“When Apple Inc. unveiled its new iPhone X this week, there was plenty of interest in the new, sharper display, wireless charging, upgraded camera and stratospheric price tag,” Alex Webb writes for Bloomberg Businessweek. “But the feature that really got people talking was the phone’s 3-D facial recognition system.”
“It is meant to allow you to log in at a glance and to make your phone more secure,” Webb writes. “But some have concerns about the implications of a technology company mapping millions of people’s faces, and how that might be abused by companies and governments.”
MacDailyNews Take: Some who don’t understand even the basics of Apple’s Face ID.
The facial mapping information stays on your device, ensconced within the Secure Enclave.
All saved facial information is protected by the secure enclave to keep data extremely secure, while all of the processing is done on-device and not in the cloud to protect user privacy. — Apple Inc.
“Samsung Electronics Co.’s newest smartphones offer face recognition, but in a form that it says is less secure than a PIN or password,” Webb writes. “Since the handset lacks a 3-D scanner, it relies purely upon the appearance of the face. Some people have managed to fool it with photos of the phone’s owner.”
MacDailyNews Take: Now to be fair, this is only because Samsung make half-assed garbage designed to rope in the ignorati.
Apple’s “Face ID,” Webb writes, “uses a camera in conjunction with a 3-D scanner to not just record an image but measure in detail the contours of facial features. A dot projector mounted in the top of the handset beams 30,000 invisible points onto the user’s face to create a 3-D map, which is then read by a neighboring infrared camera. When you unlock your phone, infrared light is beamed at your face to help it tell it’s you even when it’s dark.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, so, despite Bloomberg’s headline, there’s nothing creepy about Apple’s Face ID.
Apple Face ID is facial recognition done right.
SEE ALSO:
Apple: Just squeeze the iPhone X if you’re forced into a Face ID unlock – September 15, 2017
Gripping buttons on both sides of iPhone X disables Face ID – September 14, 2017
Police: Apple’s new Face ID technology will make it harder for authorities to bypass enhanced security – September 13, 2017
U.S. Senate Democrat Al Franken wants Apple to provide more information on Face ID facial recognition technology – September 13, 2017