Google, which knows and remembers a lot about a lot of faceless users, may be about to start knowing faces. According to a new report, the search giant reportedly is about to introduce a facial-recognition app for mobile devices — but Google is denying the accuracy of the story.
The app, which was first reported in a story by CNN, will allow a user to obtain a profile or other information about a person based on facial recognition. Hartmut Neven, the Google engineering director for image-recognition development, told CNN that people would first have to check a box granting permission to obtain profile data.
Privacy Concerns
Neven said privacy measures will be in place before the app is released. No launch date has been announced.
According to CNN, Google has had the technological capability for years. Among other things, the facial-recognition app could become part of Google’s web crawler, relating facial photos publicly available on Facebook and other sites to additional information about a person found in various databases and other sites.
The company already utilizes object recognition in an image-search engine called Goggles. Components of the facial-recognition technology are also available in Google’s photo service, Picasa, allowing a user to match relatives and friends among different photos.
Apparently, the privacy concerns are the major hurdle to widespread adoption of this technology, rather than technical or logistical reasons. But the entire story is now coming into question as Google is denying the accuracy of CNN’s version.
Google has been in hot water over a number of privacy issues, including its Buzz service and the mapping of streets worldwide for Street View.
FTC Agreement
On Wednesday, Google announced it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to address the agency’s concerns about transparency and user control in Google offerings, most notably in Google Buzz. The…
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