Police, government and other agencies are able to scan a photograph of a person and use the database to receive a virtual lineup of possible matches. We’ve even heard of police being able to scan individual’s faces from a distance, like people walking down the road.

Supposedly, scientists have been working on the technology since the sixties and today, it is raising concerns regarding profiling and privacy. Although this technology is being pitched as a safety measure, we see it as an information gatherer. Computers are capable of creating algorithms based on the information gathered, so the more data that can be collected, the better we can be understood and influenced.

Facebook uses facial recognition software when scanning the supposed 300 million+ photos uploaded every day and it is cited as already having captured 54% of the U.S. population. The idea is that with one picture, now the government and other organizations/businesses can access private information. Some of the latest mobile phones are now even implementing the user’s face as the password. The fourth amendment is standing in the shadow of technology and we wonder if anything will be done.