The European Commission (EC) is considering introducing a ban on facial recognition systems in public areas for up to five years, according to a draft report on artificial intelligence policy in the European Union (EU).
A copy of the unreleased report (PDF download) was recently published by EURACTIV, a Belgian non-profit media think tank.
The EC wants time to explore how AI and facial recognition technology can be reconciled with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While lawmakers want to allow EU citizens to benefit from AI-oriented systems and to encourage European investment in the sector, they are also seeking to limit the potential risks.
“As we are committed to making Europe fit for the digital age, we have to fully reap the benefits of Artificial Intelligence: to enable scientific breakthrough; to preserve the leadership of EU businesses; to improve the life of every EU citizen by enhancing diagnosis and healthcare or increasing the efficiency of farming,” an EC spokesperson said in an email to The Register.
“To maximize the benefits and address the challenges of Artificial Intelligence, Europe has to act as one and will define its own way, a human way. Technology has to serve a purpose, and the people. Trust and security of EU citizens will therefore be at the centre of the EU’s strategy.”
The EC’s spokesperson added the Commission intends to present a plan for a coordinated European approach on AI, as described by EC President Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen in her Political Guidelines.
As part of those goals, the draft paper describes a series of questions that need to be answered to develop a functional regulatory framework.
“In spite of the opportunities that artificial intelligence can provide, it can also lead to harm,” the report says, pointing to issues that could cause loss of lives like the fatal crash involving an Uber self-driving car in 2018; as well as intangible concerns such as loss of privacy and unfair treatment.
The document explores five potential regulatory options, one of which focuses on the use of AI by public authorities, highlighting facial recognition as a particular application that should be addressed.
In that sense, the proposed ban “would mean that the use of facial recognition technology by private or public actors in public spaces would be prohibited for a definite period (i.e. 3-5 years) during which a sound methodology for assessing the impacts of this technology and possible risk management measures could be identified and developed,” the report says.
However, there would be exceptions for research and development and for security purposes.
Also, the paper doesn’t address scenarios of images captured in Europe that might be run through facial recognition algorithms at a later date by private sector entities operating outside Europe.
Other regulatory options explored in the paper include: voluntary labeling, mandatory risk-based requirements for high-risk applications, AI-tailored legislation addressing safety and liability, and an AI-specific regulatory framework.
The paper stresses that these contemplated rules would address the process rather than results. In real life, this could mean that a maker of a self-driving car (or just software) would be able to declare compliance with EU requirements without undergoing testing that might prove that claim…
Facial recognition remains a hot topic in Europe and elsewhere around the web, and for what it matters — we at VPNreports are against it. Simply put, it violates our privacy and that is — or should be — one of our basic human rights.