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Mathematical Digest


Short Summaries of Articles about Mathematics
in the Popular Press

"Big Brother cameras on watch for criminals", by Martin Kasindorf, USA Today, 2 August 2001.

"Like fingerprinting and DNA analysis, face-recognition technology is a form of biometrics, the science of identifying people by unique physical characteristics. The automated software measures 80 facial features, converts them into a mathematical formula and searches the database for a match." The bulk of the article discusses how this new technology has sparked debates on public safety vs. privacy concerns.

--- Annette Emerson

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