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Chinese authorities are deploying a new surveillance tool called “gate recognition.” This tool employs software that analyzes body shapes for identification. It also analyzes the way that people walk as a supplement to facial recognition in instances where people’s faces are hidden from cameras.
People tend to stand and walk in very specific ways. As a result, it can create a unique digital identification signature that can help in security and law enforcement, which also helps with safety.
People are likely to view this new technology in one of two ways: A helpful addition to ensuring a more secure world or a further encroachment on privacy by artificial intelligence technology.
One drawback to facial recognition systems is simply the fact that you can’t always capture an image of someone’s face. However, body images are much easier to capture.
According to Huang Yongzhen, the CEO of Watrix, a Chinese company that has developed a system that can identify people from up to 165 feet away, their system is very difficult to fool.
“Gait analysis can’t be fooled by simply limping, walking with splayed feet or hunching over, because we’re analyzing all the features of an entire body,” Huang told ABC News during an interview.
Huang also told ABC News that the gate recognition technology provides benefits beyond that of surveillance and security alone, having safety applications. For example, such technology can detect when people are in danger, especially elderly people who may have fallen down. This could be extremely beneficial when employed in hospitals and nursing homes.
Although the technology is being widely employed in China, it isn’t new. For at least a decade, scientists within the US Defense Information Systems Agency, as well as, those in Japan and the United Kingdom, have been developing and researching such systems, as they are complex and require lots of computing power.
China however, seems to be among the first to commercialize such technology.
Police in Beijing and Shanghai are already employing the technology on city streets. Throughout China, there is a strong push toward artificial intelligence and data driven surveillance systems in law enforcement and security.
If anything certain, the US will not allow itself to fall behind in any aspect of technology. Systems are likely already in covertly in use or soon to be rolled out in America.
Certainly, many people are going to see such advancements in technology as intrusive and a violation of their privacy. One of the most alarming aspects of such technology is that it doesn’t require anyone’s cooperation.
Authorities can stealthily hide cameras anywhere and everywhere. People can be completely unaware that they are being observed, analyzed and then recorded and stored in a database.
Consider that when combined with facial recognition systems, a complete and thorough identity of an individual can be compiled.
