Home Office spunks another £12.8m on face recog tech

The Home Office is offering £12.8m for new facial recognition technology according to a tender notice from Home Office Procurement published on 12 June. The new multi-million pound face scanners would be used to determine an applicant's right to a British passport: and must be able to compare the biometric data extracted from …

[Miek]

I'll accept £12.8M to sit in a booth and 'recognise' people.

[xyz]

Sort of Dulux colour chart then

"The new multi-million pound face scanners would be used to determine an applicant's right to a British passport:"

peado white....normal white....suntanned....terrorist.....Indian....black

Would it not just be cheaper to stick a couple of National Front blokes at passport control, 'cos that's what they seem to be meaning!

[Lloyd]

£12.8 million?

Don't complain, that's small fry compared to the rest of the money the civil service piss up the wall.

[Elmer Phud]

Re: £12.8 million?

I think we'd rather they refrained from mural micturation in the first place (as much chance as the Rapture ever happening)

[Downside]

Border control

I arrived at Gatwick a few weeks back, I was put in the "automated facial recognition" kit queue, my g/f went to the human recognition unit.

She was through in seconds, I had to wait five minutes to get to a station where it took a good minute to check my passport and another 4 minutes to scan my shiny, suntanned old face and work out if I was the same pasty-faced youngster from 6 years ago that's in my passport.

If the tech is slower than a human, it's rubbish tech. If it's slower AND MORE EXPENSIVE, I am one very p*ssed off taxpayer.

[D Moss Esq]

A rare insight into the Home Office's modus operandi

As we all know, automated face recognition doesn't work.

The 2004 UK Passport Service biometrics enrolment trial proved it. As do all other trials. £12.8 million of public money is being wasted.

This matter was taken up in the world-famous case in front of the Information Rights Tribunal, David Moss v Information Commissioner and the Home Office, http://dematerialisedid.com/bcsl/foi.html.

During that case, evidence was submitted by the Home Office and by IBM. Take a look:

1. http://dematerialisedid.com/bcsl/Witness%20Statement%20of%20Jackie%20Keane%20%20-%20as%20served.pdf

2. http://dematerialisedid.com/bcsl/Exhibit%20JK1%20-%20FINAL.pdf

3. http://dematerialisedid.com/bcsl/N%20Swain%20Witness%20Statement.zip

4. http://dematerialisedid.com/bcsl/EA_2011_0081%20-%20Moss%20v%20(1)%20ICO%20and%20(2)%20Home%20Office%20-%20OPEN%20Witness%20Statement%20of%20Nicholas%20Swain.PDF

[Robert Ramsay]

Thanks to the Register's page layout...

for breaking this headline into

Home Office spunks/another £12.8m on face/recog tech

[i like crisps]

Nice

Like the use of the word SPUNKED, very apt.

[Graham Marsden]

Facial recognition?

Yep, that's definitely a face! Can I have my £12.8, please

[Cpt Blue Bear]

Re: Facial recognition?

Would ya believe me own Da did that to me? Doesn't it look like a face