Technologies were around. Social networks become prevalent. People are not aware of risks (or at least they are less paranoid than me 🙂 ). Somebody had to do it.
The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) did shake all the elements together and presented recognizr. Using a mobile phone to capture a picture of the person, recognizr extracts 3D parameters of the face and sends it to a server. The server uses a face recognition software and looks in social networks to identify the person and provide data.
TAT was privacy aware. Thus, the system works on strict opt in. In other words, you must register to the system to be recognized.
TAT is privacy aware, but what prevents another company/agency/group to design a similar software and scout the social networks without the consent of the people? Law enforcement? Well, it uses only public data. The data that you/we posted on the Internet.
This application was inevitable. Everything was available. Nevertheless, it scares me. Once more, be very cautious on what personal data you post on the Internet.