NSA pulls in 'millions of images' every day to aid facial recognition

The National Security Agency (NSA) pulls in “millions of images per day” for use in its facial recognition program,  it was reported Sunday.

According to top-secret documents leaked to the New York Times by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the U.S. spy agency has increased its reliance on facial recognition over the last few years in line with new software which exploits the use of images on e-mails, text messages, social media, video conferences and other forms of communication.

Facial recognition is now viewed within the agency to be as important as other unique identifiers such as fingerprints, it is suggested.

The NSA plans to use the images to help “revolutionize” how it finds targets around the world, according to the documents seen by the Times. Out of the millions of pictures it receives daily, around 55,000 of them are considered “facial recognition quality images.” According to the documents, those pictures present “tremendous untapped potential” for the agency.

“It’s not just the traditional communications we’re after: It’s taking a full-arsenal approach that digitally exploits the clues a target leaves behind in their regular activities on the net to compile biographic and biometric information” that can help “implement precision targeting,” one of the documents said, according to the Times.

The photos allow the NSA to do a variety of things, such as compare satellite imagery with intercepted photos taken outside to pinpoint the exact location of people.

Several other government agencies, including the FBI and State Department, also have facial recognition programs of their own.

The New York Times report is the latest disclosure resulting from a series of leaks from Snowden about the extent to which the NSA collects bulk data from American citizens.

Al Jazeera