Facial recognition biometrics do not work

After we wrote about the inaccuracy of facial recognition systems, we received such a detailed comment on it from David Moss that we asked if we could make it a blog entry. David, a former IT consultant, writes widely on the subject, most recently for The Guardian.

Biometrics based on face recognition do not work. All the trial results point to that conclusion. And the FBI confirm that they have been keeping an eye on face recognition since 1963. They didn’t invest then. They’re still not investing now.

Only one government organisation claims to have scientific proof that face recognition works, and that is the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The findings of their report are questionable. And when you question them, you get no answer. When you see politicians or civil servants or technology suppliers extolling face recognition, scepticism is the order of the day. This technology is guilty until proven innocent.

“Scepticism is the order of the day. This technology is guilty until proven innocent.”

Take a supplier like 3VR: South Korean Study Delivers a Face Rec First (90%+ Accuracy Using Surveillance Video). The 90%+ accuracy of 3VR’s technology is unprecedented for face recognition. Have 3VR really achieved the alchemists’ dream? Maybe not. The 90%+ reliability report appears on the In Hard Focus blog. That blog is run by Steve Russell. And Steve Russell is the Founder and CEO of 3VR. The same Steve Russell who interviewed Rob Jenkins, as quoted in the earlier Zebu post. Which is confusingly noble of Steve Russell because Rob Jenkins makes it admirably clear that 3VR is probably a waste of time and money.

This isn’t hard focus. This is a miasma. The same miasma that affects mass consumer biometrics worldwide. Sticking to the UK, the Identity & Passport Service and the UK Border Agency, both executive agencies of the Home Office, haven’t got a leg to stand on when it comes to their use of biometrics. Like NIST, they can’t defend their decision to spend our money on this hopelessly flaky technology and so they don’t – questions addressed to them remain unanswered. At least they do for the moment. My best wishes to www.utterzebu.com. Perhaps with their zebutic assistance we may at last get these civil servants to come blinking into the daylight and admit that, actually, their biometric initiatives have all been a bit of a mistake and, come to think of it, this is probably the time to stop, isn’t it?

David Moss

David’s own website is Dematerialised ID