Microsoft ‘Looks’ Out For You: Urges Governments To Regulate Facial-Recognition Technology

In a bid to safeguard the privacy of consumers, the US-based technology giant, Microsoft Corp, is requesting governments across the world to bring in regulation that will provide the necessary framework for the use of facial recognition technologies, as reported by Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

“Unless we act, we risk waking up five years from now to find that facial recognition services have spread in ways that exacerbate societal issues. By that time, these challenges will be much more difficult to bottle back up,” wrote Microsoft President Brad Smith in a blog post.

The company has asked for rules that will provide an independent third-party assessment of accuracy and bias that may be present in various face recognition modules of companies. Privacy advocates have criticised Amazon for selling its face-recognition technology local police departments in the US. It was found that facial recognition technology, adopted by UK’s Metropolitan Police, wrongly predicted face matches in 98 per cent of the cases.

Microsoft has also asked for prohibiting surveillance of certain specific people without court warrants. “In a democratic republic, there is no substitute for decision making by our elected representatives regarding the issues that require the balancing of public safety with the essence of our democratic freedoms. Facial recognition will require the public and private sectors alike to step up – and to act,” the blog post added.

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