Facial Recognition

Definition

Facial recognition is a computer vision technology that identifies or verifies a person’s identity by analyzing facial features in images or video.

Purpose

The purpose is to provide identity verification, authentication, and surveillance. It is used in security, consumer devices, and law enforcement.

Importance

• Widely adopted in smartphones, airports, and policing.
• Raises major privacy and ethical concerns.
• Accuracy varies across demographic groups.
• Subject to regulatory debates worldwide.

How It Works

1. Capture face image or video.
2. Detect and align facial region.
3. Extract features using neural networks.
4. Compare features with a stored database.
5. Return identification or verification result.

Examples (Real World)

• Apple Face ID: biometric authentication on iPhones.
• Clearview AI: facial recognition used in law enforcement.
• Airports: automated border control using facial verification.

References / Further Reading

• ISO/IEC 19794-5: Biometric Data Interchange Formats — Face Image.
• NIST Face Recognition Vendor Tests.
• Garvie, C. “The Perpetual Line-Up” — Georgetown Law.