We missed this earlier Tech giant Microsoft has called for government regulation in the US to limit the use of facial recognition technology. In a blog post, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced that the usage and deployment of facial recognition technology needed regulation by a bipartisan, expert-led Congressional committee. Microsoft argued that regulation is necessary because it will lay the foundations for not just tech companies but also what the US government can and can't do with the technology. Regulation would help create safeguards for citizens against constant surveillance that the technology could catalyze. Microsoft said that the "only effective way" to manage the use of technology by a government is for the government proactively to manage this use itself. Imagine a government tracking everywhere you walked over the past month without your permission or knowledge. Imagine a database of everyone who attended a political rally that constitutes the very essence of free speech. Imagine the stores of a shopping mall using facial recognition to share information with each other about each shelf that you browse and product you buy, without asking you first. -Brad Smith, Microsoft president Smith also cites in his call for regulation the technology's imperfection and an unavoidable rate of error "even when they operate in an unbiased way". A recent study from earlier this year showed that facial recognition systems from Microsoft and IBM were less accurate for women and people of colour, prompting the company to overhaul its facial recognition systems. In fact, the…
