Apple eyes facial recognition for smart home hub
Apple is reportedly exploring facial recognition as a feature for an upcoming smart home hub device. The technology would allow the hub to identify household members by face, potentially personalizing the home experience.
Why this matters: A microphone in your home is already a lot to accept. A camera that recognizes faces is a different category of thing. Apple would be collecting biometric data inside your house, continuously, to run basic home features. That data is about you, your family, and anyone who visits. Apple has a better privacy reputation than most, but reputation is not a policy. The question worth asking now, before this ships, is where that data lives, who can access it, and what happens when someone else wants it.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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