Privacy concerns raised over new Facial Recognition Search Engine Polar Rose

[mandy]

the Polar Rose web site: http://www.polarrose.com/

A search engine that uses sophisticated facial recognition to allow users to identify and find people in online images will launch next month. But civil liberties groups say the biometric-style tool could compromise the privacy of anyone who has their picture online.

Search engine Polar Rose reconstructs the 3D shape of a person's face and then combines that with characteristics of their features to generate a unique "face print". This can then be used to search other photos for a match...

Polar Rose and future developments that make facial recognition available to the masses risk encroaching on people's privacy, warns Yaman Akdeniz, director of the UK non-profit group Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties.

"Although this sounds like a great idea, I would not like to be searchable in this way, or so easily tracked without my consent," says Akdeniz. The database compiled by Polar Rose is similar to the kind of biometric database some governments wish to use, he points out...

full article: http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/...rgets.html

more on the launch of Polar Rose:

Swedish startup Polar Rose introduced its facial recognition technology Tuesday with the launch of an open beta trial that begins in the first quarter of next year.

The company combines facial recognition, biometrics, and social networking to allow search engines to visually identify people in photos.

The Malmö, Sweden-based company’s facial recognition technology creates a 3D model from a two-dimensional image of a face to compensate for variations in lighting, facial emotions, and pose...

full article: http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20331&hed=Polar+Rose+IDs+Faces§or=Industries&subsector=InternetAndServices