Tesco's face scanning system: the key questions answered
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Version 0 of 1. <strong>Q:</strong> <strong>Where and why is my face being scanned, and who is doing it?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> Tesco has announced that it will begin using a face-scanning technology in all of its 450 petrol stations in the UK that can determine your gender and approximate age (child, young adult, adult, senior adult) while you wait in a line to pay. That information will be used to show relevant adverts in a screen visible from the line. <strong>Q: Who's behind this technology?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> Amscreen - run by Simon Sugar, son of Lord Sir Alan Sugar, of Am-company fame - has licensed the technology from a French company called Quividi, which developed the face detection software. <strong>Q: So it's not a British innovation?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> The advertising part is: Amscreen says its "real-time digital network" will "deliver engaging and dynamic content to a weekly audience of over five million adults." (The demonstration picture shows a middle-aged man being confronted with an advert for Sky.) It's part of Amscreen's "Optimeyes" system which uses 6,000 screens around petrol forecourts, health clubs, shops and airports: "the rollout of this technology represents the largest of its kind anywhere in the world." The face detection, though, comes from Quividi, based in Paris. It set up in 2006, and has clients including Coca-Cola and Plan, which used its technique earlier this year in the UK for bus adverts which showed different <strong>Q: Doesn't this invade my privacy? I don't want to be recorded when I visit a petrol station</strong> <strong>A:</strong> "We don't do facial recognition, we do face detection," Ke Quang, chief operating officer of Quividi, told the Guardian on Monday. "It's software which works from the video feed coming off the camera. It can detect if it's seeing a face, but it never records the image or biomorphological information or traits. It picks up if it's seeing a man or a woman, the amount of time they pay attention to the screen, and their presence in front of the screen. The key thing though is that it never records or remembers any information. If you go from one camera in one location to another, it can't tell." <strong>Q: What's the point of it?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> To show you more adverts when you might otherwise not be looking at adverts. <strong>Q: How accurate is the face detection system?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> Pretty good when it comes to telling men from women - unless you wear a baseball cap. Quividi has a study on its site carried out by an independent company in the US: from a sample of 856 people, of whom 72% were men, it was 95% accurate in spotting men, and 87% for women. The score with women was lower because nearly a fifth of them were wearing baseball caps. If you exclude them, it hit 92% accuracy in spotting women. There's no way that's chance. <strong>Q: How exactly does the facial detection work?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> Quang wouldn't explain - "that's our secret sauce" - but it's long been known that there are key differences between male and female faces, relating to width of forehead, ratio of facial height to width, and so on. Quividi apparently recognises faces and then carries out this calculation very rapidly, adding in details about age. <strong>Q: Is this the first time this has been used in the UK?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> No - in February 2012 the charity Plan used it for adverts on bus shelters: if the person looking at the screen was male, they saw details of Plan's website; if they were female, they saw a video campaign in which three girls talked about their lives. <strong>Q: Where else is this used?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> In quite a few locations around the world, judging by Quividi's site: it shows customers in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and New Zealand. It claims to be used in 2,500 locations in 35 countries. <strong>Q: How do I beat it?</strong> <strong>A:</strong> Wear a baseball cap or other hat that covers your eyes and forehead; don't look at the screen showing the ads; and try using the "Pay at Pump" option so you don't have to go inside the petrol station shop. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |