US officials' facial recognition tech includes photos of dead people and ...

Privacy fears as report claims US government uses images of immigrants, abused children and dead people in its facial recognition systems Photos of immigrants and deceased are reportedly used without their consent  The findings raise privacy and ethics concerns about how images are utilized  Scientists from Dartmouth and other top U.S. universities detailed their findings in a new research study set to be reviewed for publication later this year 

By Annie Palmer For Dailymail.com

Published: 19:25 GMT, 18 March 2019 | Updated: 20:55 GMT, 19 March 2019

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A unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce has been using photos of immigrants, abused children and dead people in their facial recognition systems, a worrying new report has detailed. 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) oversees a database, called the Facial Recognition Verification Testing program, that 'depends' on these types of controversial images, according to an editorial published in Slate. 

Scientists from Dartmouth College, the University of Washington and Arizona State University reportedly discovered the practice and laid out their findings in new research set to be reviewed for publication later this year. 

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A unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce has been using photos of immigrants, abused children and dead people to train their facial recognition systems, a new report has detailed. Stock image

A unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce has been using photos of immigrants, abused children and dead people to train their facial recognition systems, a new report has detailed. Stock image

The Face Recognition Verification Testing program was first established in 2017 as a way to evaluate facial recognition technologies developed by companies, academic researchers and designers.  

Organizations who take part in the program have their software run against the program's dataset, which contains millions of pictures of people, researchers said. 

Since its launch, the Face Recognition Verification Testing program has become the industry-wide benchmark for facial recognition software. 

Essentially, any researchers who publish new software or companies who market facial recognition technology take part in the program to identify strengths and weaknesses in their systems.

It's become the equivalent of a Better Business Bureau rating, the researchers noted.

However, researchers claim that, based on a mix of FOIA requests of public documents, the dataset 'depends on' images of U.S. Visa applicants, as well as photos of people who were arrested and are now dead.

Researchers discovered the controversial images in a dataset used by The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Face Recognition Verification Testing program. The program has become the 'gold standard' for organizations who seek to market facial recognition tech

Researchers discovered the controversial images in a dataset used by The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Face Recognition Verification Testing program. The program has become the 'gold standard' for organizations who seek to market

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