Facial Recognition Bans - ThreatWire Crosspost (Patreon)

By Shannon Morse, Threatwire 

Several tech companies are joining forces to either ban or put a temporary prohibition on the use of facial recognition by police or law enforcement officers. IBM’s CEO posted a public letter to Congress in regards to racial justice reform on June 8, detailing policy proposals as well as information regarding the company’s choice to sunset their general purpose facial recognition and analysis software products.  CEO Krishna said, "IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and principles of trust and transparency." 

Shortly after, Amazon also hopped on board with their own statement, saying the company is putting a one year moratorium on police use of Amazon’s facial recognition technology, called Rekognition. Organizations including Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics would continue to have access to help with human trafficking issues. Amazon did not send a letter to Congress, but said they “stand ready to help if requested”.

Microsoft later joined this trend at the end of last week, saying the company will halt sales of facial recognition to police departments. In a virtual event, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the halt in sales would stay in place until a national law regulating this technology was implemented.

But even with this movement, a major player still continues to back facial recognition technology - Clearview AI, a company that has come under fire in the last year due to their facial recognition app. While facial recognition studies have shown that applications of this technology have low accuracy rates for women and minorities, the CEO of Clearview AI refutes this, saying their technology does not have any risk of racial bias.

The debate over facial recognition continues, with many cities banning its use and privacy advocates arguing that the tech could be used for invasive surveillance. At this time, no national law exists regulating facial recognition, but ethical principles exist within the Protection of Freedoms Act of 2012, created by the Biometrics Commission.

Facial Recognition Bans:
https://www.cnet.com/news/ibm-to-withdraw-from-the-facial-recognition-market/
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/policy/facial-recognition-susset-racial-justice-reforms/
https://blog.aboutamazon.com/policy/we-are-implementing-a-one-year-moratorium-on-police-use-of-rekognition
https://threatpost.com/microsoft-joins-ban-on-sale-of-facial-recognition-tech-to-police/156521/
https://www.cnet.com/news/clearview-ai-still-backs-facial-recognition-despite-competitors-concerns/
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/786392/AFR_police_guidance_of_PoFA_V1_March_2019.pdf