cdave: (Default)
cdave ([personal profile] cdave) wrote2009-01-15 12:16 pm
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Sci-Fi to RL: School face scanners

Ideas seen first in science fiction, sneaking into the real world. Number one (in a series of one probably).

Face scanners to spot truanting kids. 2009.

Seen in Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. 2008.

{edit: If these systems work by measuring pupillary distance, could you fool them by going cross eyed?}

[identity profile] tregenza.livejournal.com 2009-01-15 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Lets work this out.

Apparently the school has 1107 pupils

So that is 1107 * 1.5 seconds worth of scanning or 27.675 minutes. But this doesn't allow for any time between each pupils or for kids moving, wearing a hat or anything else buggering up the scan. So I reckon it takes about hour to do all 1107 pupils. Even assuming two or more scanners, five minutes before school starts there is going to be a huge queue.

Looking at the company's website they have a video of it in operation. They claim 900 people in 19 minutes but do seem to be using 2 - 4 scanners.

Bizarrely the technology uses ID cards. The victim holds up the ID card in front of one sensor and stares into another.

I wonder what the failure rate is?

How many people it falsely identifies and how many people it rejects incorrectly?