Throughout the past few weeks, my colleagues and I have had a discussion surrounding the use of facial recognition technology in the legal world. This discussion has evolved over time, and we arrived at discussing the different values that the technology has such as security and safety, accountability, advancement, etc.
During one of our lengthier discussions, we debated two articles that had differing viewpoints as to the use of facial recognition technology. The first article1 primarily concerned itself with the process of how law enforcement uses the technology, and the issues that come with that; the idea that if poor quality images were used to build the repository of information, then the results would also be poor. The second article2 talked about how instead of focusing on the issues, we should be looking at the benefits and not letting the issues hinder the development of the technology; businesses can improve with the use of this technology, and we should not fall behind foreign competitors.
It may go without saying, but both articles had an underlying political tone. The first article being more representative of the left side of the argument, while the second article being more representative of the right side of the argument. It is important to note that while each side was discussing the use of facial recognition technology, the focus of how the technology was being used differed. This goes back to the discussion of values; the first article emphasizes a value such as accountability, while the second article emphasizes a value such as advancement. However, both articles expressed the value of security and safety.
What both articles would likely agree on is that facial recognition technology is like that of Pandora’s Box. The box has already been opened, and there is no way to close it. The technology will continue to develop over time, and no one is saying that it should not. It is up to us to decide how we want to keep moving forward. Continue to open the box ever so slowly over time and deal with things as they come, or fully open it all at once to hit the ground running despite the chaos it could bring?
1https://www.flawedfacedata.com/
2https://reason.com/volokh/2022/02/02/the-false-narrative-about-bias-in-face-recognition/
