European Union data protection regulators called for a general prohibition on the use of artificial intelligence for facial recognition and other “biometric and behavioral signals” in public spaces. In their common opinion, the European Data Protection Commission (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) also stated that the use of the AI for the social rating should be prohibited.
The EDPB and the ECHR urged the block to prohibit the IA “recognition of faces, approaches, fingerprints, DNA, voice, striking strikes and other biometric or behavioral signals , in all areas “in areas accessible to the public. They stated that it should be illegal for biometrics use systems to classify people “in clusters based on ethnicity, sex, political or sexual orientation” or other types of classification in which they could be discriminated against.
In addition to this, the EDPB and the EDPS argued that there should be a prohibition to use AI to “deduce emotions from a natural person”. It would be allowed in specific situations, such as some medical grounds.
Regulators responded to a regulatory framework proposed by the European Commission (the EU Executive Branch). The document suggests a prohibition of various IA implementations, including social rating and “the use of real-time distance biometric identification systems” in public accessible spaces for the purposes of law enforcement. “There would be some exceptions, including helping the authorities find missing children and preventing a” specific, substantial and imminent “threat, as a terrorist attack.
EDPB members include data protection clocks from each EU member country, while the EDPS provides EU institutions and agencies respect the rights of peoples on data protection and confidentiality when They manage personal data. The EC proposal supports the EDPS as “the competent authority and the market supervisory authority” for the supervision of EU agencies.
However, the EDPB and the EDPS called for more clarifications on the role and duties of the latter as part of the framework. They also expressed concern that the scope of the proposal excludes “international cooperation on the application of the law”.
“Deployment of a distance biometric identification in public accessible spaces means the end of anonymity in these locations”, president of the EDPB Andrea Jelinek and European data protection supervisor Wojciech WiewirrowRowRowrskr, said in a declaration . “A general prohibition on the use of facial recognition in public areas is the necessary starting point if we want to preserve our freedoms and create a human-centered legal framework. The proposed regulation should also Prohibit any type of use of the AI for social scoring, as it is against the fundamental values of the EU and can lead to discrimination. “