Month: December 2017

Emspak, Jesse. “Should Apple IPhone X Trust Facial Recognition for Security?” Scientific American, 22 Sept. 2017. www.scientificamerican.com/article/should-apple-iphone-x-trust-facial-recognition-for-security/#.

Our face is the “future of smartphone security”. Computer-vision researches are skeptical that facial recognition on a smartphone can account for changes in our appearance or lighting conditions. Apple’s new technology sounds promising because it can create more than a 3-D map of ones features. However, facial recognition is used by law enforcement for things like checking a suspect against a data base of mug shots. It is undetermined if the IPhone X will remain secure because of facial recognition. People will encounter many challenges with having to use facial recognition. The Face ID won’t unlock if the user’s eyes are closed or if they are not aligned properly with the camera. This very same thing is used to unlock things like back accounts. Hackers find ways around even the highest security. Facial recognition will prevent ones IPhone and information from being secure. The evidence provided seems valid because the sources used are from an electronic engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Apple’s Senior Vice President of World Marketing, a professor of computer science and engineering at Michigan State University, and more. The argument that is made in this article does not only state the writers opinion, but it explores all ideas and concerns as well. With smartphones today, if your password has been compromised, you can just change it. However, with facial recognition how will you be able to change it because you can’t change your face? This question is used to emphasis one of the many dilemmas to come if we decide to move to facial recognition technology, starting with the IPhone. Yes, facial recognition will decrease security when it comes to smartphones and information on that smartphone, however, do we have really have privacy today? This will be used to argue the other side emphasizing the question about are we really giving up any privacy or is it already gone.

Morse, Jack. “Why the IPhone X’s Facial Recognition Could Be a Privacy Disaster.” Mashable, 28 Aug. 2017. mashable.com/2017/08/28/trouble-facial-recognition-technology-smartphones/#Zwp.hRsr6Oql.

Facial recognition with the new IPhone X will lead to many problems in a short span of time. With facial recognition our face has become the key to unlock everything that is personal to us and in our lives. With facial recognition, there will be no privacy. It is like setting your password and letting the whole world know what your password it. You can easily take a screenshot of a picture of someone and use it to hack into someone’s phone. The Samsung’s Galaxy S8 was proved to be hackable with “nothing more than a photo”. The “always on” function on the new IPhone creates a huge privacy issue because the camera on the phone will always be on. Which means, that the device can record things you don’t intend it to by “default”. Facial recognition technology isn’t as good as some might think it may be. With facial recognition, we are relying on our faces as the key to unlock our phones, bank accounts, and more. The evidence provided seems valid because the sources used are from security researchers, an MIT PHD student, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, and more. This article isn’t just one sided. It weighs the pros and cons, as well as explains the concerns and problems facial recognition will have in the near future. With every new technology, specifically smartphones, that comes out, don’t we experience problems and setbacks until those problems and setbacks are learned from? This can be used to argue that we might not know a whole lot about facial recognition when it comes to smartphones, but overtime it will improve.

“How Do Consumers Really Feel About Facial Recognition?” EMarketer, 3 Oct. 2017. www.emarketer.com/Article/How-Do-Consumers-Really-Feel-About-Facial-Recognition/1016556.

Facial recognition on a smartphone is new to us consumers that many think it is “creepy”, or just “not normal”. We know that at some point in the future facial recognition will become the norm, however, many people do not like the thought of facial recognition on a smartphone. 34% favor facial recognition software, 39% did not favor it, and about 26% were not sure how they felt about it. Women were more likely to be cautious when it came to facial recognition technology than men. Apple uses an infrared camera and light projection that creates a 3-D map of the user’s face. Facial recognition capabilities for smartphones are still unknown. The evidence provided in this article is not that valid because there are no credible sources used to back up certain statements and positions made. Surveys were used to gather information used in this article. Yes, there are statistics provided but that is a small part of the argument that is being made. Women were more likely than men to be wary of technology, but is that because women don’t use technology as much or as often than men? This is used to question how valid the percentages in this article are. We can also use this to make an argument regarding if there’s enough people against it that facial recognition will not become the “norm” for society.

 

 

Dear Mr. Morse,

I am writing to you to discuss your article published on the mashable website in August of this year concerning facial recognition technology. You raise a lot of interesting points within your article. You are correct in stating that facial technology is a slippery slope. It is still a widely undeveloped field in the private sector, and possibly could pose potential threats to the modern American consumer. I completely agree also with your point that while this technology seems exciting and new, there is still a lot about it that we do not know. We have all seen the movies such as Iron Man where facial recognition technology is something that seems to be an everyday occurrence. Yes, this is Hollywood fiction, however the idea as we all know is still used today. The military and government agencies most definitely use this technology and have been for some time now. However, just like you point out, they have the ultimate privacy. We as average citizens of this nation cannot request to see or access the cameras and private tapes within these government organizations. That is why I totally understand why you are so concerned with our privacy and facial recognition technology. I remember when webcams on computers became standard parts to laptops and certain desktops. Many people were concerned with the fact that hackers could infiltrate their computers and access their webcams remotely. This breach of privacy was seen as a major lapse in technology companies plans when making these new computers. People would actually put small sections of sticky notes onto their webcams to try and prevent people from seeing them regardless of whether or not they are being hacked. And now, with facial recognition technology being introduced into the world of smartphones, this problem will still likely occur. Now, I don’t believe that people will place pieces of sticky notes onto their front phone cameras, but they will inevitably find a way to try and stop this from happening. You mention how the camera on the new iPhone X will apparently have the camera on the entire time, regardless of whether or not you are using the phone actively or not. This presents a problem definitely. There is no real reason why this would need to be enabled at all. Especially if the data collected can be hacked by some external person or persons. Also, why would these companies want the information and facial maps of our individual faces? There is always a numerical passcode used in case someone the owner of the device trusts needs to use the device or if the facial recognition does not work on the third or fourth attempt. If these companies like Apple keep a massive amount of data concerning our biometric data, why would we even give it to them in the first place? Many people are starting to shift to utilizing their fingerprints as a form of authentication when making purchases, and, if this trend continues, it is not hard to believe that facial recognition will also become a valid form of doing this same task. Even in the commercial for the iPhone X, they advertise that you can use just a look to pay for things. So, if people can access your phone with just a picture of your face, it is not hard to assume that they could also make purchases off of your phone with this same photograph. You also mention a lot of other concerns with the biometrics of facial recognition which are quite interesting. For example, as mentioned before, the general fact that you can unlock someone else’s phone with a photograph of their own face pulled from any form of social media or the internet. You would think that with this new technology that something like a two-dimensional picture would not be able to unlock it. And, while the iPhone X offers three-dimensional mapping rather than two-dimensional like the Samsung Galaxy 8, if it seems to work for the Samsung phone, one can only infer that it would also work on the iPhone X. Going back to the hackers, now, even if the iPhone X uses infrared facial mapping and scanning technology to capture your face and make it ‘more secure’, if the hackers access the data for our faces then there is nothing we can do once they have this data. The average person cannot just change their face at the drop of a hat. Plastic surgery may be a possible solution to this problem, but who has the money readily available to have this procedure done, and just so they can use their phone securely. People can burn off their fingertips or have them removed by a surgeon with lasers, but you cannot change the physical make-up of your face without some serious pain or money. Finally, you mention how facial recognition will depend on what the phone considers a face to be. It is interesting that what we consider facial recognition technology to be is already outdated. I believe that we all have a romanticized idea of how facial recognition technology works. And while this man that you quote says that there will be a multi-step approach to facial recognition technology when accessing the phone, I believe that none of these processes will actually make the phones more secure. The iPhone X does not even have a home button, making the possibility of using a fingerprint irrelevant. Now, while I agree with all of your points and arguments, I do not believe that facial recognition technology is all bad. I can see a purpose for it, and, if these companies such as Apple put more valid fail safes into these phones that use facial recognition technology, this technology could be a very useful tool in the world of smartphones. So, yes you are correct in your fears, however I believe that there are many ways not only to make this technology safe but effective and useful.

Petition to Apple to Include Facial

Recognition Technology on All Future Devices

This petition is meant to be seen by the Apple staff to show there is great interest in the developing facial recognition technology. The goal is to persuade Apple to include this technology in all their future phones and tablets.

Renditions and talk of next year’s iPhone do not include the facial recognition feature that was included on the most recent iPhone X. There has been a great response to this feature and very few complaints. Although there is no way to be sure about what features the new iPhone will have the leaks tend to be on point. It may be too late to sway Apple’s design for the 2018 iPhone there is still hope for the iPhone that will come out in 2019.

In January of 2016 a petition was made to persuade apple from getting rid of the head phone jack. This petition received over 300,000 signatures but it still wasn’t enough to keep apple from removing the head phone jack. For this reason, we must set our initial signature goal at 500,000. This is a very high initial goal but there are already millions of people who have bought the iPhone X. Most of the people who have bought the iPhone X really like the facial recognition and for this reason we believe we can reach and even surpass our goal with relative ease.

My suggestion to Apple would be to grow and expand their team that works specifically on the facial recognition technology so they can advance the technology even further and make it even more effective while also reducing the cost. This would allow Apple to implement the technology in future lower end models of the iPhone.

I ask that everyone that has read it takes the time to sign the petition and share it with your friends. Facial recognition is the future of personal identification and Apple was the first to successfully commercialize the technology. If we can get enough signatures to persuade Apple to do more and invest in this technology we can get it to everyone and it has the potential to make everyone’s life much easier.

Imagine a world where you no longer had to carry around any identification, whether it be a driver’s license a credit card, or even your rewards card at your favorite store. You would be able to buy things or identify yourself with simply a look.

 

Sources

• https://actions.sumofus.org/a/iphone-headphone-jack