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In OneZero. More on Medium.

Dave Gershgorn

·Mar 19, 2020

Facial Recognition Companies See the Coronavirus as a Business Opportunity

Facial recognition companies are pitching the technology as a sanitary alternative to fingerprint scanners

A woman with a face mask uses a facial recognition system to enter a residence. — Photo: Cai Zixin/China News Service/Getty Images

The Covid-19 crisis enveloping millions of people around the world is also presenting an unlikely business opportunity for one sector of tech: facial recognition technology. Companies including DERMALOG in Germany and Telpo in China are pitching the technology as a method for identifying individuals without the risk of close contact.

Fingerprint scanners, for instance, require that many people touch the same surface, which could potentially spread infection if someone with Covid-19 were to use an unclean scanner. …