Facing the Future

Facial recognition technology - once a thing of science fiction - is coming to a screen near you. It’s already helping to smooth our travel experiences and assisting police to track and arrest suspects. Facial recognition offers alternatives to fingerprints, passwords and PINs. So where will the technology improve our security, and where will it ‘nudge’ our behaviour? What does it mean for society when corporations can increasingly recognise us as individuals? Are laws and procedures keeping up with the technology – particularly when it’s abused or it goes wrong? Plus - are there warnings in the widespread way the technology is being applied In China? Owen Bennett Jones and his guests discuss how facial recognition is quietly changing the way we live.

(Photo: Facial recognition system showing a blue interface with a human head and biometrics data. Credit Maxiphoto/Getty Images)