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To: steve who wrote (25335)	12/11/2003 1:59:50 AM
From: steve	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 26039

SmartGate critics will be silenced: Report author By Andrew Colley, ZDNet Australia 11 December 2003 Critics of the SmartGate facial recognition system will soon be silenced, said the co-author of the first comprehensive study on the program, which is expected to be released next year. Dr Jim Wayman of San Jose University, said the new Commonwealth- funded study, developed in cooperation with the Australian Customs Service and the U.K. National Physical Lab, "had turned US biometrics research on its ear". Wayman handed the results of the SmartGate study to Chris Ellison in Washington D.C. last month but said he was unable to discuss them in detail ahead of their expected release at a major press conference early next year. However, Wayman said that the U.S. government was now redirecting government funding based on concepts proved during the SmartGate trial. The findings will be welcomed by the federal government, which has been under pressure to successfully develop a machine-readable passport since the passing of laws in the US in 2001 mandating their use by countries wishing to qualify for the U.S. visa waiver program. Current estimates suggest the government has invested around AU$3 million in the system. The SmartGate pilot program, involving Qantas long-haul crews, was widely considered to be an important test case for the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) biometric identification system of choice, facial recognition technology. Critics of SmartGate have been on the government's case for opting for facial recognition technology and accused the government of failing to monitor false acceptance rates under the system. In one embarrassing example two Asian delegates visiting Australia to evaluate the system managed to bypass SmartGate checks after swapping passports. Wayman said he initially thought the decision to use facial recognition technology was "nuts" given its poor performance in US testing. However, according to Wayman, the five-angle photographic method incorporated into SmartGate has been a major breakthrough in facial-recognition research. The SmartGate system scans each passport holder's face and compares it with a mathematical representation of his or her facial features stored on the passport. The challenge for technologists said Wayman has been to compensate for changes in facial pose, illuminations and expression (PIE). "In the U.S., we have been trying to compensate for pose-angle changes [by] increasing the complexity of algorithms...This hasn't worked very well," said Wayman. According to Wayman, ACS solved the problem by simply photographing the subjects at 5 different angles and then went to great lengths to control lighting and asked everyone to use a neutral expression. "Results are absolutely outstanding," said Wayman. It is unclear how critics who have questioned the technology for failing to take account of the impact of aging, plastic surgery and facial accessories such as sunglasses will receive the findings. zdnet.com.au steve