Singapore Becomes First Country To Use Facial Verification For a National ID Service (bbc.com) 18
"Singapore will be the first country in the world to use facial verification in its national identity scheme," reports the BBC:
The biometric check will give Singaporeans secure access to both private and government services. The government's technology agency says it will be "fundamental" to the country's digital economy. It has been trialled with a bank and is now being rolled out nationwide. It not only identifies a person but ensures they are genuinely present. "You have to make sure that the person is genuinely present when they authenticate, that you're not looking at a photograph or a video or a replayed recording or a deepfake," said Andrew Bud, founder and chief executive of iProov, the UK company that is providing the technology...
"Face recognition has all sorts of social implications. Face verification is extremely benign," said Mr Bud. Privacy advocates, however, contend that consent is a low threshold when dealing with sensitive biometric data. "Consent does not work when there is an imbalance of power between controllers and data subjects, such as the one observed in citizen-state relationships," said Ioannis Kouvakas, legal officer with London-based Privacy International....
GovTech Singapore thinks the technology will be good for businesses, because they can use it without having to build the infrastructure themselves. Additionally, Kwok Quek Sin, senior director of national digital identity at GovTech Singapore, said it is better for privacy because companies won't need to collect any biometric data. In fact, they would only see a score indicating how close the scan is to the image the government has on file.
In 1993 William Gibson called Singapore "Disneyland with the death penalty... a relentlessly G-rated experience, micromanaged by a state that has the look and feel of a very large corporation. If IBM had ever bothered to actually possess a physical country, that country might have had a lot in common with Singapore."
"Face recognition has all sorts of social implications. Face verification is extremely benign," said Mr Bud. Privacy advocates, however, contend that consent is a low threshold when dealing with sensitive biometric data. "Consent does not work when there is an imbalance of power between controllers and data subjects, such as the one observed in citizen-state relationships," said Ioannis Kouvakas, legal officer with London-based Privacy International....
GovTech Singapore thinks the technology will be good for businesses, because they can use it without having to build the infrastructure themselves. Additionally, Kwok Quek Sin, senior director of national digital identity at GovTech Singapore, said it is better for privacy because companies won't need to collect any biometric data. In fact, they would only see a score indicating how close the scan is to the image the government has on file.
In 1993 William Gibson called Singapore "Disneyland with the death penalty... a relentlessly G-rated experience, micromanaged by a state that has the look and feel of a very large corporation. If IBM had ever bothered to actually possess a physical country, that country might have had a lot in common with Singapore."
FALSE (Score:1)
I have my ID next to me with my photo and upon renovation, I suffer a "facial verification" (had lost too much weight) and my fingerprints too.
Well, it the facial verification was done by a human and I put my hand in the fire that a machine would have not recognized me at all (I lost 80 kg and had my beard shaved, which wasn't in the first photo).
Singapore and IBM (Score:3)
If IBM had ever bothered to actually possess a physical country, that country might have had a lot in common with Singapore."
Well yes, that would be true since IBM helped the Nazis develop the process to track those going to concentration camps [wikipedia.org].
And what China is doing!!! (Score:2)
I would like to make a shout out toL . [pbs.org]
It explained Russia's facebook manipulation WITH EXAMPLES in episode 2, it showed in an episode a MAGA rally giving BLM protestors a voice and support. And CHEERING!
Let's just say, after watching the first the three episodes, it really made me look at myself and I do not think MAGA people are stupid at all.
And the expose on Devin Nunes' family's holdings [esquire.com] and how locals really love their illegal aliens helped too.
Now why they
Why travel all the way to Singapore when ... (Score:4, Interesting)
In 1993 William Gibson called Singapore "Disneyland with the death penalty..."
What about visitors? (Score:2)
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This already happens in almost all countries anyway...
Your passport contains your photo, and the immigration agent is expected to do a visual check that you match your passport photo. In many countries they will also take a photo of you at passport control where there's nothing stopping them running it through a facial recognition algorithm and comparing it to your passport. They will also keep a record of your passport, including the photo.
In addition to the passport control, you are usually required to su
Meh, doesn't look so bad (Score:2)
Disneyland with the death penalty or BLM riots with the death penalty.
Singapore is diversity done right.
Re:Meh, doesn't look so bad (Score:5, Interesting)
I've lived and worked in Singapore. I like it a lot. But Singapore proves the rule that the only way to have and maintain a peaceful, diverse multicultural society is thru an omnipresent police state.
Birthday paradox (Score:3)
Assume you have 99% accuracy, and 100 people. One error, either a false positive or negative.
Now, assume you suddenly have 5.639 million people.
5,369,000,000 / 100 = 53,690,000 errors
And you'll be lucky to get it below a 10% error rate, using only white folks of American descent.
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I bet right now, you're wishing you had edited your post a little closer before hitting submit.
Your equation starts off by a factor of 1000. Of course, that's of little concern to the 26 thousand or so falsely accused hypothetical citizens. (And the 26 thousand or so falsely innocent are partying on, dude.)
But then, I'm still not sold on the Hypothetical Rights.platform.
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Masks (Score:2)
Currently in the middle of covid it is mandatory to wear face masks in many countries, including in singapore... How well will facial recognition work if people are wearing face masks? Even when it stops being mandatory, many people have now grown accustomed to wearing masks and seeing others doing so, so it's going to be a long time before people are routinely walking around without masks again.
Also there are the obvious problems with facial recognition... Identical twins, people growing beards, suffering
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It fails, horribly. In China even "mask aware" algorithms have something like a 20% accuracy rate.
Think about all
How does it know (Score:2)
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