Facial recognition and witness protection

[mtbc]

Facial recognition algorithms seem to be becoming rather good. Not being a Facebook user I have been distant from DeepFace but British police forces have been trialling facial recognition and I have noticed various news of successes in automated identification of criminals from cameras in cities like Cardiff.

Between the increasing ubiquity of both private and government cameras and the rate at which photographs and videos are posted to social media, I wonder if we are seeing the end of practical long-term witness protection. After all, big data is a hot topic and reflectacles go only so far.

I should note that here in Scotland the term for such witnesses is protected persons, not to be confused with the British immigration term.