Microsoft Urges Congress to Regulate Use of Facial Recognition

Bradford L. Smith, the company’s president, compared the technology to products like medicines and cars that are highly regulated, and he urged Congress to study it and oversee its use.“We live in a nation of laws, and the government needs to play an important role in regulating facial recognition technology,” 

Mr. Smith wrote. He added: “A world with vigorous regulation of products that are useful but potentially troubling is better than a world devoid of legal standards.”

Now, Microsoft is moving to position itself as an industry leader by calling for government regulation of facial recognition, and for “the development of norms around acceptable uses,” of the technology. The company may also be trying to get out ahead of a budding movement in states like California to tightly regulate the technology.

Mr. Smith said Congress should appoint a commission to study the issue and make recommendations on potential regulations. The Federal Trade Commission has already examined facial recognition, recommending in a report that certain companies “provide consumers with an easy-to-use choice not to have their biometric data collected and used for facial recognition.”

Mr Smith

Microsoft markets facial recognition software that can detect faces in photos, as well as facial features like hair color, and emotions like anger or disgust, according to the company's site.

The company also markets facial recognition software that “enables you to search, identify, and match faces in your private repository of up to one million people,” the site said. Uber has used the technology to verify drivers’ identities, according to Microsoft marketing materials.

Mr. Smith wrote in the blog post that Microsoft was examining its own development and marketing of the technology.

A recent study led by an M.I.T. researcher found that facial recognition software from Microsoft and IBM was much more accurate in identifying white men than darker-skinned females. Mr. Smith said the company was working to improve the accuracy of its facial recognition and to reduce the potential for bias.