Facial Recognition App Could Be Stalkers' Dream
An app can take your picture and uncover personal details.
Mail Online is reporting that a mobile phone application is currently in development that could be a potentially dangerous tool for stalkers, pedophiles, and identity thieves. Although a specific platform wasn't revealed (iPhone, Android, etc), the application--called Recognizr--will supposedly pull up personal information through facial recognition software.
Developed by Swedish company The Astonishing Tribe (tat), the user simply points the device at a person, takes a picture, and then hit the "recognize" button. The app then compares the shot to images found on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. The app also hunts down addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the subject.
'It takes the dangers that already exist and increases them infinitely," said Simon Davies of Privacy International. Other security experts are already protesting against the app, saying that it could lead burglars right to your front door. Stalkers would even have a field day with the new app, using it to snap pictures of unsuspecting women/men and then digging up their home address.
"This application looks like it could be a stalker's dream," F-Secure's Tom Gaffney said.
Currently there's no indication of when the app will be completed. Due to the developer's portfolio, it's possible that Recognizr will hit the less-restricted Android Market rather than the tighter Apple App Store.
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That'l teach you not to put your whole life up on bloody faceboook!
news flash:
People can find your public info you ad to facebook using public tools!
people will scream its an invasion of privacy, when they are the ones adding every bit of their info into facebook, and twittering everyplace they goto like a ADHD habit.
^+1
If you didn't post your personal info, this app wouldn't work...
oh and if you own a car, all your info is available publicly anyway from the taxes and registration...
i agree with the above posters but people DO use those sites and DO post their junk!
I think this is a neat tool to add contacts quickly but i do see the concerns.
Johnny freako walking down the street sees a girl he likes, takes her picture and now he knows where she lives. There is a problem with that! Or worse freako takes a picture of my son and gets his name and limited info (i watch what he does online).
^+1 If you didn't post your personal info, this app wouldn't work...oh and if you own a car, all your info is available publicly anyway from the taxes and registration...
Yes but not instantly from your phone wherever you are. Also you would need a persons name to look them up. This app will get you that name.
It's a scary stalking tool when it's in the hands of normal people, but it's a great public safety tool when it's in the hands of the government.
/sarcasm
There's a huge public safety issue here. Some scammer for instance can do a face scan on a target, find out that she has a kid, and pretend to be a cop and tell her that her kid is in trouble and that she needs to come with him in his white van with no windows or something.
This is just one example. Tons of similar scenarios abound.
What are the positive uses for this? Is it to save you the couple of seconds it would take to add a friend to your facebook etc?
If I were single, the only use I would see would be to take peoples pictures (ie, hot chicks) when you are out and find out stuff about them. I know that sounds stalkish but I think any normal single guy that gets his picture with a hot chick at a bar will end up pushing the recognize button. What you then do with that information is where the trouble can start. So if normal guys would use it to get girls info, imagine what a freako would do.
Anyway, I just dont see anything good comming from this app.
I don't think this should be released. If you want to know who someone is, then ask them. No reason to be a creeper/stalker/sketchy person.
I would feel odd using this, I even feel odd getting a phone number or address off of Facebook even if the person has already friend requested me, it's just weird. You should have to ask them personally.
Is this a situation of good intentions gone bad?
I made application for university project and works, how much it will cost?
My application only has a data base for friends not for all FB people
Is for Windows CE
I've have always had a suspicion that the government is sitting back enjoying us fill in our personal information.
"Hey cutie, can I get your number?"
"What? No, get away from me you creep!"
*click*
"Thanks!"
yeah I can see this app doing really well...
this brings a whole new meaning to a picture is worth a thousand words.
GOD..... *rips down any pictures of himself on the net*
There's a huge public safety issue here. Some scammer for instance can do a face scan on a target, find out that she has a kid, and pretend to be a cop and tell her that her kid is in trouble and that she needs to come with him in his white van with no windows or something.This is just one example. Tons of similar scenarios abound.
How'bout if you are on vacation somewhere and someone takes your picture and then uses this to get your home address. They know you are not home anytime soon.
There's a huge public safety issue here. Some scammer for instance can do a face scan on a target, find out that she has a kid, and pretend to be a cop and tell her that her kid is in trouble and that she needs to come with him in his white van with no windows or something.This is just one example. Tons of similar scenarios abound.
Dude, you really need to call Uwe Boll, you sound like the kinda guy he gets his screenplays from.
Security through obscurity is NOT security. I don't know who these experts are, but they're giving bad advice. If a bunch of programmers can do it, so can another bunch. In fact, I might give it a shot for sh*ts and giggles and use it to stalk idiotic commentors on websites. [Disclaimer: That was a joke]
If people want to be secure, they shouldn't allow themselves to become targets. Yes, it IS up to the people to keep themselves secure, just like it's our responsibility to not give out details to people in real life.
At one time, telling people your PC details would have been a little too much, these days telling people your detailed sex life, complete with bank details, is normal. The only person that knows all of my personal details is my partner.
I bet it doesnt work
If all of this information is publicly available, I don't see what the fuss is about. If it's public, it's not illegal to search for it, no matter how easy the app may make it. End of story.
And I also have serious doubts that it will actually work.
Excellent application. Finding publicly available information about an individual should be as easy as pressing a button regardless of whether the info comes from a social networking website or public records. Remember folks, information on Myspace and Facebook is info that anyone has a God given right to access unless you say otherwise. Pay attention to your privacy settings.
Public info, being made easily gotten to the public. NONSENSE! FRY THIS WITCH!
neat app ... if it is released for symbian
"Freakos" and stalkers need love too. Maybe this will help them find it.
I don't know what all the panic is all about. First off most phone cameras are for $hit. One would have to literally stop in front of you, ask you too please stand still for a picture perfect photo, which I'm sure will a minimal requirement. Not some out of focus or ghosting photo from afar.