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Microsoft has removed a database containing approximately 10 million photographs used to form facial recognition systems.
Known as MS-Celeb-1M, the database was created in 2016 and originally contained celebrity photos. Over time, however, images of writers, journalists and others crept in and eventually found 100,000 people. Microsoft did not make much noise about the deleted content, but said the database had been cleared because the person who was maintaining it was no longer an employee of the company.
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The database includes images extracted from the Internet – licensed Creative Common images. It would have been used by both the military and the police to form facial recognition systems.
In a statement to the Financial Times, Microsoft said:
The site was intended for academic purposes. It was run by an employee who was no longer from Microsoft and has since been deleted.
The MS-Celeb-1M website is still accessible, but the database can no longer be downloaded from Microsoft. That said, the fact that Microsoft no longer hosts the database does not make it unavailable. Speaking of Engadget, Adam Harvey of the Megapixels Faces Database Tracking website said: "Once you publish it and people download it, it exists on hard drives around the world."
Image credit: Who is Danny / Shutterstock
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