Facial recognition technology has evolved considerably over the last few years and is now being used everywhere from airports, railway stations, shopping malls, financial services, and even law enforcement.
The global market for facial recognition is expected to reach $7 billion in 2024 compared to $3.2 billion in 2019, with an annual growth rate of 16% between 2019 and 2015. 2024, according to the Markets and Markets market research report.
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The main growth drivers of this technology now include the increased number of data security initiatives by governments, increased use of mobile devices, and further development of the financial services sector by robust systems for fraud detection and prevention.
Although there are some potential benefits to be used to prevent and resolve crimes quickly, the rapid growth of this technology has sparked widespread controversy, and many concerns about privacy, safety, and employment legislation.
Here are 5 disadvantages of facial recognition:
1. New levels of surveillance
Surveillance systems (CCTVs) are already spread all over the world, but some governments have begun to develop surveillance cameras to a large extent such as China, which developed a camera up to 500 megapixels, and can take very detailed images, and identify individuals from the tens of thousands on the streets Or in sports stadiums. China currently has an estimated 200 million CCTV cameras monitoring its citizens.
Facial recognition technology has opened up new levels of surveillance, allowing direct and random monitoring of people in their daily work, allowing authorities to track every step they take.
2. There is no clear legal or regulatory framework
Most countries do not have specific legislation regulating the use of facial recognition technology, and although some legislators are trying to change that, this legislative gap opens the door to abuse, such as: obtaining our images without our knowledge or consent and using them in ways we disagree with.
3. Inaccuracy in identification
Facial recognition technology is used to identify or confirm the identity of individuals through digital images or videos by comparing selected faces – to be confirmed to faces saved within the database, but unfortunately, many studies have highlighted the possibility that the algorithms can be mistaken during identification.
In 2018, ACLU tested Amazon’s face recognition system, known as Amazon Rekognition, and the results were shocking as the system incorrectly identified 28 members of the US Congress as other people arrested for a crime.
The study raised many concerns that this could lead to law enforcement operations leading to unlawful arrests.
Fears of ethnic prejudice
For years, researchers have demonstrated the ability of face recognition systems to racial bias. Researchers at MIT laboratories have discovered that common facial recognition algorithms from Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Face ++ take longer to recognize people. People with darker skin – especially women – compared to getting to know people with light skin, and this prejudice is of great concern.
5. Violation of privacy rights
The right to privacy even in public places; protects the expression of identity without undue interference from the state or private companies, so some human rights organizations believe that taking pictures, storing and analyzing them randomly and widely using face recognition technology undermines this right This means that no one can do anything in public without the knowledge of the state.