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This story began with a simple question: if a facial recognition system processes a lot of pictures of a child, will it recognize that person when he or she grows up?
If I were to upload all my childhood photos to Facebook (or some future Facebook), could a biometric identification system link the button-nosed, round-cheeked child with a bowl cut to my adult face, which has lost its button, cheeks, and hair?
It's not an idle question: parents are posting millions of photos of their children to social networking sites, as are kids themselves when they are old enough to use Facebook and the like. Will these photos permanently identify them as they grow older, linking their childhood or teenage antics to their adult identities?
Or does the natural aging process provide some level of protection from the prying computations of facial recognition algorithms? If I can barely identify myself in photos from my childhood, what hope does a computer have?
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