Microsoft advocates regulation for facial recognition

Microsoft calls on the governments to regulate facial recognition to prevent misuse of the technology. Microsoft chief lawyer Brad Smith says Friday that face recognition technology causes problems affecting fundamental human rights, such as privacy and freedom of expression.

According to Smith, the US government is going to regulate the use of the technology. Smith wants the government to investigate what measures it can take against the use of facial recognition to profile people on the basis of race, without affecting the positive aspects of technology. In addition, the government must ask themselves whether investigative services and law enforcement officers are allowed to use the technology just like that, or whether a minimum level of reliability is required. Smith also argues for sufficient transparency and accountability when using facial recognition.

Immigrants

Face recognition was recently discredited during the period when the US immigration service at the border separated parents from children. In the control of immigrants, the American immigration service would have used ICE facial recognition from Microsoft. Earlier Microsoft already renounced the immigration policy of the US. Now Smith states that Microsoft does not provide facial recognition technology to US border surveillance. Internet giant Amazon also develops facial recognition software, which is supplied to American police forces. Both investors and staff would criticize these practices. Critics fear that facial recognition will be used to monitor citizens automatically and continuously. With the technology, for example, a database with suspects can potentially be compared live with images from security cameras. Microsoft chief lawyer Smith states that Microsoft deliberately slows its efforts on the development of facial recognition, because of the possible consequences for human rights.