ACM Urges to Suspend Use of Facial Recognition by Businesses and Governments

An Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) tech policy group today urged lawmakers to immediately suspend use of facial recognition by businesses and governments, citing documented ethnic, racial, and gender bias. In a letter (PDF) released today by the U.S. Technology Policy Committee (USTPC), the group acknowledges the tech is expected to improve in the future but is not yet “sufficiently mature” and is therefore a threat to people’s human and legal rights. “The consequences of such bias, USTPC notes, frequently can and do extend well beyond inconvenience to profound injury, particularly to the lives, livelihoods, and fundamental rights of individuals in specific demographic groups, including some of the most vulnerable populations in our society,” the letter reads.