As I've said before: HOW ABOUT NO
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2026
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So what do we do about my evil twin brother who is a supervillain?
I didn't believe this was a problem until I watched my wife and her twin sister unlocking each others phones (they aren't identical but they do look quite a lot alike)
It is good practice to create a different password for each service. That way, if one service is compromised, your adversary cannot use that password to unlock everything else.
That may sound onerous, but thanks to selfie-login technology, you can instead simply use a different face for each account.
I lost access to my face and back up face, how do I log in?
It might be possible to fool it.
More important, it's normalizing use of facial recognition in everyday situations. This is a very invasive tech and prime for abuse by increasingly totalitarian governments.
ICE: unlock your ph...ohh nevermind, it's unlocked using your face.
no thanks... I rather lose my google account
Yeah, thanks but no thanks.
The biggest thing I'll use is fingerprint on my phone, caus its comfy, and quickly disabled should the need arise
Hello, my name is Hugh Jackman.
... you killed my father. Prepare to die.
What could possibly go wrong ?
/s
Did i just time travel or is this the feature i have been refusing to use on my phone for almost a decade?
Yeah November 2017; 8 years ago
Is this implemented very different technologically speaking?
faceId is completely in device. This is a video that is sent to google to process
That's unlocking your phone, this is unlocking your entire Google account (e.g. on a new device)
Is that really that different?
The article doesn’t go into any length to explain the technology. But assuringly its just an encrypted passcode created with an algorithm using measured face data.
Crafting a secure reliable personal id based on pure visual appearance has been tricky and when this came out i disliked it but it was clearly a feat.
What is the story here?
Google trusting this technology?
Them adding age verification to it?
I am just confused what makes this enough of something to write/post it.
Your phone stores the code on the device and does facial recognition locally. Apps on your phone only receive that data if they explicitly request your camera and perform the recognition themselves.
This is vastly different than sending Google a video of your face that they save on their servers and use to analyze future selfie videos.
But assuringly its just an encrypted passcode created with an algorithm using measured face data.
From the article:
Selfie videos can be used for login purposes, to verify your age for accessing certain account features, and to create an AI avatar.
It's not just an encrypted passcode.
Is that really that different?
Conceptionally yes. You can refuse to unlock your phone with your face. You cannot refuse to allow Google to access your account (and thus your phone, too) with a picture of your face -no matter how bad the tech is- if Google implements this.
You will have to set this feature up ahead of time if you want the option of regaining account access with a selfie later on.
for now...
I mean, I certainly hate Google, but I'm not sure I find it likely that they'll force every user to upload a video of themselves. I do think many will do it willingly, though.
Very different, I would say. The security implication of authorising you on a new device is much more severe than logging you into a device you are already authorised against.
Exactly, someone spoofing the biometrics to unlock my phone relies on them having physical access, whereas spoofing the biometrics on an account that can be accessed anywhere in the world is quite a bit bigger of a threat
Maybe its "unlocking" stuff on your desktop browser with your phone, like the new captchas where you have to scan a QR and receive a code via SMS (seriously google, what the heck)