Merging Facial Recognisation with Data About the user

One has to, of course, worry about loss of privacy and valid legal challenges.

However, on a pure technical and business level, this is quite a convergence of targeting - being able to recognize a user (visually in this case) and attaching it to the data about the user (why stop at ads they clicked on, ...go on their consumer profile and find out what type of car they can afford..).

Alessandro Acquisti, Ph.D, a researcher and instructor still at Carnegie Mellon has designed an iPhone app that functions as a front end for PittPatt's facial recognition technology. As mentioned, it can identify strangers Facebook profiles with startling accuracy.

And that's not all it can do. It also incorporates searches of public databases that allows it to make a good guess at your social security number. If it knows your date of birth (e.g. if your Facebook profile is public), there's a good chance it can ID your social security number. More

The real question is how to make this technology available to users in way that makes their life a bit easier without sacrificing privacy (Remember a decade ago, you did not have a cell phone so your wife or your boss could not reach you when you travelled. Cell phones have made our life easier but we are now available all the time..)