There has been a tremendous amount of conversation on the web about the use of biometric information by organizations specifically by governments and global conglomerates to track citizens and users respectively.
What most of these conversations point to is how the information gathered by various platforms are being used or rather misused by to drive agenda and influence public opinion.
In this article, I wanted to talk about the flip side of things. Specifically, I wanted to talk about how face match/recognition algorithms can be used for the greater good.
Here are 5 things that face match can be used for,
Control access
One of the most obvious uses of face match technology would be to control access to sensitive data or premises. An authorized user would have to go through a liveness check and then a face recognition/match check with the photo of the person on the file before she can gain access to the said data or premises.
Data centers, defense & aviation manufacturers, R&D firms can use this along with their key card based access systems to make sure the person using the key card or the password access and the person authorized are the same people; ensuring safety of both the people working on the premises and the data present in the systems.
Automating KYC and onboarding
There are more than 2000 fintechs just in India. One of the major barries that these startups face while working here is the stringent regulatory requirement and process needed before they can even start their business. This is in addition to the rampant identity frauds that they have to face.
Digital KYC wherein the KYC requirements are fulfilled using a combination of database checks, credit history, and ML-based validations has helped not only speed up the onboarding process while being complaint and but also helps protect the interests of the company and the individuals involved by detecting identity frauds. Face match algorithm is being extensively used in these areas to verify and authenticate the identity of the users before, during and after the onboarding process.
Mark Attendance
If you have been tuned into this year’s post-exam result news, you would have heard about identity-based fraud that has been rampant in these examinations specifically in national competitive exams. One of the main reasons being it becomes almost impossible to identify if the person attending the exam and the person registered for it are the same people, photographs can be misleading.
With the latest in facial recognition and matching technology, it has become possible to match even an old photograph with that of the current live photo of the person or user in question. The ML-based AI matches multiple data points between the attested photograph and the live photo of the user with an accuracy of 99.98%.
Ensure customer safety
With gig economy coming into play in the last few years, at home service delivery has all but become the norm. Everything from cabs to food to electronics and furniture is now delivered to our doorsteps. What this also means that service providers and their agents/contractors now have access to both our contact details and address; leading to a new level of threat both to the privacy and physical well being of the end-user.
When your customers give access to their homes or their personal space to a service provider how would they ensure that the person visiting them and the person you as the service provider has verified and assigned for the service are the same people?
Using Face Match and KYC SDKs would allow you to integrate capabilities within your mobile app for your customers to instantly check the identity of the person visiting their homes, protecting them both harm and adding to the trust that you already have.
Secure payments
Biometrics information is being extensively used to verify the identity of users. Service providers, the world over have taken this a step further and included biometric (in our case face) based authentication to make payments, purchase products, and allow access to loyalty programs for their customers.
One of the most interesting uses of face biometric is its usability in authorizing payments. Instead of the traditional card and pin-based payment options, customers can now use their biometric information usually available with banks, to authorize transfers and make payments for the products or services purchased.
In countries like UK (fingerprint) and China(face), this is already a reality and multiple service providers support biometric driven payment options. This not only removes any need to carry cards but is also more secure when compared to traditional modes of payments.
As biometric technology gains momentum and technologies like blockchain come into being to protect this information, Face and other biometric authorized service delivery would become a reality. As a service provider it makes sense to include the technology into your platform, since this not only protects your customers and their data but also would add to ease of use of your products and services.
Until next time!
