Tech Security
FILE PHOTO: Individuals visit the mainly empty Universal Studios Singapore, as tourist takes a decline following the coronavirus outbreak, in Sentosa March 4,2020 REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Visitors to Universal Studios in Singapore will now need to travel through facial recognition scanners to enter the park, in the city-state’s most current foray with a technology that has stired privacy issues.
Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), which owns the vast area of traveler destinations, hotels and restaurants in which the park sits, said the scheme which started this month would assist smooth gain access to for visitors.
” Facial recognition supplies contactless verification of tickets and ticket holders, allowing our customers to enjoy our park experience in a more effective and seamless manner,” RWS said in an emailed statement.
Use of facial recognition innovation – which permits companies or authorities to match individuals detected cams with those on databases – has risen globally over the last few years, stirring worries about monitoring and how information gathered will be utilized.
Digitally-connected Singapore has actually embarked on numerous jobs that utilize the innovation, including an ambitious scheme to put video cameras on lamp-posts linked to facial acknowledgment software application.
Yearly and season ticket holders of Singapore’s Universal Studios no longer need physical passes, while guests utilizing day passes will still need tickets for entry but can then exit and return to just utilizing their facial image.
Facial acknowledgment is an “important” part of admission and is utilized for “operational enhancement, security and security”, according to RWS, which last month axed personnel as the COVID-19 pandemic batters Singapore’s tourism industry.
RWS said it had carried out rigid security measures to protect guest info such as keeping it on encrypted servers. It decreased discuss which business was supplying the facial acknowledgment technology.
China’s Universal Studios theme park due to open in Beijing next year also prepares to utilize facial acknowledgment innovation, according to media reports.
Reporting by John Geddie and Aradhana Aravindan; Modifying by Ed Davies
