251.

6. Wójcik, Waldemar, Gromaszek, Konrad and Junisbekov, Muhtar. Face

Recognition: Issues, Methods and Alternative Applications. Face Recognition -
Semisupervised Classification, Subspace Projection and Evaluation Methods. s.l. :
IntechOpen, 2016.

Page 7