Russian company NTechLab has a program that is capable of identifying strangers among a crowd of 300 million Twitter users. The product is called ‘FindFace’ and has been created to help those who have come under attack after fake Twitter accounts were created posing as them.
The technology is so far only available on VK, a social media website that is popular among Russian speakers, but the company has its sights set on Twitter. Twitter claims that the program is in direct violation of their rules and will not allow its use on the site.
Co-founder of NTechLab, Artem Kukharenko, stated that “we think this is something many people will use”.
“Not in the US, but in other countries there is a real problem of politicians, reporters, finding that someone created a fake account for them”.
FindFace could potentially compromise user’s privacy and put people at even more risk than before. Cross-referencing a photo on Twitter can help strangers to track down people, leading to very disturbing intrusions of people’s privacy.
NTechLab are in talks to apply the technology to CCTV cameras located in Moscow City as well, which could potentially cut down crime rates, but could also move the city in a more Orwellian direction.