Vesalis Biometric Facial Recognition Software for Shops and Government

A facial recognition technology, which was originally designed for makeup counters in malls, is getting a different type of attention by the government, as reported by Gizmodo.

French company Vesalis’ facial recognition software can pick up a person’s face based on low quality security camera footage.

This technology was originally intended for the cosmetics department to help boost sales. For example, if a loyal customer walks into the store, security cameras would be able to pick up on their facial features and pull-out their purchase history. It would then notify the staff and they could use the information to help the client purchase the same shade of makeup they bought months before or a similar kind which they might like.

The French government has shown keen interest in the technology and wants to use it for security purposes. After a test drive, it saw that it yielded a 98% accuracy result after reading through a crowd of 200,000 and compared it to a database of 500 persons of interest.

Most of the time, buildings and other public places are equipped with security cameras that are not of the highest quality. It may pick up on a person entering or leaving the scene of the crime but law enforcement officers are totally helpless in identifying the suspect due to the low quality of the footage taken. The ability to pull a clear image from a grainy and sandy camera feed will help authorities a great deal.

Do you think a 98% accuracy rate is suitable?

Article Topics

facial recognition  |  government  |  privacy  |  security  |  software