Facebook 將關停面部識別系統

面對公眾壓力必須做出改變。

A picture illustration shows a Facebook logo reflected in a person's eye, in Zenica, March 13, 2015. Facebook Inc recorded a slight increase in government requests for account data in the second half of 2014, according to its Global Government Requests Report, which includes information about content removal.Requests for account data increased to 35,051 in the second half of 2014 from 34,946 in the first half, with requests from countries such as India rising and those from others including United States and Germany falling, the report by the world's largest Internet social network showed. Facebook said it restricted 9,707 pieces of content for violating local laws, 11 percent more than in the first half, with access restricted to 5,832 pieces in India and 3,624 in Turkey. Picture taken on March 13. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - Tags: SOCIETY PORTRAIT SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS TELECOMS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

面對公眾壓力,新生的 Meta 日前做出了進一步弱化面部識別技術存在感的決定。早些時候官方宣佈將在「未來幾週內」關停 Facebook 的面部辨識系統,這意味著自動識別照片中用戶、為視障使用者而設的圖像自動描述文字等功能都有可能會受到影響,此外 Facebook 的團隊也決定刪除超過 10 億份面部識別模板。

Meta 之所以做出這樣的決定,是出於公眾對面部辨識廣泛應用性和管制不確定性「日益增加的擔憂」。他們雖然相信這類技術在某些領域有著極大的用途,但也承認「範圍更小」、更注重隱私保護的發展策略會優於現行的廣泛推廣方案(比如識別過程僅限在裝置內,不用遠端伺服器參與等)。除了 Meta 以外、Amazon、Google 等公司過去幾年都曾刻意給自家的面部辨識業務加上了不少限制。如何找到技術運用的平衡點,是科技巨頭們未來要好好思考的課題。