facial recognition, several cities in China are tightening the enforcement of related regulations, as the technology has become widely used for such things as dispensing toilet paper and collecting garbage. In the city of Ningbo in eastern Zhejiang province, the local market regulator recently fined three property firms for “illegally acquiring customers’ facial information”.
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Speed Read
Coalition of Groups Calls For End To Facial Recognition Program Used To Identify Protester At Lafayette Square
(The Washington Post, Apr 28, 2021)
A group of technology, civil rights and legal groups is calling for an end to a facial recognition system used by authorities in the Washington region that helped identify a demonstrator accused of assaulting a police officer during the forceful clearance of protesters from Lafayette Square last summer. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition and 22 other groups say the public hasn’t been given a meaningful chance to weigh in on the system and that research has shown such software often has greater error rates in identifying minorities than in identifying White men.
Increasing Use Of Facial Recognition Technology In China Faces Backlash From City Governments
(South China Morning Post, Apr 28, 2021)
After China’s annual Consumer Protection Gala in March singled out companies for the misuse of
Facial Recognition On The Rise To Verify Payments
(EE Times, Apr 28, 2021)
Let’s face it, facial recognition is on the rise as a biometric identification technique for verifying mobile payments, driven by applications like Apple’s FaceID implementation. But those who track the payment authentication sector say facial recognition will continue to lag current biometric techniques like fingerprint sensors until more robust hardware implementations hit the market. The inflection point appears to be 2025, according to Jupiter Research, which forecasts software-based facial recognition technology will by then exceed 1.4 billion users.
Mayo Clinic Invests In Data Privacy Startup TripleBlind
(Healthcare, Apr 28, 2021)
Mayo Clinic, the renowned US healthcare company, has invested in TripleBlind, a startup developing a platform that enables companies to train models on encrypted data. The Missouri-based startup has raised $8.2 million in a round that featured Mayo Clinic along with Accenture Ventures, Okta Ventures and NextGen Venture Partners among others. The investment from Mayo expands their current collaboration, which began in late 2020. Researchers at Mayo Clinic are using TripleBlind’s tools to validate interoperability of algorithms on encrypted data, and train new algorithms on private data.
Mexico Data Protection Body To Challenge Biometric Data Registry At Supreme Court
(Reuters, Apr 28, 2021)
Mexico's data protection body plans to challenge a controversial new law that requires telecoms companies to gather user biometric data, saying it will argue before the Supreme Court that it violates privacy rights. The law, which passed in April, is aimed at reducing crimes like extortion and kidnapping by making it more difficult for criminals to remain anonymous when purchasing new mobile phones. The action will be brought by the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI).
China Pushes Standards For Face Biometrics And Plenty More
(Biometric Update, Apr 28, 2021)
China’s national government has released draft standards, aimed at domestic firms, for securing facial recognition data. Beijing has invited public comment of the proposed rules. The entire proposal is not yet available in English, but compliance vendor OneTrust DataGuidance has summarized it. The document outlines “basic” safe handling and biometric management practices, according to the firm.
