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U.S. agency: Pandemic masks thwarting face recognition tech:
Having a tough time recognizing your neighbors behind their pandemic masks? Computers are finding it more difficult, too.
A preliminary study published by a U.S. agency on Monday found that even the best commercial facial recognition systems have error rates as high as 50% when trying to identify masked faces.
The mask problem is why Apple earlier this year made it easier for iPhone owners to unlock their phones without Face ID. It could also be thwarting attempts by authorities to identify individual people at Black Lives Matter protests and other gatherings.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology says it is launching an investigation to better understand how facial recognition performs on covered faces. Its preliminary study examined only those algorithms created before the pandemic, but its next step is to look at how accuracy could improve as commercial providers adapt their technology to an era when so many people are wearing masks.
Some companies, including those that work with law enforcement, have tried to tailor their face-scanning algorithms to focus on people's eyes and eyebrows.
NIST, which is a part of the Commerce Department, is working with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security's science office to study the problem.
Aww, I feel so bad for the little guy! Perhaps we can help out by training up a neural net to correlate masked and unmasked photos.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 29 2020, @02:57AM (1 child)
Maybe to find the especially peaceful protestors that burnt down buildings and shot people and tore down the statues that honor the brave people who fought to create and preserve the US?
Didn't see the other protesters name/ give up the bad apples so somebody has to find the culprits. Local law enforcement is toothless because of propaganda so if you want some semblance of order (you know, the basis of a civilization) then you apply the law, find and punish the criminals.
On the flip-side I was born and lived in an authoritarian communist regime where the secret police had a dossier on everyone and you could be vanned for not reporting your neighbor's activities fast enough. The current technological surveillance possibilities of the US are a wet dream of any dictator.
TL;DR; I'd rather people not burn down buildings and tear down statues and I am willing to give up some liberties for it.
Posting as Anon because I don't want any peaceful and tolerant people to burn down my house for having a diverse opinion then the prosecutor jail me if I dare defend myself.
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 29 2020, @04:36PM
We keep finding them and they keep ending up being White Supremacists:
Police: Richmond riots instigated by white supremacists disguised as Black Lives Matter [wsls.com]
‘Boogaloo Boys’ race-war extremists arrested ‘with molotov cocktails and bomb supplies’ at George Floyd rally in Vegas [the-sun.com]
Minneapolis police say 'Umbrella Man' was a white supremacist trying to incite George Floyd rioting [startribune.com]