Privacy Spotlight Falls on Facial Recognition

The US Department of Commerce has launched an initiative to evaluate privacy issues surrounding the commercial use of facial recognition technology.

The initiative, which is led by the department's National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), will examine areas such as the privacy risks associated with the use of photo databases in stores and other commercial settings, and the use of 'face prints' as a unique biometric identifier.

NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling said in a blog that the technology 'poses distinct consumer privacy challenges'; and emphasized the importance of ensuring consumers are aware of how to secure control over their data.

In the past year, NTIA has brought together a group of companies, privacy advocates, consumer groups, app developers and academics to develop a code of conduct to improve privacy notices on mobile devices. The facial recognition technology initiative builds on this and other NTIA efforts to improve consumer privacy protection in the digital age.

Not all parties are satisfied with these efforts. Jeff Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy, says the Department of Commerce appears more interested in helping data collectors gather consumer information than ensuring new and effective safeguards. 'Industry lobbyists pressed the NTIA to focus on creating a self-regulatory scheme for facial recognition, so marketers can expand without worrying how they capture our physical features and combine it with other personal data. The NTIA is not acting responsibly on behalf of consumers,' Chester adds.

The first NTIA meeting on the subject will take place on February 6th next year, and the department says all stakeholders are welcome to attend.

Web site: www.ntia.doc.gov .