The Summary includes abstracts of articles from major national newspapers, business magazines, Web sites, national and international wire services, and periodicals focusing on law enforcement and corrections technology. The software converts images into a string of numbers that can be matched to strings in other images. Problems with lighting, camera angles, cameras quality, and other factors have made the technology less useful for general law enforcement than it is for computer log-ins, security checkpoints, and casino surveillance.
Face recognition is also less effective when enough time has passed for a person's face to change.
Biometric Test Center director Jim Wayman states that police can make good use of facial recognition if they have reasonable expectations about its efficacy and realize that decreasing the number of possible suspects is still a positive step. Face-recognition technology has incited the ire of privacy advocates in the United States and Britain, although a majority of residents in the Newham borough of London feel that the enhanced feeling of safety they get with the system is more important. The group has examined vulnerabilities and solutions for e-mail systems, published warnings on new viruses and tactics, and worked with companies to develop patches for Web sites. The group's caseload has increased from 450 cases to 1,200 cases, but has failed to encourage companies to contact federal law enforcement officials on their own. The software allowed the multitude of data and evidence associated with the case to be managed in such a manner that locating any document could be done in just seconds.