Amazon , Google Alphabet and Microsoft used photos of people without their permission to train their facial recognition technologies !
The three companies failed to get people's approval, leading to three federal lawsuits being filed Tuesday, alleging a violation of Illinois' biometric privacy
The photos in question were part of IBM 's Diversity in Faces database , which is designed to advance the study of the accuracy and precision of face recognition by looking beyond skin tone, age, and gender. The data includes 1 million images of human faces, annotated with tags such as facial symmetry, nose length, and forehead height.
The two Americans who filed the lawsuits against Amazon, Google and Microsoft, Steven Vance and Tim Janecyk, say photos were included in the database without their permission. The collection, storage and use of biometric information without the written consent of the person involved is illegal under a law passed in 2008.
The defendants “chose to use and take advantage of biometric identification and information scanned from photos uploaded to the site. These photos are managed from accounts , computers and mobile phones located or created in the site,” the lawsuits state.
“By doing so, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft compromised the privacy of Illinois residents, knowing that this choice would harm them.”
Facial recognition has faced backlash from privacy advocates and lawmakers, and some cities have banned municipal use of the technology. Last year, Democratic lawmakers proposed banning public housing from using technology like facial recognition. However, facial recognition systems are slowly spreading to airports and shopping malls, and some companies are selling them to police departments.
Reports say studies show that this technology has low accuracy rates for women and minorities. When it works properly, it has the potential to become an inescapable and invasive form of surveillance. Companies like Clearview AI, which has technology that allows users to identify people by comparing their faces to photos they’ve taken from the internet, have raised concerns about the power of the technology.
IBM, which collected the images from the photo website Flickr , faced intense criticism earlier this year from photographers, experts and activists for not informing people that their images were being used to improve facial recognition technology. In response, IBM said it takes privacy seriously and that users can opt out of the database.
IBM has been a strong supporter of facial recognition regulation, but in June the company announced its withdrawal from the face recognition market, saying it was concerned that the technology was being used to promote discrimination and racial injustice.
The lawsuits, filed in courts in California and Washington, where Amazon, Google and Microsoft are based, seek class action status, as well as monetary damages and restrictions on the defendants' activities related to the database.
