KFAR ADUMIM: Twenty years after he planned the controversial barrier between Israel and the Palestinians, Dany Tirza is developing a security tool that requires no cement: body cameras with facial recognition technology.

Tirza, a former Israeli army colonel, says his company, Yozmot Ltd, aims to produce a body-worn camera enabling police to scan crowds and detect suspects in real time, even if their faces are obscured.

Facial recognition in law enforcement has sparked global criticism, with US tech giants backing away from providing the technology to police, citing privacy risks.

Proponents including Tirza, however, tout its ability to track down criminals or missing persons.

“The policeman will know who he is facing,” he said.

Tirza, 63, spoke from his home in Kfar Adumim, a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.

He said he hopes to use technology made by Tel Aviv-based Corsight AI to develop a body-worn police camera that could instantly identify people in a crowd, even if they wear masks, make-up or camouflage, and could match them to photographs dating back decades.

Tirza said no partnership agreement between Yozmot and Corsight has been signed.

Corsight CEO Rob Watts did not confirm any specific collaborations, but said his company was working with some 230 “integrators” worldwide who incorporated facial recognition software into cameras.

The technology allows clients to build databases, whether of company employees allowed into a building, ticket holders permitted into a stadium, or suspects wanted by the police, Watts said.

He said Australian and British police were already piloting the technology.

The facial recognition industry was worth about $3.7 billion in 2020, according to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, which projected growth to $11.6 billion by 2026.

Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM have all declared temporary or permanent freezes on selling facial recognition programmes to law enforcement.

France last month ordered the US-based Clearview AI to delete data on its citizens, saying the company violated privacy when it built a facial recognition database using images “scraped” from the internet.

Watts called Clearview’s actions “abhorrent” and said Corsight AI did not sell to China, Russia or Myanmar because of “human rights and ethics”.

“What we want to do is promote facial recognition as a force for good,” he said.

He said Corsight had hired Tony Porter, the United Kingdom’s former surveillance camera commissioner, as chief privacy officer, and the software would blur or delete faces deemed not of interest within seconds.

Corsight AI was valued at $55 million in a recent funding round, Watts said, estimating this would grow to $250 million by year’s end and noting the technology’s potential.

Surveillance technology developed in Israel has a chequered history.

The NSO Group, founded by Israeli military intelligence veterans, makes the Pegasus software that can spy on mobile phones.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

Closed doors
Updated 08 Jan, 2025

Closed doors

The nation’s fate has been decided through secret deals for too long, with the result that the citizenry has become increasingly alienated from the state.
Debt burden
08 Jan, 2025

Debt burden

THE federal government’s total debt stock soared by above 11pc year-over-year to Rs70.4tr at the end of November,...
GB power crisis
08 Jan, 2025

GB power crisis

MASS protests are not a novelty in Pakistan, and when the state refuses to listen through the available channels —...
Fragile peace
Updated 07 Jan, 2025

Fragile peace

Those who have lost loved ones, as well as those whose property has been destroyed in the clashes, must get justice.
Captive power cut
07 Jan, 2025

Captive power cut

THE IMF’s refusal to relax its demand for discontinuation of massively subsidised gas supplies to mostly...
National embarrassment
Updated 07 Jan, 2025

National embarrassment

The global eradication of polio is within reach and Pakistan has no excuse to remain an outlier.