82 – What should we do about facial recognition?

Algocracy and Transhumanism Podcast

Facial recognition technology has seen its fair share of both media and popular attention in the past 12 months. The runs the gamut from controversial uses by governments and police forces, to coordinated campaigns to ban or limit its use. What should we do about it? In this episode, I talk to Brenda Leong about this issue. Brenda is Senior Counsel and Director of Artificial Intelligence and Ethics at Future of Privacy Forum. She manages the FPF portfolio on biometrics, particularly facial recognition. She authored the FPF Privacy Expert’s Guide to AI, and co-authored the paper, “Beyond Explainability: A Practical Guide to Managing Risk in Machine Learning Models.” Prior to working at FPF, Brenda served in the U.S. Air Force.

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Show notes

Topics discussed include:

• What is facial recognition anyway?
• Are there multiple forms that are confused and conflated?
• What’s the history of facial recognition? What has changed recently?
• How is the technology used?
• What are the benefits of facial recognition?
• What’s bad about it? What are the privacy and other risks?
• Is there something unique about the face that should make us more worried about facial biometrics when compared to other forms?
• What can we do to address the risks? Should we regulate or ban?

Relevant Links

• Brenda’s Homepage
• Brenda on Twitter
• ‘The Privacy Expert’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning’ by Brenda (at FPF)
• Brenda’s US Congress Testimony on Facial Recognition
• ‘Facial recognition and the future of privacy: I always feel like … somebody’s watching me’ by Brenda
• ‘The Case for Banning Law Enforcement From Using Facial Recognition Technology’ by Evan Selinger and Woodrow Hartzog