Google face search to use social network photos

If you are out in public, you are fair game, but how would you like it if a stranger took your picture and then ran a search to find out your name, online aliases and all the information about you via that image? We are very nearly there with automatic face-recognition technology and social media aggregation. Although several companies are exploring that realm, Google recently published a patent in Europe to use facial recognition and social networking combined to give visual search results.

Google Goggles is an image recognition search for mobile phones which allows curious users to take a picture of anything, such as a landmark, and then run a search for info on the item in question. A user does not need to type or speak to start the search; instead it's as easy as opening the app, taking a photo and then waiting for the search results.

Although in December 2009, Google chose not to immediately start using facial recognition technology for Google Goggles visual searches, in August 2010 Google acquired Like.com which is a visual search engine currently used for shopping. Before Like.com assisted online shoppers, it was a visual search site called Riya which used facial recognition technology to search images that users had uploaded and tagged. Way back in 2005, Google almost purchased Riya. So by acquiring Like.com, Google also gained Riya's technology. Other patent filings have recently become public, suggesting Google has been working all along to apply visual query technology to searching for faces.