Facial Recognition: Recognizing Elsie the Cow
August 28, 2020
Facial recognition remains a contentious subject. In one of my 2020 National Cyber Crime Conference presentations, I showed a video snip. In Australia, facial recognition systems have been adapted to spot sharks. When the system “recognizes” a shark, an alert is relayed to individuals who patrol a beach. The idea is that sharks threats can be minimized. That’s animal recognition.
“Orwell’s Nightmare? Facial Recognition for Animals Promises a Farmyard Revolution” is a different type of story. I presented an example for intelligent application of pattern recognition. The write up evokes images of George Orwell and presents a different picture of these “recognition” technologies.
The write up states:
China has led the world in developing facial recognition capabilities. There are almost 630 million facial recognition cameras in use in the country, for security purposes as well as for everyday conveniences like entering train stations and paying for goods in stores. But authorities also use the technology for sinister means, such as monitoring political dissidents and ethnic minorities.
The write up points out:
One Chinese AI company, Megvii, which has been blacklisted by the Department of Commerce for alleged involvement in the Chinese government’s repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang, is applying its technology to a program to recognize dogs by their nose prints. Other tech companies around the world have had a go at identifying chimpanzees, dolphins, horses and lions, with varying degrees of success.
The article reluctantly turns its attention to the animal recognition “hook” for the reporter’s political commentary:
Farmers load information such as health conditions, insemination dates and pregnancy test results into the system, which syncs up with cameras installed above troughs and milking stations. If everything works, farmers can amass valuable data without lifting a finger.
So what? It seems that the reporter (possibly working for the Washington Post, a Jeff Bezos property, was unaware that the Australian shark recognition example was built on Amazon technology. Yep, Mr. Bezos has a stake in Amazon as well.
Interesting stuff. Perhaps the ace reporter could have explored the use of pattern recognition applied to animals? That’s work, of course.
Stephen E Arnold, August 28, 2020
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