Singapore has become the world’s first country to have facial recognition as part of its national identification system. The national identity cards will contain facial verification allowing citizens to access private and government services. This is being rolled out all over the country now after a test run conducted in a bank.
A UK based company called iProov has designed this technology which will not only help to recognize the face, but will also test if the person is actually present. This will also help alert police officers when a criminal walks past.
“You have to make sure that the person is genuinely present when they authenticate, that you’re not looking at a photograph or a video or a replayed recording or a deepfake,” said Andrew Bud, founder and chief executive of iProov. “This is the first time that cloud-based face verification has been used to secure the identity of people who are using a national digital identity scheme,” he added.
This has raised concerns of whether it will increase the access that the government has to the citizens’ private details, but as of now, the government is not planning to regulate or restrict the technology. Notably, a lot of other countries are planning to jump the bandwagon, as this is an idea that could possibly revolutionize the way government’s monitor their citizens.