Facial recognition technology: Big brother's ultimate weapon against civil liberties

But how reliable is face recognition technology? Can computers really identify a human face from an image caught on a surveillance camera? With increasing uses of public camera's at airports, in streets and in public buildings all hooked into computer networks unknown to the individual being filmed, could computers be trying to match your face to databases of criminals? There are two issues here: What if the technology gets it wrong and you are tagged as someone you are not? And does the government's increasing use of such technology reinforce fears of a Big Brother state?

Technologist Tim O'Reilly's view is that face recognition is here to stay. The question is "whether to pretend that it doesn't exist, and leave its use to government agencies, repressive regimes, marketing data mining firms, insurance companies, and other monolithic entities, or whether to come to grips with it as a society by making it commonplace and useful, figuring out the downsides, and regulating those downsides".

While Facebook has been criticised for its photo tag feature, the larger concern is the use of facial recognition software in public spaces and how it is being used. The NSW government, or more specifically the NSW police, is running facial recognition software against CCTV footage. The NSW RTA is also using the same software and same footage to link images to the RTA database of driver's license photos. The Australian federal police have access to both agencies. The federal body CrimTrac has asked NSW for its database so it can be mined nationally by police using the facial recognition information contained in it.

In 1987 Australian's strongly rejected an Australia Card because of privacy issues, with the unregulated use of facial recognition technology and computer networks, it appears society has come a long way in its willingness to give up civil liberties in return for apparent safety and protection.