Microsoft has again called for governments to regulate the use of facial-recognition technology to ensure it doesn’t invade personal privacy or breach discrimination laws. In a new letter on the subject signed by president Brad Smith, Microsoft said tech companies themselves will have to take responsibility to regulate the use of the increasingly widespread technology. “We believe that the only way to protect against this race to the bottom is to build a floor of responsibility that supports healthy market competition,” said Smith, adding that “a solid floor requires that we ensure that this technology, and the organisations that develop and use it, are governed by the rule of law."
Microsoft is committed to implementing its own code by the first quarter of next year and will outline its plans in a more detailed document to be published imminently, said Smith. The executive did reveal that the company intends to adopt six basic principles to address concerns it believes governments need to address as well, namely fairness, transparency, accountability, non-discrimination, lawful surveillance plus notice and consent.
The company also believes that new laws should require that providers of commercial facial recognition services enable third parties engaged in independent testing to conduct and publish reasonable tests of their facial recognition services for accuracy and unfair bias.
