Privacy and technology

From the introduction:

“Online services, many owned and operated by private organisations, have built up vast collections of images uploaded by the data subjects themselves. In some cases these images may also be unlawfully obtained by scraping other public sites such as search engine caches. Small mobile devices with high resolution cameras enable users to capture images and link in real-time to online services through always-on data connections. As a result users are able to share these images with others or perform identification, authentication/verification or categorisation to access additional information about the known or unknown person standing before them. Facial recognition in online and mobile services therefore requires specific attention from WP29 as the use of this technology presents such a range of data protection concerns.”

(Source: insideprivacy.com)

Uit paragraaf 5.2 Experts en beleidsmakers:

“Er is in het verleden sprake geweest van een te grote afstand tussen de experts en de beleidsmakers op dit vakgebied. Ze spraken en verstonden elkaars taal niet goed, dit heeft mogelijk mede geleid tot de onderschatting van de complexiteit van de biometrische toepassingsmogelijkheden. Kritische geluiden zijn achteraf bezien wel geuit, maar hebben niet altijd geleid tot beïnvloeding van het besluitvormingsproces. Dat kan worden verklaard door enerzijds het feit dat de kritiek niet altijd helder en overtuigend (en voor leken begrijpbaar) is geuit, maar ook door te geringe ontvankelijkheid van de beleidsmakers, die veronderstelden dat het allemaal niet zo moeilijk was, en bovendien op EU-niveau beslist.”

(Source: security.nl)

From the Executive Summary:

“Facial recognition technology (FRT) has emerged as an attractive solution to address many contemporary needs for identification and the verification of identity claims. It brings together the promise of other biometric systems, which attempt to tie identity to individually distinctive features of the body, and the more familiar functionality of visual surveillance systems. This report develops a socio-political analysis that bridges the technical and social-scientific literatures on FRT and addresses the unique challenges and concerns that attend its development, evaluation, and specific operational uses, contexts, and goals. It highlights the potential and limitations of the technology, noting those tasks for which it seems ready for deployment, those areas where performance obstacles may be overcome by future technological developments or sound operating procedures, and still other issues which appear intractable. Its concern with efficacy extends to ethical considerations.”

(Source: eff.org)