New Face of Security Troubling to Advocates of Privacy

Hordes of Super Bowl spectators didn’t know it, but as they streamed into Tampa Bay stadium in January, they were being watched.

Remote cameras, connected to sophisticated computers, scanned the 100,000 faces of ticket-holders, looking for matches in a database of known criminals. Several were identified, although no arrests were made.

The Super Bowl test was a high-profile example of the startling progress researchers have made in enabling computers to “recognize” the faces of people passing before a camera.

That has some experts predicting that security concerns stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will fuel vast increases in the use of face-recognition systems to boost screening procedures at airports, public buildings, stadiums and more.

“You’re finally starting to see that the technology is getting ready for prime time,” said Claudio Ballard, chief executive of Data Treasury Corp., a Long Island, N.Y., company that specializes in electronic identification. “You’re suddenly going to see people waking up to the reality that the current system for identity verification just plain doesn’t work.”

But the vision of computerized cameras scanning public places has privacy advocates concerned about the potential for “Big Brother” surveillance by government and private business.

“You have to ask yourself: Where are they going to start using the technology next, and what are they going to do with it?” said Kate Rears, a policy analyst for the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

“When we go out in public, we don’t want to have a feeling that we’re going to be watched, and that our every action can be interpreted or misinterpreted in different ways,” she said.

For years, systems that identify people by measuring unique parts of their bodies--known as biometrics--were largely the stuff of science fiction and spy novels. But many believe they are ready to move out of the research lab and into practical use in identifying criminals and terrorists.

“I think the state of the art has progressed to the point where these systems can be useful in security,” said Larry A. Hornak of the Center for Identification Technology Research at West Virginia University. “It’s clear that they will be part of the solution.”

But there are also questions about the reliability of face-recognition systems. Critics say false alarms could allow innocent people to be accused or criminals to evade identification.

“How many innocent people are going to be pulled into the dragnet and put under suspicion because some of their features match those in the database?” said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. At the same time, she said, “People who know how to foil the system are going to be good at doing so.”

“I worry about law enforcement officials [who] are looking at face recognition as a magic bullet, a technological fix, when I think it has severe limitations,” Givens said.

Joseph Atick, chairman and chief executive of Visionics Corp. of Jersey City, N.J., a leading maker of face-recognition systems, said the technology is constantly improving and soon will present a major impediment to known terrorists and other criminals.

Atick likened face recognition to metal detectors and X-ray machines that have become common technologies for improving security at airports, courthouses and other sensitive locations.

“Accuracy will improve,” he said. “I believe we will shortly see the introduction of face scanning as part of the security of airports.”

In fact, Viisage Corp. of Littleton, Mass., another leading maker of face-recognition systems, announced this month that it had secured a contract with an unnamed “major U.S. airport” to install its FaceFINDER identification systems.

But Michael Thieme, a senior consultant for International Biometric Group, a New York consulting company, said face recognition needs work before it can be relied upon for identification.

“The technology just isn’t that accurate right now. It’s still at a somewhat developmental stage,” he said. “It’s not capable of the robust identification that you might find with iris recognition or fingerprint systems.”

“You have a moving target at some distance from the camera. You may have changes in facial hair. You may have changes in background lighting. Those are things that can make it difficult to make the identification,” Thieme said.

Beyond the issue of reliability, some people see problems if cameras and face-recognition systems become ubiquitous. “I think it chills a lot of activity that is innocent. It removes a lot of spontaneity from our lives, and it gives us a false sense of security,” said Robert Ellis Smith, publisher of Privacy Journal, based in Providence, R.I.

*

John M. Moran is a reporter with the Hartford Courant, a Tribune company.