The New York Times reports on the many concerns that physicist Joseph Atick, one of the fathers of facial recognition technology, has about privacy. His work in the 1990s helped fight identity fraud and other crimes, but the rise in the technology’s use in commercial applications has him worried about privacy and anonymity in public. At a recent trade show, he asked whether the companies on display had policies for how they retain biometric data, obtain user consent and share collected data with government entities. Atick said face-matching could allow for mass surveillance, “basically robbing everyone of their anonymity,” affecting individuals’ behavior outside of the home. The National Telecommunication and Information Administration is currently working to create an industry code of conduct for the commercial use of facial recognition. (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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