Facial Recognition Technology – Current and Planned Uses by Federal Agencies
Facial recognition can verify or identify individuals by their faces. It is one of several biometric technologies that identify individuals by measuring and analyzing physical and behavioral characteristics. Facial recognition technology uses a photo or still from a video feed of a person—often called a probe or live photo—and converts it into a template, or a mathematical representation of the photo.
Facial recognition searches or comparisons generally fall into two categories: verification and identification. Verification (or one-to-one searches) compares a stored photo of an individual to another photo purportedly of the same individual to determine whether they are the same person.