Report says Meta tested Rank One face recognition for smart glasses

In short: WIRED reports that Meta licensed face-recognition software from Rank One Computing while testing features for its smart glasses, but the code was not turned on for users.

What happened

WIRED says Meta tested face-recognition software made by Rank One Computing, a Denver company that sells similar tools to police departments and the US military. The arrangement is described in a software license obtained by WIRED.

The license is tied to a test version of the Meta AI app, which is the companion app for Meta’s Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses. The license included face recognition and “liveness detection,” which is a check to see if a camera is looking at a real person and not a photo or a mask (like a bouncer making sure an ID is not a printout).

WIRED reports that parts of Rank One’s integration were still present, but inactive, in an app version that shipped to millions of people. WIRED also says this sat alongside Meta’s own face-recognition work. Meta removed face-recognition code from the app on June 5, after WIRED reported on an internal, unreleased system Meta called NameTag.

Rank One’s technology has been used by government agencies such as the US Marshals Service. Rank One’s board includes former senior officials from intelligence and law enforcement, including a former CIA deputy director and a former FBI science and technology leader, according to WIRED.

Why it matters

Face recognition in everyday wearable devices could change what it feels like to be in public. Even if a feature is not active, testing and licensing deals show what companies are considering. The report also highlights a bigger issue, the same face-scanning tools can be built for government surveillance and later explored for consumer products, and US rules around face recognition vary widely by state.

Source: Wired