Washington Internet Daily – Facial Recognition Code Talks at Crossroads After Break
The group faced a setback at its last meeting in July as discussions stalled over broad issues such as discrimination and interest-based advertising, said NetChoice Policy Counsel Carl Szabo. “We’ve had those discussions in the past, and unfortunately all that they’re going to do is divide and derail this process,” he said. The group diverged over facial categorization — when software separates faces based on physical and stylistic characteristics — and which counted as discrimination (WID July 25 p4). The group voted to include a parenthetical aside listing specific characteristics that are appropriate for software to use in divvying up faces and which are discriminatory. Szabo voted against it. “The goal for the process is to achieve consensus,” he said. “Discrimination is an emotionally charged word when it sometimes has rather benign characteristics.”