Tag: facial recognition

Apple Granted Second Face ID Patent Hinting at Potential Arrival on Future MacBook and Mac Computers

Apple has been granted a patent that will enable the firm to offer an alternate form biometric authentication on its MacBook and Mac computers. The Cupertino company currently supports unlocking Mac computers via Touch ID, on select models. It introduced Face ID on the iPhone X in 2017 that uses an array of sensors to securely authenticate a user with facial recognition. While Apple is yet to indicate that it plans to add Face ID to future MacBook models, the company’s recent laptops are equipped with a display notch that looks similar to the one that is present on the company’s smartphones since 2017.

Spotted by Patently Apple, the company’s latest patent related to facial recognition on computers was granted on August 15, nearly four years after it was filed in September 2019. The 34-page US patent 11727718-B2 credits Paul Wang, Keith Hendren, Adam Garelli, Antonio Clarke, Joshua Daigle, and Dinesh Mathew as the inventors of the technology. 

Photo Credit: Apple/ US Patent Office

 

The patent document contains various diagrams of a hardware module that is capable of light pattern recognition. This hardware module — shown with a range of sensors in figure 4D — is shown to be located at the top of the display on a computer that looks like a MacBook in figure 1A and a desktop Mac computer in figure 10.

The module shown in figure 4D appears to be similar to the Face ID sensor array on recent iPhone models that offer advanced depth mapping for secure facial recognition. According to the patent module, the bracket assembly that houses the module comprises a camera, a flood illuminator, a second camera, an ambient sensor indicator, a camera indicator, and a light dot projector. 

It is worth noting that while Apple recently introduced a notch on its MacBook models, the firm is yet to announce any plans to bring Face ID support to future MacBook and Mac models. The hardware required to support a feature like Face ID could require more space than the thin lid of the MacBook — the thickness of an iPhone is an indicator of how much space such a system could take up on a laptop — especially on models like the MacBook Air.

The patent document suggests that Apple has also considered the possibility of including the facial recognition array at another location. instead of the display notch shown in the previous diagrams.

Photo Credit: Apple/ US Patent Office

 

An alternative diagram shows a MacBook equipped with a different system that might not require a display notch. Figure 8A shows a module that can emit infrared light (IR) to identify the user. This section could be concealed on the device under a panel, and figure 7 shows where the module might be located on a MacBook.

Apple is also known for keeping features secret until they are officially unveiled at launch events, which means that we’re unlikely to get confirmation — aside for leaks and rumours — about this feature and whether it will eventually make its way to Apple’s computers in the future.

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Indian Banks Said to Soon Use Face Recognition, Iris Scan for Some Transactions

The Indian government is allowing banks to verify individual transactions that exceed a certain annual limit using facial recognition and an iris scan in some cases, in a bid to reduce fraud and tax evasion, three sources told Reuters.

A few large private and public banks have begun using the option, said one of the sources, a banker, who declined to name the banks. The advisory allowing the verification is not public and has not previously been reported.

The verification is not mandatory and is intended for cases where another government identification card used for tax purposes, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) card, is not shared with banks.

The prospect of banks using facial recognition has concerned some privacy experts.

“This raises substantial privacy concerns especially when India lacks a dedicated law on privacy, cybersecurity and facial recognition,” said Pavan Duggal, an advocate and cyber law expert.

The government has said it is targeting parliamentary approval of a new privacy law by early 2023.

The new measures can be used to verify identities of individuals making deposits and withdrawals exceeding Rs. 2 million in a financial year, where the Aadhaar identity card is shared as proof of identify, said two government officials, who asked not to be named because the information is not public.

The Aadhaar card has a unique number tied to an individual’s fingerprints, face and eye scan.

India’s finance ministry in December asked banks to take “necessary action” on a letter by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which suggested verification should be done through facial recognition and iris scanning, especially where fingerprint authentication of an individual fails.

The letter from the UIDAI, which is responsible for Aadhaar card issuance, makes no mention of a consent framework for the verification. Nor does it say that banks can take any action if a customer refuses.

Responding to Reuters’ queries, a UIDAI spokesperson said Aadhaar verification and authentication happens only with the explicit consent of the user. Use of Aadhaar-based biometric authentication helps in guarding against possible misuse, he said.

“UIDAI regularly advises all authentication and verification entities to use face or iris authentications to cater to residents whose fingerprint authentication fails.” He added that authentication and verification does not mean storing of data.

The latest advisory follows a government order last year that mandated the quoting of an Aadhaar card or PAN number for making deposits or withdrawals exceeding 2 million rupees in a financial year.

The federal finance ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

 

 

 

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Facial Recognition Technology Used by Police in Hyderabad to Enforce COVID-19 Policy

After a pair of Islamist bombings rocked the south-central Indian city of Hyderabad in 2013, officials rushed to install 5,000 CCTV cameras to bolster security. Now there are nearly 700,000 in and around the metropolis.

The most striking symbol of the city’s rise as a surveillance hotspot is the gleaming new Command and Control Center in the posh Banjara Hills neighbourhood. The 20-story tower replaces a campus where swarms of officers already had access to 24-hour, real-time CCTV and cell phone tower data that geolocates reported crimes. The technology triggers any available camera in the area, pops up a mugshot database of criminals and can pair images with facial recognition software to scan CCTV footage for known criminals in the vicinity.

The Associated Press was given rare access to the operations earlier this year as part of an investigation into the proliferation of artificial intelligence tools used by law enforcement around the world.

Police Commissioner C V Anand said the new command centre, inaugurated in August, encourages using technologies across government departments, not just police. It cost $75 million (roughly Rs. 620 crore), according to Mahender Reddy, director general of the Telangana State Police.

Facial recognition and artificial intelligence have exploded in India in recent years, becoming key law enforcement tools for monitoring big gatherings.

Police aren’t just using technology to solve murders or catch armed robbers. Hyderabad was among the first local police forces in India to use a mobile application to dole out traffic fines and take pictures of people flaunting mask mandates. Officers also can use facial recognition software to scan pictures against a criminal database. Police officers have access to an app, called TSCOP, on their smartphones and tablets that includes facial recognition scanning capabilities. The app also connects almost all police officers in the city to a host of government and emergency services.

Anand said photos of traffic violators and mask-mandate offenders are kept only long enough to be sure they aren’t needed in court and are then expunged. He expressed surprise that any law-abiding citizen would object.

“If we need to control crime, we need to have surveillance,” he said.

But questions linger over the accuracy and a lawsuit has been filed challenging its legality. In January, a Hyderabad official scanned a female reporter’s face to show how the facial recognition app worked. Within seconds, it returned five potential matches to criminals in the statewide database. Three were men.

Hyderabad has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on patrol vehicles, CCTV cameras, facial recognition and geo-tracking applications and several hundred facial recognition cameras, among other technologies, Anand said. The investment has helped the state attract more private and foreign investment, he said, including Apple’s development centre, inaugurated in 2016; and a major Microsoft data centre announced in March.

“When these companies decide to invest in a city, they first look at the law-and-order situation,” Anand said.

He credited technology for a rapid decrease in crime. Mugging for jewellery, for example, plunged from 1,033 incidents per year to less than 50 a year after cameras and other technologies were deployed, he said.

Hyderabad’s trajectory is in line with the nation’s. The country’s National Crime Records Bureau is seeking to build what could be among the world’s largest facial recognition systems.

Building steadily on previous government efforts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have seized on the rise in surveillance technology since coming to power in 2014. His flagship Digital India campaign aims to overhaul the country’s digital infrastructure to govern using information technology.

The government has promoted smart policing through drones, AI-enabled CCTV cameras and facial recognition. It’s a blueprint that has garnered support across the political spectrum and seeped into states across India, said Apar Gupta, executive director of the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation.

“There is a lot of social and civic support for it too – people don’t always fully understand,” Gupta said. “They see technology and think this is the answer.”

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