A lot of people are getting plastic surgery these days, so "Can plastic surgery hinder the accuracy of facial recognition?" is a relevant question. There is a lot of money and research going into facial recognition research right now because of its efficiency, and accuracy when it comes to identifying criminals.
It would not be surprising to me to think that someone would go under the knife in order to remain anonymous, or to hide from the government. That is why research is also being done on facial recognition technology with the capability of detecting plastic surgery. Sparse representation is the new technique being introduced by several computer scientists out of Notre Dame. This method focuses on facial recognition after plastic surgery. With this technique, if you have several photos of the same person, before and after plastic surgery, you are able to detect exactly what kind of surgery they have had, and who they are. The drawback is that there have to be multiple photos in the database of surgery before AND after.
Even though people with plastic surgery look different, the fact is: structurally, your face has not changed. Certain areas and shapes that make up your face will remain constant for the most part. The sparse representation technique focuses on the nodal points that map out the interior structure of the face to get a match. These computer scientists are seeing a 78 percent accuracy rate with this technique. This is not as good as the 92 percent accuracy rate we mentioned in class, but it is a start.
If you really want to fool the facial recognition technology, you can. It would take a lot of work, but it can be done. A spokesperson from VisionMetric, mentioned in this article that he does not think police will ever be able to uncover disguised criminals with a 100% accuracy rate. Do you think the sparse representation technique will work? Can you see criminals going to extreme measures to go undetected by facial recognition software?
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I do not see how this is possible because how can something that detects facial features even after surgery still be able to know by 100% that you are the other person. If I am not mistaken most facial recognition software measures things like distance between eyes, check height, and others that can all be changed with plastic surgery. I would like to see this possible so those who need to be caught by this means of technology will be caught but as for now I just do not see how it is 100%.
ReplyDeleteThe accuracy rate of the sparse representation technique is 78 percent right now, and people do not believe it will ever reach a 100 percent accuracy rate (last paragraph).
DeletePlastic surgery seems an expensive option for a criminal to avoid the law but I guess the bigger the crime, the bigger the incentive to hide. The sparse recognition technique seems like it could be good. Although, how would they get a hold of pictures of a criminal after surgery to be able to compare to earlier mugshots? It's not like they are going to use their real name when checking in etc. This is one of the drawbacks you mentioned. If they can find a way to overcome that hurdle, I think there is potential with the technique.
ReplyDeleteYou are exactly right, and this is probably one of the reasons the accuracy rate of the system can never reach 100%. It is not like the criminal is going to let us know he or she had work done, we are going to have to rely on investigations combined with facial recognition technology to spot this.
DeleteIt would be a matter of a completely new identity in this case, the suspect would no longer be able to go under his or her birth name because the system would catch on. If the suspect has to show identity anywhere, they will need to have all new identification cards whether it be a passport or license. It would be difficult, but like I said, it is possible to beat the system.
I see what Natalie is saying about the photographs, which is mentioned in the blog! They have to have enough photographs to refer to, but it still blows my mind that we have the technology to do this! It is so wild and extreme, I guess you have to be in the field to really understand the pros and cons. But yes, I could definitely see plastic surgery used to escape a crime.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with Natalie on the hiding of criminals. I wouldn't think that criminals that have committed petty crimes would go under the knife just to skip out on a couple of months of prison. On the other hand if I was the Kingpin of a crime organization that had the funds and was a wanted man, then yes of course I would consider that option; only if I knew I couldn't be recognized.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the exact opposite of this application? How about using this technology to find missing people? Even at only 78% accuracy this would at least generate leads to follow up on during an Amber Alert. You would really want this technology out there if it was your child that went missing.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a great application of facial recognition software. If a child is missing, there would be more photographs, and hopefully no plastic surgery.
DeleteThe 92 percent accuracy rate I mentioned in the blog applies to people without plastic surgery, and the 78 percent for people with plastic surgery, so in this case, there is a much higher chance of recognition.
It also depends on the accuracy rate of the system itself, some facial recognition software is more powerful than others (i.e. the F.B.I.'s system as compared with the software on cell phones). My concern at this point would be if they are in a place equipped with this technology.