ALARM RAISED OVER FACE RECOGNITION

It will infringe on human rights: MS chief legal officer

Redmond (US), July 14: Microsoft is calling on Congress to regulate the use of facial recognition technology to protect people’s privacy and freedom of expression.

It’s the first big tech firm to raise alarm about a sought-after technology for recognising a person’s face from a photo or through a camera. Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a blog post on Saturday that the government should form a bipartisan expert commission.

Microsoft has already rejected some customers’ requests to deploy the technology in situations involving “human rights risks.”

Redmond (US), July 14: Microsoft is calling on Congress to regulate the use of facial recognition technology to protect people’s privacy and freedom of expression.

It’s the first big tech company to raise serious alarms about an increasingly sought-after technology for recognising a person’s face from a photo or through a camera.

Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a blog post on Saturday that the government should form a bipartisan expert commission.

Mr Smith says Microsoft, which supplies face recognition to some businesses, has already rejected some customers’ requests to deploy the technology in situations involving “human rights risks.” A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to provide more details about what opportunities the company has passed over because of ethical concerns.

Mr Smith defended the company's contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying it does not involve face recognition.

Mr Smith, Microsoft’s chief legal officer made a case for a government initiative to lay out rules for proper use of facial recognition technology, with input from a bipartisan and expert commission.

“Imagine a government tracking everywhere you walked over the past month without your permission or knowledge,” he said. “Imagine a database of everyone who attended a political rally that constitutes the very essence of free speech.”

It could become possible for businesses to track visitors or customers, using what they see for decisions regarding credit scores, lending decisions, or employment opportunities without telling people.

He said scenarios portrayed in fictional films such as Minority Report, Enemy of the State, and even the George Orwell dystopian classic 1984 are “on the verge of becoming possible”.

“These issues heighten responsibility for tech companies that create these products,” Mr Smith said. “In our view, they also call for thoughtful government regulation and for the development of norms around acceptable uses.”

Microsoft and other tech companies have used facial recognition technology for years for tasks such as organising digital photographs. But the ability of computers to recognise people’s faces is improving rapidly, along with the ubiquity of cameras and the power of computing hosted in the internet cloud to figure out identities in real time.

While the technology can be used for good, perhaps finding missing children or known terrorists, it can also be abused.

“It may seem unusual for a company to ask for government regulation of its products, but there are many markets where thoughtful regulation contributes to a healthier dynamic for consumers and producers alike,” Mr Smith said. Agencies