Face Recognition

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just granted Apple a patent for a facial recognition feature that could unlock a mobile device as well as control how it works. That's right, Apple just got a patent so our iPhones and iPads can look at us all the time.

I just got used to the idea of using my fingerprint to unlock an iPhone 5s, but now my face? Will it recognize me after a hard night of drinking when I've got a throbbing hangover? Will I have to smile and patiently train it -- and then lock myself out of my iPhone after I start yelling at it for being stupid and not recognizing my delightful expression the first time, in poor light?

Those were my knee-jerk reactions as I read the news and rolled my eyes. The forward march of technology. The Xbox One wants to pay attention to the humans around it all the time. Android has had facial recognition unlocking capabilities for a couple years or so. Heck, every time I import new photos into iPhoto on my Mac, iPhoto starts analyzing the photos to identify new faces to catalog for me.

Yet I'm vaguely uneasy about all this. It's not that I fear a rising horde of machines will take over the world. I'm uneasy about the potential for dark uses this sort of technology opens up -- and you don't have to be an Edward Snowden working deep inside the NSA to know it.

To me, it represents another step toward ubiquitous surveillance, and that, my friends, is an evil thing for creativity. Who does their best work while someone is peering over their shoulder? Thoughts and ideas are moderated before they can escape, lest someone see something stupid, nasty or simply silly. Surveillance impinges on freedom -- the sense of freedom -- and to me, that stifles the human spirit, sucks human energy, and modulates joy.