The end of anonymity as we know it? App allows people to find ANYONE'S social media profile just by taking their photo
- FindFace compares photos to pictures on social network Vkontakte
- Works out identities with 70 per cent reliability, according to the founders
- Gives most likely match to the face, as well as 10 similar people
- Can be used for dating and solving crimes using CCTV footage
Imagine a world in which you could not walk past someone on the street without them being able to identify you.
This is already a reality for some people, thanks to a new website designed in Russia.
'FindFace'
uses a new algorithm to identify anyone from their profile picture
using only a photograph, with 70 per cent accuracy.
'FindFace' uses a new algorithm to
identify anyone from their profile picture using only a photograph, with
70 per cent accuracy. The website works by comparing photographs to
profile pictures on Vkontakte - a social network popular in Russia and
the former Soviet Union with more than 200 million accounts
The
website works by comparing photographs to profile pictures on Vkontakte
- a social network popular in Russia and the former Soviet Union with
more than 200 million accounts.
Unlike other face recognition technology, the FindFace algorithm allows quick searches in big data sets.
According
to the company website, its primary use is for dating. The idea is a
user would see someone they like, photograph them, find their identity,
and then send them a friend request.
The algorithm also looks for similar people, and gives a list of 10 more people for you to approach.
In
the two months since it launched, FindFace has gained 500,000 users and
processed nearly 3 million searches, according to its Russian founders
Artem Kukharenko and Alexander Kabakov.
'With
this algorithm, you can search through a billion photographs in less
than a second from a normal computer,' Mr Kabakov told The Guardian.
The website has already been used to solve crime, according to Russian website Geek Times.
If someone takes a photograph of you,
they might be using it to find out who you are. Unlike other face
recognition technology, the FindFace algorithm allows quick searches in
big data sets
In the two months since it launched,
Findface has gained 500,000 users and processed nearly 3 million
searches, according to its Russian founders Artem Kukharenko and
Alexander Kabakov
In
April, CCTV footage captured two people setting fire to a building in
St Petersburg. After a complaint was posted online, some 'internet
activists' used FindFace to detect the offenders.
The
app has also been used by a St Petersburg photographer to snap and
identify people on the city's metro, as well as by online vigilantes to
uncover the social media profiles of female porn actors and harass them.
The
technology can work with any photographic database, though it currently
cannot use Facebook, because even the public photographs are stored in a
way that is harder to access than Vkontakte, the app's creators told
the Guardian.
The
startup is in the final stages of signing a contract with Moscow city
government to work with the city's network of 150,000 CCTV cameras.
The
pair also claimed to have been contacted by police in Russian regions,
saying they started loading suspect or witness photographs into FindFace
and came up with results.
'It's nuts: there were cases that had seen no movement for years, and now they are being solved,' said Mr Kabakov.
According to the company website, its
primary use is for dating. The idea is a user would see someone they
like, photograph them, find their identity, and then send them a friend
request. The algorithm also looks for similar people, and gives a list
of 10 more people for you to approach
No comments:
Post a Comment