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The
company said in a statement the United States should institute
new export limits on "the type of facial recognition system most
likely to be used in mass surveillance systems, racial profiling
or other human rights violations."
In July, the Commerce Department had sought public comments on
whether to adopt new export license requirements for facial
recognition software and other biometric systems used in
surveillance. Comments are due by Sept. 15.
Christopher Padilla, IBM's vice president for government and
regulatory affairs, told Reuters the U.S. government should
focus on "one to many" systems that could be used to pick
dissidents out of a crowd or for mass surveillance, rather than
"facial identification" systems that allow a user to unlock an
iPhone or board an airplane.
IBM said the Commerce Department should control "export of both
the high-resolution cameras used to collect data and the
software algorithms used to analyze and match that data against
a database of images" and argued it should "limit the ability of
certain foreign governments to obtain the large-scale computing
components required to implement an integrated facial
recognition system."
The company's written comments did not identify specific
governments but said "controls on the most powerful types of
facial recognition technology should be focused on those
countries that have a history of human rights abuses."
The Commerce Department's July notice said China "has deployed
facial recognition technology in the Xinjiang region, in which
there has been repression, mass arbitrary detention and high
technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs and other
members of Muslim minority groups."
The department has added dozens of Chinese companies and
entities to an economic blacklist that it said were implicated
in human rights violations regarding China’s treatment of
Uighurs, including video surveillance firm Hikvision
<002415.SZ>, as well as leaders in facial recognition technology
SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Technology.
China has denied mistreating people in Xinjiang.
IBM said the Commerce Department should also restrict access to
online image databases that can be used to train facial
recognition systems.
In June, IBM told the U.S. Congress it would stop offering
facial recognition software and opposes any use of such
technology for purposes of mass surveillance and racial
profiling. The company also called for new federal rules to hold
police more accountable for misconduct.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman)
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