The Two Sides of Facial Recognition Technology
II. While Reading
Vocabulary
Word Inference
- surveillance |sərˈvāləns|-noun-close observation, esp. of a suspected spy or criminal: he found himself put under surveillance by military intelligence.
- immigrants |ˈimigrənt|-noun-a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.
- rely |riˈlī|-verb ( relies, relying, relied ) [ no obj. ] (rely on/upon)-depend on with full trust or confidence: I know I can rely on your discretion.
- ambitious |amˈbiSHəs|-adjective-having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed: his mother was hard-working and ambitious for her four children.
- mugshot-noun- informal-a photograph of a person’s face made for an official purpose, esp. police records.
- advocate-noun |ˈadvəkit|-a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy: he was an untiring advocate of economic reform.
- gait |gāt|-noun-a person’s manner of walking: the easy gait of an athlete.
- breakthrough |ˈbrākˌTHro͞o|-noun-a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development: a major breakthrough in DNA research.
- manhunt |ˈmanˌhənt|-noun-an organized search for a person, esp. a criminal.
- obscure |əbˈskyo͝or|- verb [ with obj. ]-keep from being seen; conceal: gray clouds obscure the sun.
Source: New Oxford American Dictionary
Reading Comprehension
True / False/ NA
- T- Civil liberties advocates worry video technology could be used to track people on the street regardless of whether they’re suspected of a crime.
- F-The purpose for analyzing a person’s gait is to get clues as to whether they’re carrying a bomb.
- T- Machine vision techniques can now link images of the same person across different video cameras or spot behaviors that are out of the ordinary for a certain setting.
- NA- Major cities in the US now have video cameras in all areas.
- F-Current facial-recognition technology has its limits… These technologies remain in their infancy.
- F- It’s likely that the breakthroughs in the case were made by sharp-eyed investigators.
- NA-The suspects in the bombing had signed up for the Boston Marathon a few days earlier.
- T- At this point, people are better at recognizing faces faces better than machines.
- NA-Video cameras are now installed in all major airports.
- T- The ability to instantly recognize the face of an acquaintance, is part of what makes us a sociable species.
Grammar Focus
Structure and Usage
I-3-These technologies remain in their infancy.
II-2-This system will include iris scans, voice recognition, and facial-recognition software.
III-3-Programmers are developing machine vision techniques.
IV. Listening Activity
While Listening
Comprehension Check
- T- The company NEC has developed a Facial recognition technology with the ability to estimate customers’ ages, genders, and how often they visit a store.
- F- The data includes the dates and times the customers visit stores.
- T-The data is then accumulated and use to analyze trends in customer behavior.
- NA-The FRT can also distinguish eye and hair color of customers.
- F- The only equipment required are a regular PC and a video camera.
- F- The service can also detect customers who have visited a particular store several times.
- F- The technology uses a face recognition technology called NeoFace.
- T- Face data is encrypted in real time.
- F- There’s no risk that face data will be inadvertently disclosed.
- T- The service costs 880 dollars per month.