Two-factor authentication is required to access many spaces online. A thumbprint or a face scan is needed for others.
Identity theft and data stealing are rife, apparently. So, our details are locked up tighter than Fort Knox.
Heaven help us if we forget the magic codes or are missing an essential component to pick the lock – we have no chance.
But sometimes the tail wags the dog.
A recent update of my phone reorganised my ordered system, switching around my screen design and, worst of all, recategorising my photos.
I normally cope well with change, but this time my phone’s rejuvenated facial-recognition program decided I was my daughter.
Granted, we have similar facial characteristics, given our shared genetic material.
And on occasion, as she was growing up, people commented she looked quite a bit like me.
But my girl is young and gorgeous in ways the AI in my machine clearly failed to appreciate – plus, she is 23 years my junior.
Aside from being annoying, the appropriation of my visage meant the system grouped my daughter with my husband as a regular pairing – a bit icky.
And fixing this error of identity involved a lot of Googling and fancy fingerwork which, frankly, was a bit challenging for someone of my IT skill level.
The fix meant erasing us both from the memory of the program and reinstalling us correctly.
Identity is not as fixed as we think.
The other day, a woman I have met once or twice mixed me entirely with someone else, looking very confused when I clearly had no idea about the story she was imparting.
I have been a victim of identity theft in other forums, too.
My mother-in-law and I share the same name and attend the same GP practice, prompting the need for eagle eyes and sharp ears when checking in for any kind of consultation.
In other official spaces, I have been asked more than once for information specific to her, not me.
We may have a similar age gap as my daughter and I, but the system seems as confused by names as it is by faces.
It has happened before: a girl at my primary school had precisely my maiden name and our birth dates were a day apart.
Maybe I just have the unfortunate combo of having ‘one of those faces’ as well as ‘one of those names’.
Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.
