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The Future of Facial Recognition

What is the appropriate role and what are the fears people have?

Before boarding an overseas flight earlier this year, there was a facial recognition step in the boarding process. Then, upon landing in Germany, there was another facial recognition process. I'm sure that some would argue against the application of facial recognition for these purposes — but I think it is totally appropriate and a good thing.

Then there could be the divorced husband who has access to cameras and facial recognition software that he is using to digitally follow his ex-wife. 

Listen to this To the Point Podcast, Does facial recognition software threaten our freedom?

They didn't talk about drones and the right to privacy, but many of the issues of privacy are present in the proliferation of technology across the board. I would like to remind everyone that it is not the technology that is bad, it is the inappropriate use of technology that is bad. There have been Peeping Toms across the centuries. We are not banning telescopes or binoculars! I think we need to concentrate on the behaviors and uses that are wrong or even against the law — not the technology itself.

I remember reading a brief news report about two Southwest Airlines pilots who put a camera in the restrooms of the plane they flew. That is a behavior issue!

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.