In a televised segment titled “Tech Is Ruining My Life,” hosts Christy and Speaker A introduce several emerging privacy‑related apps, focusing on the NameTag facial‑recognition application. NameTag can scan a person’s face and instantly retrieve personal data such as name, address, contact information, and social‑media details, potentially even criminal history. The hosts debate whether the technology is cool or creepy, raising concerns about stalking, identity theft, and the erosion of personal privacy. McAfee online‑security expert Robert Siciliano explains that facial recognition has existed for decades, has been incorporated into platforms like Facebook and Google, and is now moving into consumer‑facing apps. He acknowledges both beneficial uses (background checks, identity proofing) and malicious ones (stalkers, pedophiles). Siciliano stresses that individuals must manage their online reputation, use opt‑out features where available, and stay informed about how their data is exposed. The conversation also touches on a privacy‑focused messaging app, Confyde, which requires a swipe gesture to view encrypted, self‑destructing messages, and speculates about integrating facial‑recognition with wearable devices like Google Glass, where a user could wink to capture a contact’s information. Overall, the segment highlights the tension between innovative convenience and growing privacy risks, urging viewers to be proactive about their digital footprints.
Chapters
Still to come on New Day, blurring the lines between cool and downright creepy.
Creepy.
Facial recognition apps are in the works that can scan your face, look up private information about you, create an ID, the name, your address, your relationship status.
Ew.
We'll explain that. Please call.
All right, time for our weekly segment, Tech Is Ruining My Life. Today we're looking at the good, the bad, the ugly technology.
We begin with a new messaging app that could protect your privacy but also save cheating spouses.
Mmm, it's called Confyde. It essentially takes security to the next level by forcing a recipient to drag their fingers across the screen to read an encrypted message. The creators say it's a way to ensure that no one can snap a photo of the message.
And finally, like other apps on the market, it also destroys the message shortly after it's sent. So that's something that's good.
All right, single guys and gals, you know what I'm talking about. Have you ever walked by someone cute, wondered, who are you? What are you all about here? Or even dreamed of, you know, calling them one day if you just knew their phone number?
Yeah, it's—
well, there's an app for that.
There is an app now, NameTag. For example, is a new facial recognition app in the works. And what apps like it can do with Google Glass blurs the line between cool and what Christy thinks is just downright creepy.
I do think it's creepy. Essentially, it can spot any face it sees— yes, even your mug— and match it in real time to information online, meaning a stranger can basically look at you, almost instantly know your personal information.
Everything from your name and contact information to criminal history, if there is one, and anything else posted on social media like, uh, Facebook. McAfee Online Security expert Robert Siciliano joins us now. All right, so what should we make of an app like this? I mean, one, where'd this come from? Why do we have one now?
Well, facial recognition is about 20 years old or more. Uh, it is a technology that is, uh, used to identify people for security purposes, uh, but it's never really come into its own. You know, we're not using it every day, say, to get on planes. But it has evolved through companies like Facebook and Google as well as part of social. And so when you tag someone in social, that is a form of facial recognition. And now more applications are adopting this technology essentially to identify people in a number of different ways.
It sounds like a breeding ground for stalkers for me, but I'm wondering, you know, even taking it to the next level, can someone steal your identity just by looking at you?
So, I don't see an immediate security implication in regards to identity theft with this type of technology. The good is that for security professionals, like in the form of a background check, it can be used to identify people, you know, provide a form of identity proofing. The bad, of course, stalkers and pedophiles may use it for evil purposes. You know, kind of like a gun, it can be used for good and for bad. In the end, This technology is going to proliferate, and we all need to be aware that privacy to a certain degree is eroding. So what you post is gonna be around forever, including photos.
So I was all in, uh, for this app. You thought it was creepy, I thought it was cool, until I learned more about the contact information available. Is it possible someone can just see you, maybe see a few trinkets you have on, snap a photo of you, and find out your address and then head to your home?
Well, that is possible with facial recognition. Somebody finds out your name, they can search your name and find out that same information— your email address, your phone number, your address— simply with your name. Googling yourself, you can find that same data as well. Somebody snaps a photo of you not knowing your name, it is possible down the road, maybe even now, that that can occur as well.
Is this the new norm? I mean, is this what we're gonna come to expect? 'Cause part of me thinks, I don't know what to tell my kids.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, well, this is the norm, and it is the responsibility of the individual to manage their online reputation, the information that's out there about them, knowing about these applications and how to manage them. Actually signing up for this app allows you to opt out to a certain degree. It gives you more control. So, you know, as creepy as it may be, Uh, and as cool as it may be to some, uh, it is the way it is. So the more involved you are and understand the implications of this stuff, the more control you can have over, again, your online reputation.
Am I thinking too much about this? But when I think about this app and Google Glass, that if I'm wearing the glasses, I can just wink and save a person for later and then decide what I want to do with it once I get home. I mean, are— can these two types of of technology work together?
So yes, uh, and I wouldn't say you're thinking too much about it. This is the way that people should be thinking. If they're thinking in depth in regards to these technologies and how they work and the potential, both good and bad, uh, you know, that's the way you should actually process all this stuff, because over time that gives you more control over it, that gives you more depth and perspective over it as to how to deal with it, because like you all said, this is really the new norm.
Wow. Robert Siciliano, McAfee Online Security Expert, thank you so much. The idea that I could, with Google Glasses, wink at someone and that could be a flirt and then also have their phone number once I want to use it.
He makes a great point. It really does make us— force us to be more disciplined about what's— watching what's out there online about ourselves.
