What is Text Detection? A New Way to Protect your Data

Have you ever wondered how your smartphone effortlessly scans documents or recognizes text in photos and videos? If you haven’t yet, give it a try: snap a picture of a sign, a house number, or a license plate, then search for that text in your photo library. Thanks to text detection technology, a foundational element for another innovation known as text recognition, your phone can seamlessly scan through images, extract text, and render it searchable.

Text detection isn’t just for phones; it’s a big deal in many industries. In fact, it is expected to be close to a 40 billion dollar market in the next ten years. Financial institutions, healthcare companies, advertising firms, and more use text detection daily to increase workplace functionality and simplicity. But what exactly is it?

Text Detection is the cutting-edge technology designed to recognize text within videos and images, mimicking the functionality of the human eye. Similar to how your eye intuitively spots text, regardless of its size or distance, it enables computers to perform the same task in the digital realm. Moreover, Text Recognition elevates this capability by discerning patterns within the identified text, thereby making it possible to determine the actual context of the text.

Text Detection for Privacy and Compliance

Due to text detection and recognition, professionals dealing with sensitive information can now turn to machines to narrow the chance for error in the redaction process. This approach is becoming increasingly commonplace, especially in procedures like Information Requests that must comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

For example, when someone asks for Body-Worn Camera (BWC) footage under FOIA. It can be tedious to blur out any Personal Identifiable Information (PII). During a regular traffic stop, BWC footage grabs all sorts of details like license plates, IDs, and registrations. Sorting through footage to find all that text manually could take ages. But with text detection technology, it’s a breeze. It quickly spots any time text appears on the screen, making it easy for police officers to scrub through while text recognition finds the important bits that need censoring, saving tons of time in the long run.

FOIA request backlogs have been a problem for many federal and state agencies as well as police departments in the past, with an overwhelmingly high number of requests to handle in a timely manner. Text recognition can be part of the solution by automatically scanning and categorizing large volumes of documents and videos, enabling government agencies to identify relevant information efficiently.

Harnessing AI for Text Detection and Recognition

One of the things that makes these technologies so impressive is the AI that powers them. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) works by storing tons of fonts and then using pattern recognition to compare any text in an image or video to those fonts, effectively identifying where any text is located.

One of the key real-world applications of OCR is its capability to function autonomously. OCR can recognize text without human intervention, assisting in compliance with privacy laws by minimizing the need for direct human exposure to any PII or sensitive data. By employing OCR, there is no need for a middleman, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized access to private information.

OCR plays a crucial role in various industries, revolutionizing the way business is conducted in the modern world. From banking to shipping and logistics, OCR technology has proven to be invaluable in streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency.

In the banking sector, OCR simplifies tasks such as processing bank statements and facilitating mobile check deposits. By accurately extracting vital information from documents without human intervention, OCR ensures data security and expedites transaction processes, ultimately providing customers with a seamless banking experience.

Moreover, in the realm of shipping and logistics, OCR is utilized to track labels and automate data entry, optimizing the shipping process. This technology enables swift and accurate identification of packages, leading to improved inventory management and faster delivery times. By automating these tasks, businesses can minimize human error and reduce operational costs, ultimately contributing to a more efficient and reliable supply chain.

OCR has implications for education as well. Its features give users the ability to generate written summaries of any detected text or transfer a physical document to an electronic one seamlessly, making it easy to disperse to students. OCR also has the ability to identify authors and other information about selected texts. This feature is useful both for students hoping to learn more about a particular work and for teachers attempting to deter cheating and plagiarism. OCR text detection can provide assistance to anyone in the educational sector.

The Best Text Detection and Redaction Solution

Redacting the sensitive information that text detection finds in videos and images may seem like a challenge, but CaseGuard makes it easy. CaseGuard studio offers not only text detection but also automatic redaction at the click of a button.

CaseGuard Studio also works on typed or written text. It is an incredible tool for people in the medical and financial fields who deal with a lot of sensitive client information written out in paperwork. CaseGuard studio can effortlessly identify these sections of text and redact them.

CaseGuard’s redactions happen in real-time, meaning you don’t have to wait all day for your edits to be completed. Simply upload, set your parameters, and let CaseGuard do the work.

CaseGuard Studio can handle all of your detection and redaction needs for you. Contact us today to learn how CaseGuard can handle your specific redaction needs.

To schedule a demo or talk about how CaseGuard can help save you time in redaction, click here.