(IT Story) Google Developing App That Can Snap Your Face, Pull Up Your Profile

Google is working on a facial recognition mobile app that would allow users to snap a picture of a friend or new acquaintance — and then access his or her Google Profile contact information, according to multiple reports.

The as-yet-unnamed app is capable of grabbing a Google Profile user’s name, email address and phone number. The technology is also capable of accessing Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or other online photos and data.

Naturally, Google has to wrestle with the privacy implications. How do you harness the power of this technology while still allowing individuals to maintain some semblance of anonymity?

Right now, Google is working on an opt-in model. Google Profile users have to elect to participate, and they must explicitly give Google permission to use their profile data and picture. If they don’t, the photo app won’t recognize them.

Googler Hartmut Neven is in charge of the company’s image-recognition applications; his company, Neven Vision, was acquired by Google in 2006. He told CNN that people are right to be wary about this kind of technology.

“In particular, women say, ‘Oh my God. Imagine this guy takes a picture of me in a bar, and then he knows my address just because somewhere on the Web there is an association of my address with my photo,’” Neven said.

“That’s a scary thought. So I think there is merit in finding a good route that makes the power of this technology available in a good way.”

The app makes use of Neven’s facial recognition technology, which is already being used in Picasa, Google’s photo-sharing application. And similar object-recognition technologies developed by Neven at his previous company are being used in Google Goggles.

Google’s balancing of high technology and human privacy has come under fire in recent months. Last fall, the company had to settle a privacy-related lawsuit when its social product, Google Buzz, shared personal data without user consent. And the company was subject to international scrutiny over Street View privacy violations; these issues came to a head when the FCC opened an investigation into the matter last November.

We’ll have to wait to see if Google can skirt privacy violations while still rolling out really interesting apps like this one. What do you think the company would have to do to ensure personal security for users of this app?  

 

Image courtesy of Flickr, sazfar

My Opinion

최근에는 사진으로 장소를 찾거나, 자신의 사진을 인식프로그램에 저장 후 닮은꼴 연예인을 찾는 등 다양한 기능들이 넘처나고 있다.
즉, 얼굴사진, 장소사진등으로 쉽게 검색하는 기능이 발달했다는 것이다.
구글에서는 친구의 사진을 찍으면 구글 프로필 정보를 찾아주는 앱을 개발 중이다.
최근 다양한 앱이 나오고는 있지만 얼굴인식을 중점으로 하는 프로그램은 불편한 점이 많다. 안경을 쓰고 있을 때는 인식을 할 수 없다거나, 인식이 되지 않을 시 계속해서 사진을 찍어야 한다는 것, 즐거움을 찾기 위해 필요이상의 수고가 필요하다.
한편, 구글에서는 피카사 웹앨범 (Picasaweb.google.co.kr)으로 사진의 얼굴을 자동으로 인식해 비슷한 얼굴을 찾아주는 기능도 있다.
구글에 올린 사진으로 친구 이름을 한 번만 입력하면 이후 친구와 비슷한 얼굴을 자동으로 구글이 찾아 친구인지 물어봐 주는 프로그램이다.
어찌보면 얼굴인식프로그램 (푸딩)과 유사하다.
편리보다는 친구얼굴을 찾다가 몇시간이 흐를지도 모른다는 생각이 든다.