The EU might ban facial recognition tech for five years
The EU might ban facial recognition tech for five years
While facial
recognition tech is pretty handy, and even still somewhat jaw-dropping when
applied to personal technology, such as Apple’s Face ID, which is found on
iPhones, widespread use of the technology in public by private and governmental
organizations risks turning where we live into a surveillance society the likes
of which even Orwell would find alarming.
Yet facial recognition
is starting to show up wherever large crowds of people congregate—from sports
stadia to airports. Or, when it comes to China, literally
everywhere. While the technology does have some clear benefits, it
also raises massive privacy concerns. Should corporations, businesses, or
even governments be allowed to identify and track us wherever we go?
That’s one of the
questions the European Commission is contemplating and is a reason why the
commission is considering a ban on all facial recognition technology in public
places for three to five years, reports the BBC.
The reasoning is that facial recognition tech is so new, yet rolling out so
quickly, we simply can’t know all the risks and drawbacks associated with it.
During the three– to
five-year ban, “a sound methodology for assessing the impacts of this
technology and possible risk management measures could be identified and
developed,” the EC’s 18-page white paper on the subject says.
One such risk of the
technology is that current facial recognition methods are far
from perfect, and many times the
systems powering facial recognition are racially biased. Given
that, the European Commission’s recommendation seems like the logical,
reasonable thing to do. But when did logic and reason ever apply to the
breakneck pace of technological innovation?
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