Love it or Hate it Facial Recognition technology is here to stay. What is now being recongnised is a need for governance and controls over systems that use it and in line with any current country legislations and data laws.

The ability to recongnise objects and faces is not new, but an evolving technology that is getting better at what it does.

When the use of ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) systems came out similar debates were had and these systems are controlled and governed by a set of strict guidelines. ANPR systems are now widely used across the world from Police Forces to Car Parks checking the time you have stayed against the ticket you have purchased.

Our acceptance of these Facial Recognition systems may take a similar route.

There have been a lot of stories recentrly about Facial Recognition and its use such as the UK Kings Cross Development which is now under investigation by the ICO around the storage and use of the data.

Many Police forces in the US have been using it and in the UK there have been trials of the technology with some trials not going forward due to human rights discussions and also some technology not picking up everyones faces correctly. Advancements are being made in the systems to resolve these issues and increase the ability to capture and recognise the information.

Some states in the US have banned the use of the technology (or are considering banning) and the EU are also starting to consider bans.

The UK Home Office and Border Force are currently looking at a version of Facial Recognition to help cut down on the queues at the border. The e-queues already do facial matching from camera pictures to passports to automate the system.

For me I am okay with the technology as long as its being used to help us police and keep us safe. Also the ability to recognise for financial and security systems. You can build your own system that you can teach it to recognise your face using a Raspberry Pi,