How Ethical is Facial Recognition Technology? – A Case Study

By: Rohak Jain

In our rapidly evolving society, where the advancement of technology and growth of consumer products have become increasingly pronounced, one of the more fascinating developments comes in the form of facial recognition technology. In fact, the market size for facial recognition is projected to grow from 3.2 Billion USD in 2019, with that number expected to reach upwards of 7 Billion USD by 2024. Additionally, since its inception, over two million passengers on upwards of 15,000 flights have used some form of facial recognition on exit. Contrary to popular opinion, however, despite the popularity and widespread usage of this technology, there are numerous ethical concerns that accompany it. This blog post aims to examine some of these overlooked nuances and uncover the ethical dimension of facial recognition technology.

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Section A: The Problem of Racial Bias

Perhaps one of the more controversial and questionable ethical issues with regard to facial recognition technology comes in the form of racial bias. Notable differences in algorithm classification accuracy have surprisingly been found to be most apparent on dark-skinned faces, but appear rather negligible on lighter-skinned individuals. In the context of law enforcement, these racially-biased, error-prone algorithms can have serious downstream effects, ranging from wrongful arrests to lengthy incarcerations. Slight changes in camera angle and lighting have also been shown to contribute to these inaccuracies, suggesting that facial recognition technology isn’t as unquestionably perfect as it may seem.

The abstracted realm of facial recognition oftentimes hides overwhelmingly large amounts of racial bias.
(Credit: IEEE Spectrum)

What’s more, a 2019 study conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology empirically confirmed that facial-recognition systems were more prone to misidentifying people of color. In fact, Asian and African American individuals were up to one hundred times more likely to be incorrectly classified than white men, depending on the particular algorithm and type of search. Seeing that facial recognition serves as one of American law enforcement’s fastest-growing tools for identifying criminal suspects and witnesses, such widespread lapses in detection accuracy may place innocent victims behind bars and fail to punish the real perpetrators of violence.

Faces are becoming easier to capture from remote distances and cheaper to collect and store.

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Section B: The Question of Data Privacy

As one of the most prominent public concerns we face today, data privacy and its role in facial recognition technology has quickly grown increasingly controversial. Unsecured data storage practices could potentially expose sensitive image data, a lack of proper encryption techniques may lead to reduced data integrity, and law enforcement agencies using facial recognition technology to track citizens without their consent has proven to be quite problematic. Improving accountability and preventing malicious traffic are therefore crucial in furthering a push towards a secure, stable system of facial recognition.

Data breaches involving facial recognition data increase the potential for identity theft, stalking, and harassment.

To get a better idea of just how potentially devastating a lack of data privacy can be, let’s take a look at a few real-world examples. Quite recently, the social media company Facebook settled a $650 million class-action lawsuit in Illinois over collecting private, undisclosed photos for the purpose of facial recognition. Elsewhere in China, the government has employed various mass surveillance techniques, including location tracking, robot and drone monitoring, and several other forms of biometric data capture. But these privacy concerns can be traced all the way down to the phones and technological devices we interact with on a daily basis – Apple’s Face ID is currently used by over 350 million people globally and that staggering figure continues to grow.

The importance of data privacy simply cannot be overlooked.
(Credit: Vecteezy)

Therefore, the misuse of facial recognition data underscores how a lack of informed consent and transparency can lead to instances of exploitation by sources of higher authority. Perhaps these intelligent technologies are simply required in our rapidly evolving modern world, but maybe ethical considerations should also be acknowledged when considering the mass deployment of these tools. Investing in robust methods of data security and accounting for the consumer, in my opinion, are both paramount in paving the way toward a more sustainable future.

Clearly, change needs to be made – now more than ever before.

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Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! If you would like to see more from us, feel free to subscribe to our email list and give us a follow. Once again, I really appreciate the support and look forward to the next post! Have a great day. – Rohak

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Works Cited

1. Fox, Haley. “3 Privacy Concerns Around Facial Recognition Technology.” Swiftlane Touchless Access Control and Video Intercom System, 1 Oct. 2020, https://www.swiftlane.com/blog/facial-recognition-privacy-concerns/.
2. Gangarapu, Katam Raju. “Ethics of Facial Recognition: Key Issues and Solutions.” Learn Hub, https://learn.g2.com/ethics-of-facial-recognition.
3. Harwell, Drew. “Federal Study Confirms Racial Bias of Many Facial-Recognition Systems.” Washington Post, 1 Dec. 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/19/federal-study-confirms-racial-bias-many-facial-recognition-systems-casts-doubt-their-expanding-use/.

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