Facial Recognition In The Hands of Big Brother (Extra Credit)

Picture a dystopian world, one in which cameras lace every street and scanners survey every human being. Simply by looking at your face, a facial recognition system can identify who you are. Privacy is no longer a right, but a luxury. This type of society sounds dreadful. Luckily, there are people such as Joy Buolamwini fighting to place restrictions on big tech companies attempting to use unfettered facial recognition. The documentary "Coded Bias" covers the work of individuals trying to hold the daunting power identity verification at bay. 

"Coded Bias" directed by Shalini Kantayya

How does face recognition work? These systems begin with programs which scan a human face and identify the human sample. Currently in China, face recognition is required to make transactions and use the internet. This means that the Chinese government has access to millions of people's information and can identify citizens through security cameras. This process is well known by the Chinese and the rest of the world. The most startling comparison for myself in "Coded Bias" was the fact that the difference between Chinese facial recognition and American facial recognition is that Chinese citizens know that they are being monitored.

A facial recognition program being used for surveillance

Anyone who has had a Facebook or Instagram account is at risk to these scans. Big tech companies hold information about consumers and can pair a face to these statistics. Looking at Facebook in particular, the site uses facial recognition to notify users if they are in another person's post. Additionally, transit systems hold high-resolution photos of citizens that can be used for state sponsored surveillance. The harsh reality is that if organizations are using this type of recognition in social media, facial recognition could turn sour in the wrong hands.