Surveillance via facial recognition - the end of privacy?

An enormously large facial database has been developed in America, and the numerous images come mainly from social networks. This database is already being used by U.S. authorities. However, facial recognition is now also being used more and more in Europe. Therefore, the question arises for many as to whether seamless surveillance will soon be universally applied and what privacy will look like in the future.

Facial recognition catches on worldwide

Meanwhile, face recognition and the corresponding software have also found their way into numerous photo programs and social networks, and private users are also being confronted with it. However, this is automatically accompanied by an enormous loss of control over personal data and privacy. On the one hand, facial recognition helps to improve various recognition systems, on the other hand, various companies can make enormous profit from it. Security agencies are also confronted with this.

Years of research in the background

Research on facial recognition software has been going on for years, with new developments and achievements coming up all the time. If you ask Google about it, you don't get any answers. The social network called Facebook has also recently enabled facial recognition. As usual, most users were not specifically informed about this. So when a photo is uploaded to Facebook, which happens about two and a half billion times a day, the software recognizes which acquaintances or friends are on it. When the correct name is suggested by the software, it is possible to mark the image accordingly. Automatically, the person also receives a notification, but this only happens afterwards.

Photo management programs on the rise

Apart from Google, however, Microsoft is also working on various photo management programs in this area. What used to be reserved for the security agencies is now finding its way into the private sector. So to speak, the technology of permanent surveillance with facial recognition is made socially acceptable. The protection of privacy is being pushed into the background. People are often recognized and tagged in photos without them knowing about it. The software is touted and praised because it seems to facilitate the management of one's own image collection. Nevertheless, there is a lot behind this technology that private users are not supposed to know. Such complex software solutions for facial recognition are not developed at great expense so that only the customer can benefit from them. Rather, it is the goal of enormous data collections to make money.

The big companies and advertisers

For advertisers, such customer profiles are particularly interesting. Anyone who knows who they are can also find out at what time they were at which place. That is why there are also a lot of stores that are equipped with cameras and the facial recognition software. Germany, too, can develop into a veritable surveillance state. If you want an example, take a look at China. There, the population is already controlled at every turn. Many of these technologies are constantly being developed in the West.