FBI Launches Software to ID Faces in Photos

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation tested software that is capable of making. Photo scanned and automatically associated with people in the photo on the large database of the FBI The system must be able to work with images of varying quality. Not only the police targeted and captured in the photos on, but security camera footage and photos posted on the Internet are self-Iding, New Scientist magazine reported. Testing began in February and the FBI plans to have a national system operational by 2014.

Adding arsenal FBI facial recognition tools to solve crimes is easier and faster. But groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of concerned citizens who have no criminal record could be found in the database.


The facial recognition software is part of an upgrade of 1 billion FBI's fingerprint system, which has been in place since 1999. The Next Generation is designed to identify fingerprints with more precision, while integrating new identification technologies, such as automatic face recognition, iris and palmprint identification, according to a statement from the FBI.

At this time, facial recognition test pilot not match the photos for passport photos of known criminals, FBI Deputy Director Jerome Pender told the Senate in July. However, the program statement identifying the next generation of privacy is not clear that the agreement will not be extended once the national program, Jennifer Lynch, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the magazine New Scientist. Foundation and other groups are concerned that people who do not have a criminal record can be found in the database identifying if next generation picture taken sitting beside a person of interest.


The state of Michigan has begun testing the next generation of facial recognition software in February. July, Hawaii and Maryland have signed formal agreements with the FBI for their own tests, while South Carolina, Ohio and New Mexico received their revised agreements, according to the FBI. Overall, the agency believes that the next generation identification system deployed 60 percent.