The European Union considering temporary facial recognition ban

[Matrix]

 

 

In context: The EU is due to publish a paper in February exploring how to better regulate emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. But a draft of the upcoming document has shown that another worrisome technology – facial recognition software – is also being scrutinized. The EU is even going so far as to propose a three to five-year ban on the technology to allow rules and regulations time to catch up.

Regulation for some of the worst aspects of the internet age has been notoriously slow to come about. People spent 20 years giving away personal data before governments and regulators started to take the issue seriously. That’s not a mistake that the EU are wanting to repeat, as they are looking to ensure that issues around new and emerging technologies are given adequate consideration.

 

In a new draft of a European Commission whitepaper on artificial intelligence, mention is made of the inherent risks to privacy and human rights that ‘biometric remote identification’ (i.e. facial recognition) poses. And one current solution that the EU is exploring is, “a time-limited ban on the use of facial recognition by private or public actors in public spaces.”

 

The leaked draft goes on to say that during a 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 EU already has some of the strictest regulations in the world when it comes to personal data and its use by companies and governments, so the news that similarly strong standards are being looked at for biometric data will no doubt please privacy-minded citizens.

 

The paper does note that “it would be necessary to foresee some exceptions [to the ban], notably for activities in the context of research and development and for security purposes.” So precisely how far the temporary ban would go is still unknown.

 

But given the nature of the technology, any constraints on its use are likely to be worth exploring. After all, one only needs to look at the Chinese government’s use of facial recognition and ‘social scoring’ to see the kind of dystopian implementation that’s possible.

 

We’ll likely have to wait until the European Commission’s paper is formalized in February to find out more.

 

Source

[Edion Gecos]

I hope such a ban (with zero exceptions whatsoever for public places)  will become reality before too many members of the European Parliament get lobbied by the industry or fear-mongered by "law and order" institutions into re-considering this... But the term "exceptions for security purposes" does not give much hope.

[dhjohns]

Silly to ban facial recognition.  I use it all the time.  When I am walking down the street I see a face, my brain kicks into gear.  Do I recognize it or no?  If I recognize it, I put it into context to see if it is someone I know or just looks like someone I know.  All this is done in a matter of a fraction of a second.  Don't expect privacy when you are in public.  Never.  Ever.

[mp68terr]

1 hour ago, dhjohns said:

... When I am walking down the street I see a face, my brain kicks into gear...

Are you still using your own brain? You are against progress, techs want you to use their AI. 😁

[Guest]

how they impose ban on facial recognition is one question since the details are quite skeptical at this time.

[steven36]

Banning  one of big tech's tracking apis don't do no good  when there like and 1000 other things  tracking you  most people walk around with a tracking device in there pocket and are worried about facial recognition,  while many places in the USA already ban it . it dont stop big daddy Google and Facebook from knowing were you are  and who you are at all times so the point is moot. Even in the the EU the point is  moot because  you cant use big tech's services  without opting in  .

 

For someone like me who dont let Google track  who i really am  and only have  a burner account tied to no  phone number or email .I  dont use Facebook or give my real info out are even have a smart phone , I can tell  you privacy is not that  easy to achieve as  just banning one technology , You have  to be willing to sacrifice a lot  it not  as black and white as banning facial recognition . For it too do any good  everything big tech does has to be regulated  with weak opt in laws like the EU has it's never going to happen there.

 

The whole Tech industry needs overhauled  and  no foreign power can control an alien entity  but to a point without flat out blocking them like China did,  so to fix it it has to be done  by the  country were they from. The USA  going to have to fix it for it to do any good unless the EU wants to ban Big Tech .  Nothing ever changed in the 2000s , 2010s (20 Years)  it just got worse . At the point its going  it's going be the other way around.  Big Tech going to get tired  and block  the EU for fining them sooner or latter , as long the USA don't  have federal laws on privacy thats always a option for them , some websites in the USA already block the EU because of the GDPR.  Big Tech  has the money  to get around there  weak privacy laws in the EU so far .