China: Lost Man Reunited With Family With The Help of Facial Recognition Tech

A man who had not seen his family for over a year has been reunited with the help of facial recognition technology. The mentally ill man had been reported as missing by his family but had been staying at a hospital since January 2017.

Authorities took him there when he was found walking around at a train station. When authorities found him, he looked confused and efforts to find his family were not successful. Hospital officials could not identify him and his family did not know where he was.

Hospital officials then decided to contact a company that works on facial recognition technology to see where he lived. The company linked a photo to public records and they were able to find that he lived in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

The man had been found hundreds of miles away from where he lived. Authorities did not reveal his name but the South China Morning Post reported that he had been reunited with his brother.

Facial recognition technology is becoming more and more common in China, the world’s most populous country. The technology has proven to be a success for authorities, helping catch those using false documents and those who have committed other crimes.

Facial recognition technology actually made news just a few days ago when authorities in China used it to arrest a man who decided to attend a concert. The technology was all over the news since it helped authorities find the man in a crowd of about 60,000 people. The man attended the concert thinking he would not have any problems since there was a large crowd.

One police officer told local media that the man was surprised that he was found among the crowd. Authorities revealed that they were looking for the man over “economic crimes” and that they used the technology in the entrance. They said the cameras equipped with that technology identified him and they later went in to make the arrest. Local media reported that the man had driven over 50 miles to attend the concert with his wife.

Estimates say the country has over 170 million surveillance cameras and that they plan to add millions more in the future. Just a few weeks ago, reports revealed that police officers had expanded a program in which they use this technology on sunglasses. The program is currently being tested in some train stations near Beijing.

 

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