From: Charlie Stross (charlie@antipope.org)
Date: Fri Dec 17 1999 - 03:06:38 MST
On Thu, Dec 16, 1999 at 09:50:45PM -0800, Spike Jones wrote:
> Actually I need to check on the state of the art in face rec. How
> would it know if some yahoo is making strange faces as she walks
> down the street? spike
As I understand it, the designers of such software are not idiots; they're
looking for metrics that the yahoo on the street _can't_ change -- bone
structure, not soft tissue. The distance between your eyes is constant, and
you can't change it without major bone surgery. The length of your leg
bones and width of your pelvis is constant(ish), and again, you can't
easily change it. Put a whole bunch of these metrics together any you
have a "fingerprint" distinctive enough that you could dress up as the Pope,
shave your head, grow a beard, wear an eye-patch and some false teeth,
and they'd still recognize you.
-- Charlie
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:06:06 MST