Facial recognition app used to shame sex workers in Russia

Sex workers and pornography actresses in Russia are being identified through a facial recognition app and then harassed online.

It's a sad and sadly inevitable use of such technology, which has already become relatively ubiquitous through photo programs like Facebook's Moments and Google Photos.

Those apps don't allow for the identification of random people, but Russia's FindFace does. 

FindFace is an app that rather terrifyingly allows users to take photos of anyone and find them on Vkontakte (VK), a Russian social network that is often compared to Facebook.

A deeper, not-at-all creepy video explainer (complete with robot voice) from the company is below. In one example, a screenshot of a video is taken and then searched, finding a match after a few tries.

The app has been around since February and gained widespread attention when Russian photographer Egor Tsevtkov published a project entitled "Your Face Is Big Data," in which he was able to find strangers online using the program.

It comes as little surprise that the dangers that Tsevtkov warned of quickly became reality. 

Internet security firm Sophos, via Russia's T Journal, found that the program had been adopted by members of Dvach -- essentially a Russian version of 4chan -- who were using it to find the social media profiles of sex workers and porn actresses. 

Those profiles were then shared widely on Dvach, with users then sending messages to friends and families of the women.

VK has taken some steps to stop the group, banning a community that had sprung up around the practice. 

FindFace told T Journal  that the company makes "every effort to protect all network users from potential malicious actions and are ready in case of need to give all information to search for such users," according to Sophos and a translation.

Once firmly in the realm of science fiction, facial recognition has advanced quickly. Some of the most advanced program can even use hairstyle and posture to identify people.

Governments have already been quick to embrace such technology. In September 2014, the FBI launched a database that used facial recognition. Australia has also admitted to using a similar system.

Companies aren't far behind. In addition to Facebook and Google, Uber is using facial recognition in China. One analyst report predicted that the global market for facial recognition work in the consumer market to explode in the next four years. 

Meanwhile, efforts to regulate the use of facial recognition have been difficult, with an effort in 2015 falling apart. 

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