Facial recognition poses complex privacy issues that do not fit squarely with present laws as explored in the “Seeing is ID’ng,” a CDT report on facial recognition and privacy. The report describes the state of facial recognition technology and its commercial applications, the lack of laws that address facial recognition, and policy approaches to preserving consumer privacy.
The key privacy interest that commercial facial recognition affects is, of course, identification of an individual through facial features alone. Without facial recognition technology, it is very difficult for a stranger to easily and quickly identify an individual on this basis. Individuals in public currently expect that most businesses and passersby cannot recognize their faces, fewer still can connect a name to their faces, and few – if any – can associate their faces with internet behaviour, travel patterns, or other personal information. Facial recognition technology fundamentally changes this dynamic, enabling any marketer or random stranger to collect – openly or in secret – and share the identities and associated personal information of any individual in public.
Publicly available facial recognition is a transformative technology that demands nuanced solutions to preserve consumer privacy and free expression.
Back to my point of the blogs this week – you don’t have control, so don’t pretend you can, do or can get it back….