The Enigma Rising

“Understood. They may not have any ransom demands yet, but in that part of the world kidnapping, extortion, and assassination are a way of life for the rich and famous. We must assume that she cannot stay under the radar indefinitely because she wanted to be a model and most probably a movie star. At some point, even with her limited exposure to public media hounds, someone could identify her and take advantage. My concern is that we may not be able to find her in time.”

Quip volunteered, “I have an idea how we can change the game in looking for her, but it is going to be slow even with the help of the Immersive Collaborative Associative Binary Override Deterministic system, my old buddy, ICABOD. I want to use some leading edge but imperfect facial recognition algorithms to hunt through the human flotsam and jetsam that goes through that female meat-market world of modeling to see if we can get any leads.”

“What do you mean, imperfect facial recognition algorithms?” Otto asked, interested with the possibilities.

Quip continued, “Well, facial recognition can yield roughly an 89% success factor when in use with this kind of search. One can’t hide cheeks, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and chin design structure which makes a human unique, unless plastic surgery is involved. We have to presume she would not have enough funds or likely a true desire for that sort of makeover. However, she certainly could significantly change her recognizable appearance with hair style, color, contacts, makeup, or other props such as hats or glasses to distort the analysis process.

“There has to be a good picture of the subject to work from and a good picture to compare to. The likelihood that we will be lucky enough to find an automated match quickly is rather small. We have the two photos provided, both of which are straight on face shots, with the most current being three years old. I have software that can gently age it, but modeling poses tend to be more on a side or head tilted in some way to accentuate what is being sold.

“Certain views have been found to be the best for selling. Sort of like watch ads which usually show the time on the device as ten minutes after ten and thirty seconds. Fashion has some similar standards that are used, as do other venues in which female models are used. Even though it is slow, it is certainly better than waiting for her to use an old credit card.”

“I agree, Quip. That is one good angle to cover. Most pictures for magazines, sales brochures and so forth are digitally transmitted and catalogued these days. It will take time to tap the various systems and film over the last few months in which she might appear.

“I, however, am better at people hunting on foot, so I am inclined to operate in the possible areas to which she would gravitate. The fashion spring and summer shoots would be my best vectors, I think, to start asking questions with her picture in hand.”