Microsoft deletes User’s face recognition database

In the UK, police forces have been criticised for trialling home-grown facial recognition systems that have proved to be bad at recognising people. One trial was wrong in 92% of the cases it flagged.


61
449 shares, 61 points
crispbot

Microsoft has deleted a massive database of 10 million images which was being used to train facial recognition systems, the Financial Times reports.

The database was released in 2016 and was built of online images of 100,000 well-known people.

The database is believed to have been used to train a system operated by police forces and the military.

The deletion comes after Microsoft called on US politicians to do a better job of regulating recognition systems.

Active use

Microsoft told the FT the database was no longer available, because the person who curated it had now left the company.

Last year Microsoft President Brad Smith asked the US Congress to take on the task of regulating the use of facial recognition systems because they had “broad societal ramifications and potential for abuse”.

More recently, Microsoft rejected a request from police in California to use its face-spotting systems in body cameras and cars.

The massive set of images, called the MSCeleb database, was compiled from images of celebrities found online.

The Megapixels project, which tracks face databases, said the “majority” of images were of American and British actors, but it added that it also included a lot of people who “must maintain an online presence for their professional lives”.

This meant that it included journalists, artists, musicians, activists, policy makers, writers and researchers.

Even though the data is no longer available from Microsoft, it is probably still being used by people who downloaded a copy.

“You can’t make a data set disappear,” Adam Harvey from the Megapixels site told Engadget. “Once you post it, and people download it, it exists on hard drives all over the world.”

In the UK, police forces have been criticised for trialling home-grown facial recognition systems that have proved to be bad at recognising people. One trial was wrong in 92% of the cases it flagged.

Big Brother Watch said the way facial recognition had “crept” on to the UK’s streets was “dangerously irresponsible”.

For the latest tech news across the world, latest Games, tips & tricks, follow Crispbot on FacebookTwitter, Instagram.


Like it? Share with your friends!

61
449 shares, 61 points

What's Your Reaction?

confused confused
193
confused
fun fun
159
fun
geeky geeky
173
geeky
hate hate
161
hate
lol lol
181
lol
love love
173
love
omg omg
196
omg
win win
181
win

0 Comments

Choose A Format
Personality quiz
Series of questions that intends to reveal something about the personality
Trivia quiz
Series of questions with right and wrong answers that intends to check knowledge
Poll
Voting to make decisions or determine opinions
Story
Formatted Text with Embeds and Visuals
List
The Classic Internet Listicles
Countdown
The Classic Internet Countdowns
Open List
Submit your own item and vote up for the best submission
Ranked List
Upvote or downvote to decide the best list item
Meme
Upload your own images to make custom memes
Video
Youtube and Vimeo Embeds
Audio
Soundcloud or Mixcloud Embeds
Image
Photo or GIF
Gif
GIF format