face recognition flop

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Christian Kuhtz <christian () kuhtz com>
Date: July 11, 2007 2:32:40 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: face recognition flop

Dave,

for IP if you wish..

---

Apparently the BKA (German equivalent of the FBI) tested face  
recognition, spent 200K euros to test the system in a rail terminal  
in the city of Mainz and basically declared it worthless in terms of  
being an investigative tool.  Apparently (per the article) this is  
the first public trial under normal, every day conditions (rather  
than having the conditions manipulated for a good showing) and only  
matched 30%.  Even when the lighting was modified to be ideal, it  
only reached 60%. The BKA considers the system only useful if the  
success rate is very near 100%.

The sample size was approximately 23,000 travelers per day over a  
period of roughly 3 months.  The targets were 200 commuters who had  
volunteered for the trial and travel through this rail terminal at  
least once per day.

BKA recommended that this is not a suitable system for surveillance  
and facial recognition to try to match suspects in a manhunt etc.

Article is in German, try your favorite mechanized translator.  If  
there's enough demand, I happen to be bilingual and may be convinced  
into doing a translation in my spare time. ;-)

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/0,1518,493911,00.html



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