High-tech sunglasses capable of recognizing one face among 10,000 suspects in 100 milliseconds are being deployed by the Chinese government, according to local media reports on Wednesday.
Looking a lot like the Google Glass, the "smart specs" are used for identifying potential suspects.
How does it work?
The device connects to a feed which taps into China's state database to root out potential criminals using facial recognition. Officers can identify suspects in a crowd by snapping their photo and matching it to the database. Beyond the name, officers are also supplied with the person's address, according to reports from BBC.
On the other hand, the Chinese state media says that the technology has already facilitated the capture of seven individuals, while 35 others using fake IDs are said to have been found.
The sunglasses have been deployed in Zhengzhou, the capital of central province Henan, where it has been used to surveil those traveling by plane and train, according to the Wall Street Journal. With Chinese New Year fast approaching, the world's largest human migration, it still can't be imagined that the glasses could be of use to surveil the hundreds of millions of people who travel the country, and beyond, for the holiday period.
However, this technology will have to impress the people further to gain at notable reputation.
The glasses were made by a Chinese company called LLVision Technology, who worked closely with officials to integrate facial recognition into the headset, which features a wearable video camera.
The headset is controlled by a connected mobile unit and the technology can pick out a face from a preloaded database of 10,000 suspects.
Prior to that "smart specs" China's has been criticized in many quarters for the way it uses its database, and facial recognition tech in relation to ethnic minorities. A system deployed in Xinjiang - a province with a population of some 10 million 'Uighur' Muslims, is reportedly designed to notify authorities when "target" individuals go beyond their home or place of work, according to Bloomberg.
