Question

Paper Two

Find four (4) current event articles related to the following topics:

• Recently introduced Technology(ies) with impact upon society / people

• Workplace specific technologies,

• Technology with potential Intellectual Property, Patent or Cybersecurity concerns

• Technology with Privacy and / or Free Speech concerns

Write-up a summary of the current event article and include the following information as part of your discussion write-up. 1 point is awarded for satisfactory completion of each of the following (max score = 5)

1. What technology-based standards are presently used by governments, institutions or organizations to govern the technology?

2. What historical basis exist for such standards?

3. Discuss both the benefits and disadvantages of the technology upon society

4. Identify segments, groups or populations within society that are negatively impacted by the introduction of the technology, and discuss what gaps or measures should be taken

5. Identify segments, groups or populations within society that are most benefited by the technology

___________

The paper should 1-1.5 pages per article but do not race to fill the page. Answer the questions on each article! In terms of using articles to use: tech magazines are fine, academic journals, and mainstream media outlets.

Do not use tabloids or fringe sites such as the NY Post, Breitbart, National Enquirer, the Socialist Daily. NY Daily News and Huff Post are acceptable if the article is substantive. Beware of Blogs!!

Answer 1

Recently introduced Technology with impact upon society

To answer this part, let's consider the Powerful Face Recognition Technology

Let's first understand what it is :

A facial recognition system is a computer application capable of identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source.

Current facial recognition technology far surpasses the early attempts. Tech giants like Facebook and Google are applying machine learning algorithms to their massive databases of personal photos and information in order to build the next generation of tools.

From quirky filters on Snapchat to EU citizens having their identities checked without needing to hand their passport to a border agent, this technology has quickly spread in the world. More and more new products and services are using the technology in new ways, each of which could have a significant impact on society moving forward. Recently we even heard, Facebook to Use Its New Powerful Face Recognition to Suggest 'People You May Know'.

China is leading the way in facial recognition for a variety of technological and social reasons just to take an example a KFC branch in Hangzhou has begun letting their customers pay for their meals with nothing more than their face. Diners choose ‘facial scan’ as a payment option (alongside a phone number) which is linked to their Alibaba Alipay account.

Advantages and Disadvantages

So from the KFC example the benefit of making payment is one of the advantages of this technology. Other being Crime Fighting where police services can set up cameras using facial recognition software to identify wanted criminals. The technology makes our life secure, where unlocking a phone, starting a car, opening a front door, or even accessing a bank account is done through looking into a camera. It is going to add an extra layer of security to some of the most valuable items we own, making them even more difficult to steal.

The technology has the power to streamline parts of our life, make them more secure, provide us a greater level of convenience that range from withdrawing money at an ATM to entering our personalized home.

As with any powerful technology, if it ends up in the wrong hands, it could be problematic. People may be worried about Privacy of their data.

Given the advantages, the biggest disadvantage of this technology is Data Security and Privacy. It is a step beyond any kind of data gathering currently taking place and therefore appears to cross a distinct line regarding data privacy. With facial recognition software becoming more common in society, more and more information about each person is stored by increasingly diverse organizations. With this diversity of data being held by a larger number of companies, the chances of loss or theft increases and even the ability to know if your personal data has been breached is impacted. Data loss of personal information is always an issue for individuals, but as soon as this moves from relatively disconnected information to actual biometric data, this climbs to an entirely new level.

Governing the Technology

There are still countries mainly European and Canadian, where privacy law actually limits what various technology platforms can do with people’s faces.

In July 2012, a hearing was held before the Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, to address issues surrounding what face recognition technology means for privacy and civil liberties.

In 2014, the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) began a multi-stakeholder process to engage privacy advocates and industry representatives to establish guidelines regarding the use of face recognition technology by private companies. In June 2015, privacy advocates left the bargaining table over what they felt was an impasse based on the industry representatives being unwilling to agree to consent requirements for the collection of face recognition data. The NTIA and industry representatives continued without the privacy representatives, and draft rules are expected to be presented in the spring of 2016.

States have begun enacted legislation to protect citizen's biometric data privacy. Illinois enacted the Biometric Information Privacy Act in 2008. Facebook's DeepFace has become the subject of several class action lawsuits under the Biometric Information Privacy Act, with claims alleging that Facebook is collecting and storing face recognition data of its users without obtaining informed consent, in direct violation of the Biometric Information Privacy Act. The most recent case was dismissed in January 2016 because the court lacked jurisdiction. Therefore, it is still unclear if the Biometric Information Privacy Act will be effective in protecting biometric data privacy rights.

In July 2015, the United States Government Accountability Office conducted a Report to the Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate. The report discussed facial recognition technology's commercial uses, privacy issues, and the applicable federal law. It states that previously, issues concerning facial recognition technology were discussed and represent the need for updated federal privacy laws that continually match the degree and impact of advanced technologies. Also, that some industry, government, and privacy organisations are in the process of developing, or have developed, "voluntary privacy guidelines". These guidelines vary between the groups, but overall aim to gain consent and inform citizens of the intended use of facial recognition technology. This helps counteract the privacy issues that arise when citizens are unaware where their personal, privacy data gets put to use as the report indicates as a prevalent issue.

Impact on different segments of people

It is the government and security agencies that are most benefited form this technology. Properly designed systems installed in airports, multiplexes, and other public places can identify individuals among the crowd, without passers-by even being aware of the system. Other biometrics like fingerprints, iris scans, and speech recognition cannot perform this kind of mass identification. As mentioned above, identifying the criminals by setting up cameras using facial recognition is another advantage for the government.

As for the people who are negatively impacted, it is the individual specially the women whose privacy is at risk. Face recognition was used in Russia to harass women allegedly involved in online pornography. In Russia there is an app 'FindFace' which can identify faces with about 70% accuracy using the social media app called VK. The rise in facial recognition technologies have led people to be concerned that large companies, such as Google or Apple, or even Government agencies will be using it for mass surveillance of the public. Regardless of whether or not they have committed a crime, in general people do not wish to have their every action watched or track. People tend to believe that, since we live in a free society, we should be able to go out in public without the fear of being identified and surveilled. People worry that with the rising prevalence of facial recognition, they will begin to lose their anonymity.

But for now, I believe, Facial Recognition Technology is here to stay as it improves the flow of people’s lives and has the potential to silently protect individuals.

(Other Technology headers should be posted as seperate questions)