With the advance of technology there are thousands of benefits but also many downfalls. Facial recognition seems like a revolutionary technology that is full of advantages. Yes, there are many advantages to facial recognition. Facial recognition can be great in cases of trying to identify lost or kidnapped individuals by being able to flag them from surveillance cameras or other footage. It is also a great way to aid in finding criminals or suspects. However, like the article mentioned, there is a risk of false matches. Additionally not everyone will be comfortable with their face being a part of a database. It leads to privacy and security concerns. Many phones and apps use facial recognition to unlock many features. If your face is part of a database, it can put you at risk for being hacked. It may also become easier for people to steal your identity. Many individuals just perfer to be private and have as little information accessible to the government as possible.
Typically, when you agree to be a part of social media run by private companies such as facebook, you agree to facebook using your images and so on. Many people do not actually read the terms of agreement or understand what they mean. There are paragraphs upon paragraphs of legal jargon. With an option to scroll through quickly or skip entirely, accept is usually clicked without a single though. Its tricky because private companies are not doing anything illegal because they are having users agree to their terms. No one is forced to use facebook and upload their images. However, there is moral and ethical concern in regards to using an indivduals information for databases.
I believe a possible solution would be for private companies to avoid collecting facial recognition on individuals unless the government requests it for needing help identifying a person of interest for a clear reason. Also, governments could require private companies using facial recognition to clearly ask for permission from individuals when they sign on. Do not hide it in paragraphs of agreement, but have a single question with the option of yes or no. Give people the option to be added to the facial recognition database and provide them with a short list of pros and cons. Individuals should still have an option to use the sites even if they do not agree to being added to the database.