Businesses are harvesting our biometric data. We need new protections [Video]

Imagine walking through a bustling railway station. You’re in a hurry, weaving through the crowd, unaware that cameras are not just watching you but also recognising you.

These days, our biometric data is valuable to businesses for security purposes, to enhance customer experience or to improve their own efficiency.

Biometrics are unique physical or behavioural traits and are part of our everyday lives. Among these, facial recognition is the most common.

Facial recognition technology stems from a branch of AI called computer vision and is akin to giving sight to computers. The technology scans images or videos from devices including CCTV cameras and picks out faces.

The system typically identifies and maps 68 specific points known as facial landmarks. These create a digital fingerprint of your face, enabling the system to recognise you in real-time.

Face landmarks include the corners of the eyes, the tip of the nose and the edges of the lips. They help to create a mathematical …