FACIAL RECOGNITION NEEDS CURBS, SAYS MICROSOFT
>> NEW YORK: Microsoft on Friday became the first tech giant to join a growing call for regulations to limit the use of facial recognition technology.
In a lengthy blog post about the potential uses and abuses of facial recognition, Bradford Smith, the company’s president, compared the technology to products like medicines and cars that are highly regulated, and he urged Congress to study it and oversee its use.
“We live in a nation of laws, and the government needs to play an important role in regulating facial recognition technology,” Mr Smith wrote. He added: “A world with vigorous regulation of products that are useful but potentially troubling is better than a world devoid of legal standards.”
Tech giants rarely advocate regulation of their innovations, and Mr Smith’s unusual entreaty illustrates how powerful technologies involving artificial intelligence — including facial recognition — have set off a contentious battle among tech executives. These technologies have the potential to remake industries. They could also reduce workers’ job prospects or result in unequal opportunities for consumers, leading some to argue that the products are too risky for tech companies to deploy without government oversight.
Mr Smith’s appeal also comes as Silicon Valley is facing withering scrutiny from lawmakers and privacy experts. Several companies have been harshly criticised in recent months for their role in spreading false information during the 2016 election and exploiting users’ personal data.
In response, some businesses, like Facebook, have expressed more openness to regulation of practices like political advertising.
With many of its rivals under fire, Microsoft has aggressively tried to position itself as the moral compass of the industry.
Company executives have been outspoken about safeguarding users’ privacy as well as warning about the potential discriminatory effects of using an automated algorithm to make important decisions like hiring.
Now that facial recognition has become a new lightning rod for critics, Microsoft is taking the lead in calling for some regulatory restraint.
The powerful technology can be used to identify people in photos or video feeds without their knowledge or permission.
Proponents see it as a potentially important tool for identifying criminals, but civil liberties experts have warned that the technology could enable mass surveillance, hindering people’s ability to freely attend political protests or go about their day-today lives in anonymity.
In April, privacy groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission saying that Facebook had turned on new face-matching services without obtaining appropriate permission of users. Facebook has denied the groups’ accusations.
In May, the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups asked Amazon to stop selling its face-matching service, Rekognition, to law enforcement agencies.