Face off for best ID checkers

 

Teddy Dolan

10/31/21

Forensics

Current event #6

 

Face off for best ID checkers

By David White and Daniel Guilbert

 

            The Glasgow Face Matching Test has been updated to find super-recognizers who can help prevent errors caused by face recognition software.Psychologists from UNSW Sydney have developed a new face identification ability test that will help find facial recognition experts for a variety of police and government agencies, including contract tracing. The type of professional roles that involve face identification and that could benefit from the test include visa processors, passport issuers, border control officers, police, contract tracers, as well as security staff in private industry. The GFMT2 test, an expanded version of the original Glasgow Face Matching Test which was launched ten years ago, has been published in the journal Behavior Research Methods. It was developed in collaboration with the University of York and the Australian Passport Office. The improved test comes as the federal government has been considering the introduction of a centralised database which would host photos collected by a range of state and federal agencies, including police charge and passport photos, immigration documents, and driver's licences. One of the criticisms of the database proposal has been that face recognition software is prone to large amounts of errors that have resulted in wrongful arrests. "This technology shows close matches to a suspect on a screen, and so human error at that stage can have serious implications," Dr White says.

 

            These ID checkers are relevant to today’s society because either fake IDs or identity theft is pretty common in today’s world. Young adults use fake IDs to buy things that normally wouldn’t be able to buy. While some people may think drivers license scanners just scan to ensure it's a real ID or verify their age, it actually pulls up all of the information stored on the card. This information may include the person's address, date of birth, height, eye color, and sometimes even Social Security number.The ID testers are important because they can help prevent fraud.

 

            I thought that this article was very intriguing but the one thing I would critique about is that there were no relations to the real world. For example, the author could have put in the effects the ID testers have on different age groups. It talks a lot about the science and math behind it but some people can’t fully relate to that.