Facial Recognition Technology

Overview of the Facial Recognition Technology

Facial recognition is a technology which has ability to identify people from digital image or video frame from a video source. In this technology people put informations of specific person in an organization and others and after putting all database and informations related to face, this technology compare set informations with a database of known faces in order to find a match (Zuo, Saun and Forrest, 2019). In the context of UK, it can be said that facial recognition is not legal or it has not been governed by a specific legal framework.

Potential uses of FRT:

There are several uses of facial recognition technology which are being used in the UK and in Britain. Some common and effective uses of implementing and using facial recognition technology include:

Prevent crimes:

One of the main use of this technology is to identifying criminals and preventing people against crimes like shoplifting, retail crime and frauds. With the help of this technology, photographs of individuals are matched against available databases of criminals and after identifying the people, loss prevention as well as retail security is notified.

Finding missing person:

In many countries, this technology is being used for finding missing children and people that may be victims of human trafficking or child trafficking. In this use, all missing databases are added in this technology which alert after recognizing any one of them whose databases are put (Hamann and Smith, 2019).

Protect law enforcement:

Nowadays many people use face recognition app and such kinds of mobile phones which help police officers in identifying people in the field from a safe distance.

Diagnose disease:

This technology and be used and is being used in diagnosing diseases which cause detectable changes in appearance. It is stated that National Human genome institute research is using this technology mainly for detecting cases of DiGeorge Syndrome. In this rare case, a part of 22^nd chromosome is missing which makes them able to diagnose this disease (Bradford and et.al., 2020).

Critical analysis of FRT

Facial recognition technology does not only have positive impacts and benefits but also it has some threats and disadvantages. All advantages and disadvantages of facial recognition technology are discussed:

Advantages:

Increase security:

One of the main use of this technology is recognition of people, protecting crimes so, by identifying thieves and burglars, it is increasing security. At government level, this security helps them in identifying terrorists (Andrejevic and Selwyn, 2019).

Faster processing:

It can be said that face recognition process take only few seconds which saves time of police and all those who are using this technology for some specific purpose. It grants a quick as well as effective verification of a person.

Disadvantages

Breach of privacy:

This technology is being mainly to track down criminals but at the same time, it can track down some innocent people. So, ethics and privacy is one of the main disadvantage of this technology. Police and government of USA is mainly known to store some numbers of people picture without their consent so, it is one of the main ethical issue.

Massive data storage:

This technology requires massive data sets to learn with the main aim to find or deliver accurate results. These data sets require a strong data storage. So, it is not possible for small and medium size organizations to have necessary resources which can store all important data and it can create some problems.

High implementation cost:

It is one of the main disadvantage and drawback of this technology. This technology requires high quality of camera as well as advanced software in order to maintain accuracy and speed. So, it can require high implementation cost which is not possible for small and medium size businesses (Mitchell and Shing, 2018).

Ethics of facial recognition technology

Utilitarianism, Deontology and Rawls theory:

all these theories are ethical theory which helps people in identifying the difference between the right and the wrong. Utilitarianism theory believes that ethical choice is the one who can give the best and good numbers. It is a common approach by which businesses use moral reasoning only because of its way. On the other hand, Deontology is a normative ethical theory which believes that morality of any type of action should be based on its correctness as whether it is right or wrong under some rules (Mill, 2016). It can be described in detail as duty and rule based ethics. Rawls theory of ethical revolves around a principle of justice that guarantee a morally acceptable society. This theory has mainly 2 principles such as: equal rights and social inequality. According to these principles, people should be given equal rights and social inequalities need to be rearranged. Some examples of this theory which supports it's both principles include: political liberty in which all people who can give votes, are given equal right to vote and right to hold public office, freedom of speech, freedom of thoughts etc.

All these theories have some principles whose main and common aim is to promote happiness and ethics. One of the main principle of Utilitarianism is that actions are right in proportion if they give and are likely to promote happiness, and they are wrong if they do not promote happiness or give pain. On the other hand, the main principle of Deontology on which it works is that actions are morally obligated when they act with as per some rules and set principles. Whereas, Rawls theory has principle on which basis, people can get justice because it focuses on equal liberty by which all people should be given equal opportunities (Buchanan, 2017). So, from the above it can be said that it is important for organizations and people to maintain loyalty and acts ethically. In the context of face recognition technology, it can be said that it is not legal yet and it is also considered as development bias and facial recognition ethics.

Examples of the use of Technology by Discussing Theories

Facial recognition technology has both positive and negative impacts. Some authors believe that this technology is not ethical as there is a chance of breach of privacy. So, it is important to know about ethics of this technology and its effectiveness (Zhang and Kang, 2019). With the help of theories of ethics, people can understand effectiveness of this technology and extent to which it can help people. Some effective ethical theories are: Utilitarianism, Deontology and Rawls.

Utilitarianism views FRT as ethical:

As per the Utilitarianism theory of ethics it states that facial recognition technology and other biometric systems have more effectiveness. By giving example of airport security, it said that as per this technology, people who have travelled and will travel, will require to submit these biometric data. It makes able a safe security which not only eliminates potential for human errors but also expedites security process. This theory also states and views that facial recognition technology creates utilitarian happiness not only for government to have a great sense of security but also for travellers and people who do not require much time to advance via security check points (Al-Kawaz and et.al., 2018). On the other hand, some authors argued in this context and said that it sometimes becomes difficult to quantify exact scale of happiness which Utilitarianism contains subjective element that cannot deliver an absolute view of wrong and right.

Deontology views FRT as ethical:

In the context of ethical issues in facial recognition technology it is identified that it has 2 main ethical issues such as: development bias and facial recognition ethics of use. According to the theory of deontology, it more focuses on treating people as autonomous agents and it also believes that each individual should be treated in a equal manner. Irrelevant criterian is important in order to analyse this technology of facial recognition as this feature is largely irrelevant in many social context. As per the principles of this theory, it believes that facial-recognition technology leads discrimination and it is not ethical. This technology treat people on the basis of their perceivable facial features which leads acute discrimination (Laakasuo, Sundvall and Drosinou, 2017). Some organizations and fields in which this technology classifies people on the basis of their sexual orientation which may create risks of contributing to immoral discrimination. So, as per the theory of Deontology and its principle of equality, facial recognition technology is not ethical.

Followers of Rawls theory view FRT as ethical:

Rawls's theory of justice focuses on human freedom as it also believes that human beings are inherently good toward moral action. It also states that natural state of human beings was freedom, but they restrict on their freedom on themselves in order to secure their mutual safety. Based on its principles and rights of ethics, it believes that facial recognition technology protecting people against crime and one of the main aim of this theory is to provide justice to people. By making an effective use of this technology, police officers and government identify criminals by features of this technology which secure the country and its people (Panaite, 2018). This theory also provides a framework by which people can evaluate potential costs, privacy and benefits of this technology to public safety and security. There are several numbers of accounts of human freedom according to which, all people are given equal rights in certain fields. This technology somehow discriminate individuals but still the main aim and intention of this technology is to secure people and not to hurt anyone.

So, from the above discussed theory and their views about facial recognition theory, it can be said that facial recognition has some good features but still it requires focusing on ethics.

CONCLUSION

From the above study, it has been summarized that ethics played an important role in any type of field. Ethics helped people in identifying the difference between right and wrong and these differences also helped them out in performing legal and those acts which do not hurt anyone. This study has also shown the importance of facial recognition technology which has made several industries able to protect people against crimes and improve their lives. This technology has both positive and negative impacts. It has shown both impacts of this technology as it can increase the overall cost of the company, there are chances of breach of privacy and others. On the other hand, facial recognition technology has improved security which protects people safe in the country. Lastly, this study has discussed some ethical theories such as Utilitarianism, Deontology and Rawls. All these theories made people able to increase their skills to identify the rights and wrong acts and promote happiness. All these theories have some principles on which they work and the main common principle and aim of theories is to promote ethical acts and secure the rights of people. They also believe that all people should be given equal opportunities for performing, speaking, sharing views, and others.

Also Read -Facilitating Change in Health and Social Care

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