Churchix cameras are able to recognise people’s faces from photos and therefore monitor attendance at church meetings. The same facial recognition technology has been used to identify criminals at airports.
Churchix was developed by Face-Six, a company that sells the technology to law enforcement agencies.
CEO Moshe Greenshpan says the company never set out to sell the software to churches.
‘Within a short period of time we’ve been approached by ten different churches from all over the world, all asking for the same thing – give us a face recognition software that can identify members attending our events,’ he explains.
Emma Carr, director of Big Brother Watch, told The Daily Mirror: ‘This is a clear example of completely over-the-top use of technology. Churches have managed to note who is in their congregation for hundreds of years without resorting to highly intrusive means.’
