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- Microsoft President Brad Smith told Business Insider that it would be "cruel" to prevent government agencies from using facial recognition software.
- It follows activists writing to Microsoft, Amazon and Google last month asking them to stop selling facial recognition software to the public sector.
- Smith said the ban on sales could put an end to the good work, such as the diagnosis of rare diseases.
- He however called for a regulation of facial recognition technologies in order to avoid problems such as prejudice and discrimination.
A Microsoft executive said that preventing government agencies from using facial recognition software would have a "cruel humanitarian effect".
Last month, more than 85 human rights groups wrote to Microsoft, Amazon and Google to demand that they stop selling facial recognition software to the public sector, fearing that this would lead to to government oversight.
Business Insider interviewed Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer of Microsoft, about the letter sent to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
He strongly rejected the idea that government agencies, including law enforcement, should opt out of technology.
"I do not understand the argument that companies should avoid any license to a government agency for any reason," he told Business Insider. "A blanket ban on all government uses is clearly going too far and is likely to have a cruel humanitarian effect."
Read more: Amazon Investors Lobby Jeff Bezos to Stop Selling Facial Recognition Technologies to Government Agencies
Smith mentioned the fact that the National Institute for Human Genome Research uses facial recognition to improve the diagnosis of DiGeorge syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, among Africans, Asians and Latin Americans. Health care providers have traditionally had difficulty identifying the disease in various populations.
"These are disorders that lead to heart failure or kidney problems.Why should we prevent a government from helping to identify patients who need medical care?" Smith asked.
He also reported last year that police officers in New Delhi, India, used facial recognition software to track 5,000 missing children. The Delhi Supreme Court, however, questioned the success of this project this week. According to the local press, it was "unacceptable" that the software "bears no results".
Smith has been among those calling for better regulation of facial recognition technology. He called for regulation of the use of public authorities in three areas: prejudice and discrimination, privacy of persons, democratic freedoms and human rights.
"There are some uses of facial recognition that should cause concern and cause everyone to proceed slowly and cautiously.This is certainly what we do.We are very concerned about situations in which technology facial recognition could be used to: cause prejudice or discrimination, "explained Smith.
"We are worried about certain scenarios from the forces of the order or the governments of some countries that do not fully respect human rights, so we have put in place principles and put in place measures to not license this technology that we or the world would regret. "
In a blog post last year, Smith outlined Microsoft's principles for the autonomous management of facial recognition work. Smith said Microsoft will document the capabilities of the technology and prohibit its use for purposes of unlawful discrimination.
"Technology companies must act proactively because we can not expect the world to respond to this call for action, so we need to put the principles in place ourselves," he said. he told BI.
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