Have you ever seen a random person the street and thought, âIâd really like to see where that person went on her last vacationâ?
Well, then youâll like the new NameTag app, which scans peoplesâ faces and searches for their facial information on dating sites and social media networks.
Scary? Yes. Useful? Probably.
Along with scanning through social media sites, the NameTag app looks through the National Sex Offender Registry. Thatâs useful if you frequently date people you suspect to be sex offenders. Itâs also a fun way to check if any of your friends look like sex offenders.
All kidding aside, the appâs creator, Kevin Alan Tussy, says that his app was developed with safety in mind. Itâs good to know a little more about the person youâre joining on a date. While youâre creeping their Facebook page, you can also check to see if you have any mutual hobbies or interests.
Maybe you wonât even have to talk to your date anymore!
Anyways, this app has set off a bit of controversy. People who like privacy donât like this app, and sex offenders probably hate it too. Most criticism about NameTag uses words like âcreepyâ and âinvasiveâ.
Itâs not the first app of its kind (a Brazilian app called Boyfriend Tracker set off a similar controversy). But itâs certainly received more publicity than any other facial recognition app.
The app was designed for Google Glass and is currently still in development. Most people agree that adding software like this to Google Glass was what everybody was afraid of. How freaky would a train ride be if you saw someone with Google Glass checking you out?
Letâs be honest: you usually creep your date on Facebook or Google before you head out for dinner. This app just makes it a little easier. But good luck taking a discrete picture of your dateâs face. Itâs going to be awkward if you get caught:
âHey hold still for a sec, I just gotta quickly run your name through a sex offender registry to make sure youâre cool.â
This is the future. You can learn more about NameTag here, although that site is currently down (due to all the recent media attention).