![\"5197facefind\"](\"http:\/\/jolt.richmond.edu\/files\/2017\/03\/5197facefind-346x208.jpg\")
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By: Ellie Faust,<\/p>\n
When a random person approaches you on the street or at a bar, you are able to decide if you want to talk to them and maybe give them your number, right? Well, not according to a couple of Russian app developers who founded FindFace, an app that can provide you with a passerby\u2019s identity within seconds.[1]<\/a> The app works by comparing uploaded photos to profile pictures on Vkontakte, a popular social network in Russia with over 200 million user accounts.[2]<\/a> After the photo is uploaded, the app searches through a billion photos in seconds and provides the user with the identity of the person in the photo as well as ten similar looking people.[3]<\/a> This app currently boasts a 70% reliability rate and the founders, Artem Kukharenko and Alexander Kabakov have marketed the app as a way for men to meet women.[4]<\/a> One of the apps creators, Kabakov stated, \u201cIf you see someone you like, you can photograph them, find their identity, and then send them a friend request.\u201d[5]<\/a> Within the first two months of the app\u2019s launch, FindFace gathered upwards of 500,000 users and have processed over three million searches.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n So how exactly does this technology work? In the same way that a person\u2019s fingerprint may be collected for future reference, identifying a person\u2019s face requires building a faceprint to compare it to.[7]<\/a> Since our faceprints are left everywhere that we go, our movements can be tracked and stored on a larger scale than ever before.[8]<\/a> Such facial recognition is effectuated without your permission and you do not have the ability to opt out.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n While Canada and many other countries in Europe have placed restrictions on how facial recognition technology may be used, the United States has left the field largely unregulated.[10]<\/a> Currently, only Texas and Illinois have implemented state level laws to protect biometric information.[11]<\/a> One such law is the Biometric Information Privacy Act, which regulates how a person\u2019s biometric identifiers, including \u201ca retina or iris scan, fingerprint, voiceprint, or scan of hand or face geometry\u201d may be collected, stored, and used.[12]<\/a> Under the Act, a person must provide written permission before a private entity may obtain any biometric identifiers.[13]<\/a> The Illinois law has generated a number of lawsuits in which it is alleged that companies have failed to obtain consent before images of people\u2019s faces are scanned and stored.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n The same technology that allows users to automatically tag friends in photos and that lets us filter ourselves into dogs has landed tech companies in hot water.<\/p>\n Facebook, Google, and Snapchat are all facing lawsuits for allegedly violating the Illinois law by producing biometric face prints without first notifying the citizens of Illinois.[15]<\/a> According to plaintiffs in the current lawsuits, the companies\u2019 actions amount to collecting biometric information. Collecting such information requires more notice and consent that what the companies are currently providing.[16]<\/a> Recently, Senator Terry Link proposed a revision to the Act which would limit the bill to \u201cdata resulting from an in person process whereby a part of the body is traversed by a detector or an electronic beam\u201d.[17]<\/a> This would rule out scans from preexisting photography and, if the revisions become law, the lawsuits would come to an end.[18]<\/a> However, when fingerprints and iris prints can be obtained from simply a high-resolution photograph, the proposed separation between photographs and biometric scans does not fit with modern technology.[19]<\/a> While we cannot stop the advancement of facial recognition technology, we do need more regulation in the area to ensure that our privacy is being properly protected.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> See<\/em> Shaun Walker, Face recognition app taking Russia by storm may bring end to public anonymity<\/em>, Guardian (May 17, 2016, 4:39 PM), https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2016\/may\/17\/findface-face-recognition-app-end-public-anonymity-vkontakte.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> See<\/em> Jeff John Roberts, Facebook and Google Really Want to Kill This Face-Scanning Law<\/em>, Fortune (Jun. 30, 2016, 10:17 AM),\u00a0http:\/\/fortune.com\/2016\/06\/30\/facebook-google-facial-recognition-lawsuits\/.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> See<\/em> Walker, supra<\/em> note 1.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> See<\/em> Tarun Wadhwa, Facial Recognition Will Soon End Your Anonymity in Public<\/em>, Huffington Post (Jun. 6, 2016, 1:26 PM),\u00a0http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/tarun-wadhwa\/facial-recognition-will-s_b_10321972.html?.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> See<\/em> Russell Brandom, Apple\u2019s new facial recognition feature could spur legal issues<\/em>, Verge (Jun. 16, 2016, 8:11 AM), http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2016\/6\/16\/11934456\/apple-google-facial-recognition-photos-privacy-faceprint.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> See<\/em> Wadhwa, supra<\/em> note 6.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> See<\/em> Roberts, supra<\/em> note 4.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> See <\/em>Stephanie Grimoldby, Illinois Facial Recognition Law Leads To Wave Of Class Actions Against Facebook, Others<\/em>, Forbes (Jul. 5, 2016, 6:00 AM),\u00a0http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/legalnewsline\/2016\/07\/05\/il-facial-recognition-law-leads-to-wave-of-class-actions-against-facebook-others\/#75375ced4e56.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> See id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> See<\/em> Roberts, supra<\/em> note 4.<\/p>\n [15]<\/a> See<\/em> Russell Brandom, Someone\u2019s trying to gut America\u2019s strongest biometric privacy law<\/em>, Verge (May 27, 2016, 8:27 AM), http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2016\/5\/27\/11794512\/facial-recognition-law-illinois-facebook-google-snapchat.<\/p>\n [16]<\/a> See<\/em> Brandom, supra<\/em> note 7.<\/p>\n [17]<\/a> See<\/em> Brandom, supra<\/em> note 15.<\/p>\n