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Ice Cream Sandwich Face Unlock feature fooled by a photo

Ice Cream Sandwich Face Unlock feature fooled by a photo

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The Galaxy Nexus isn't out yet, but people are already poking holes in one of its fancy new features: Face Unlock.

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Galaxy Nexus Face Unlock
Galaxy Nexus Face Unlock

The Galaxy Nexus isn't out yet, but people are already poking holes in one of its fancy new features: Face Unlock. It sounds like fun (even though it didn't work for Matias during his onstage unveil), but there was some immediate skepticism, because many face-recognition systems in the past have been fooled by still photos of a person's face. Google denied this, saying "give us some credit," but it turns out Face Unlock can be fooled by exactly that. Someone from SoyaCincau took a hands-on opportunity with the device to hold up a still of his face, after he'd already trained the Galaxy Nexus on his dashing good looks — it unlocked. Of course, all the disclaimers apply: this is pre-release software, and there are hopefully ways to adjust the sensitivity (right now there's even a note on the setting that says Face Unlock is low-security and experimental), but until we hear otherwise, we're going to stick with some more tried and true phone locking methods. Like smudging greasy, traceable lines all over our screen. Check out the damning evidence below.