Living in Miami, we all experience our fair share of road rage moments. Those times where we have gotten cut off or someone doesn’t use their blinkers or even when someone decides to drive slower than your abuelita. At some point or another we can all relate to this whether we have been the offender or the victim, however, it’s only been till now that you might be able to get some kind of justice. If you’ve gotten cut off and maybe gotten in an accident, using facial recognition software on your mobile phone might be able to help. You snap a picture of the troublemaker and identify him or her through the use of his social media profiles. If anything you can at least then make sure that once you’ve found out their identity the whole world knows what they did and to watch out.
What a concept.
It wasn’t until recently that I was using my iPhone the other day looking something up in the Google that I realized I had the option to look something up just by taking a picture of it. I thought it was pretty cool and it wasn’t until after reading a post by Anthony Miyazaki, that I realized just how much there was behind such a technology. Just like using the facial recognition to maybe get some justice, this can also mean yet another opportunity for it to fall into the wrong hands. This technology can be pretty great if used correctly however, I see this as an even bigger opportunity for wrongdoing. If you do happen to be that person that offends another, you might get more than you bargained for when that 30 seconds encounter may turn into a longer and greater ordeal. If you do cut someone off or perhaps if you’re at a party and blow someone off, they may manage to get a picture of you and essentially with that they can search and find out who you are based on your online presence by finding your facebook or even your youtube and twitter. Once that happens they’re free to have you under their surveillance once they’ve gone through your things online and see your usual spots. Should have thought twice about how you handled that situation, now it could turn into something serious. Since you don’t always know with who you’re dealing with this technology might have just made it easier to get even or get back.
This kind of technology is pushing towards further questioning our privacy. Right now we’re in a time where we broadcast to everyone any and every part of our lives, some more than others. Already that puts millions at risk for possible threats such as stalkers. This kind of technology might bring in some definite unwanted attention. Yes, we can argue that since we put our lives out there for public display we can’t really say anything, but it’s way different looking for a person on facebook to friend them once you’ve met them in person or through a friend than having some random guy from the coffee shop you saw pointing his phone at you, taking your picture and now trying to friend you without as much as a “hello” in between to get a look at your personal life. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I feel that this kind of technology would also encourage less communication. Instead of going up to someone and asking for their name and maybe getting to know them, you’d be finding out their information by basically lurking through their profile, and honestly, how comfortable would you be with someone telling you “I saw you around and found out your name from facebook, can we be friends?”
This technology could be an interesting opportunity for marketing however. Leave the facial recognition to the government to find the bad guys. In addition, instead of really focusing on “facial” recognition, it could focus on other things like clothing and accessories on actual people. Google goggles doesn’t work for that yet, but maybe if the technology keeps developing it might help consumers find and shop for things they want. Using the technology would allow marketers to see what people are looking for and help them target them more specifically with options on what they’re searching for. For example, if I saw a girl with an outfit that I absolutely would love to have I could take her picture and it could suggest similar clothing and what stores have it available with links. Something like this wouldn’t seem to be too far behind. Lastly, this technology doesn’t have to be a negative but knowing our society, it only takes one to use it the way it wasn’t intended for. I guess the only positive of this new technology could be that you get to dress up and wear things you normally wouldn’t to be unrecognizable, maybe if you wear a funky wig or outfit you might pass off as lady gaga, or Nicky Minaj, and I’m sure then you wouldn’t mind having your picture taken if you’re mistaken for a celebrity.
I’ll stick with finding out about a person by asking them directly or at least from a friend, facebook can stay out of this one.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/17871/google_face_search_to_use_social_network_photos
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