Cloud-Powered Facial Recognition Is Terrifying. Cloud-Powered Facial Recognition Is Terrifying - Jared Keller - Technology. By harnessing the vast wealth of publicly available cloud-based data, researchers are taking facial recognition technology to unprecedented levels "I never forget a face," goes the Marx Brothers one-liner, "but in your case, I'll be glad to make an exception.
" Unlike Groucho Marx, unfortunately, the cloud never forgets. That's the logic behind a new application developed by Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College that's designed to take a photograph of a total stranger and, using the facial recognition software PittPatt, track down their real identity in a matter of minutes. Facial recognition isn't that new -- the rudimentary technology has been around since the late 1960s -- but this system is faster, more efficient, and more thorough than any other system ever used.
Face-matching with Facebook profiles: How it was done. LAS VEGAS--Facebook's online privacy woes are well-known.
But here's an offline one: its massive database of profile photos can be used to identify you as you're walking down the street. A Carnegie Mellon University researcher today described how he assembled a database of about 25,000 photographs taken from students' Facebook profiles. Then he set up a desk in one of the campus buildings and asked willing volunteers to peer into Webcams.