Google is Collecting People’s Face Data And That’s Scary!

The company is busy readying data for its upcoming face recognition feature used for phone unlocking.

Image of Face ID from Apple iPhone for representation purpose.

(Photo: The Quint)

With the Google Pixel 4 launch expected in the next few months, the search giant is reportedly busy collecting all sorts of user data, to test some of the phone’s capability.

And one of them, according to a ZDNet report is Google’s built-in face-recognition ID that will rival Apple’s Face ID biometric technology. To make it highly capable, Googlers are prowling the streets, hoping to get hold of people who’re willing to let them collect their face data, for which they’ll be paid some money.

This report cites one such person, George, who mistakenly thought one of those people was a market researcher or Scientologist. But as it turns out, Google’s employees are on a mission to test its upcoming face recognition tech which is likely to be equipped on the yet to launch Pixel 4 series this year.

This person was roaming around the streets of New York, when the Google employee handed him a phone in a big case. Unfortunately, he couldn’t decipher whether the device lying inside the case was a prototype of the Pixel 4 or some other device.

Interestingly, the person who’s face data was captured was an engineer himself, and looking at what Google was trying to do, he decided to be part of the activity.

Face ID is becoming hot topic around the world.(Photo: The Quint)

For this, the subject was asked to use the selfie mode of the phone, and move his face around the camera to capture details from different angles. 

Now after he was done providing his face data, the Googler offered him a $5 (Rs 350 approx) gift card to Amazon or Starbucks.

This entire episode might sound like a fascinating Netflix series, but unfortunately this is actually happening, down the streets of New York and many other cities, from where Google is hoping to test out its first-ever built-in biometric feature for unlocking phones.

The fact that he allowed Google to collect his face data for a mere $5 is bizarre, after all, the same data can end up on an advertiser or government database, which puts his privacy in jeopardy.

Buy Face Data, Really Google?

Apple has built its Face ID with years of engineering and data processing in place. Google seems to have employed a shorter route to better its rival, i.e, collecting data of millions of people and analyse their face details for enhanced 3D imagery.

But is paying $5 the best possible way of thanking the user for submitting his/her data to the company?

On the whole, what Google is doing might offer a competent security feature on the Pixel 4 but it does leave us wondering if the search giant has a backup plan, just in case all this data slips out of its hands in the near future. Think about it!