By Ryan Tracy
Washington state adopted a Microsoft Corp.-backed law enshrining
the most detailed regulations of facial recognition in the U.S.,
potentially serving as a model for other states as use of the
technology grows.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed the law Tuesday allowing government
agencies to use facial recognition, with restrictions designed to
ensure it isn't deployed for broad surveillance or tracking
innocent people.
The law makes Washington's policy stricter than many states that
don't have any laws governing the technology, but more permissive
than at least seven U.S. municipalities that have blocked
government from using it out of concerns about privacy violations
and bias.
Passage of the law is a win for Microsoft, which is based in
Redmond, Wash., near Seattle, and which had lobbied in favor of it.
Cloud providers such as Microsoft and other technology firms see a
multibillion-dollar opportunity as businesses and governments apply
facial recognition to identify customers, solve crimes, control
access to buildings and more. Proposed bans on the technology
threaten that opportunity.
Other tech companies say they support regulation of facial
recognition, but generally haven't been as active as Microsoft in
promoting legislation. Seattle-based cloud computing giant
Amazon.com Inc. has called for national standards but hasn't said
much publicly on the facial recognition law in its home state.
There are signs the Washington model is catching on in other
states. Lawmakers in California, Maryland, South Dakota and Idaho
introduced bills this year with text mirroring the Washington state
bill, word-for-word in some sections, according to Quorum Analytics
Inc., a software company that tracks legislation. Those bills
haven't advanced.
Microsoft has helped promote the legislation in other states. In
Idaho, Republican State Rep. Britt Raybould modeled a
facial-recognition proposal on a draft of the Washington bill she
received from Microsoft after reaching out to the company, she said
in an interview. "It's a starting point," she said of the Idaho
bill.
In Hawaii, a lobbyist for Microsoft was circulating a draft of
the Washington bill late last year, according to the state chapter
of the American Civil Liberties Union, which says it received a
copy from the lobbyist by email.
A Microsoft spokesman noted the company has been openly
advocating for facial recognition regulations since 2018.
"Washington state's new law breaks through what at times has
been a polarizing debate," Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a
blog post Tuesday. "This balanced approach ensures that facial
recognition can be used as a tool to protect the public, but only
in ways that respect fundamental rights and serve the public
interest."
The idea of regulation didn't catch on in Hawaii. Instead,
lawmakers there were considering a moratorium on government use of
facial recognition before postponing this year's legislative
session amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the new Washington law, if a government agency wants to
use facial recognition, it has to first give public notice, hold at
least three community meetings, and publish a report outlining the
technology's potential impact on civil liberties.
Police could use facial recognition for ongoing surveillance or
real-time identification of people but they will need a warrant or
court order first.
The law also includes checks on the technology. It can't be used
to make significant government decisions without "meaningful human
review," and government employees must be trained on the
technology's limitations.
A company providing it to the government has to allow for
independent third-party testing of the system, checking for
accuracy or bias. Washington state Sen. Joe Nguyen, a Democrat and
the bill's main sponsor, said that provision has national
implications because problems identified in his state will have to
be fixed elsewhere, too. In addition to being a part-time
legislator, Mr. Nguyen works as a senior program manager at
Microsoft.
Some in Washington state have criticized the law. Jennifer Lee,
technology and liberty project manager for the ACLU's local
chapter, says the bill gives the government too much leeway. She
noted one provision that allows police to use the technology
without a warrant if "exigent circumstances exist."
"We need a temporary ban on face surveillance, not ongoing use
that allows beta testing of face surveillance on the most impacted
and vulnerable communities," Ms. Lee said.
The Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs also
lobbied against the bill, saying it placed too many bureaucratic
requirements on law enforcement agencies.
"There is a version of facial recognition regulations that we
are okay with," but this law "hinders our ability to keep people
safe," said James McMahan, the group's policy director. He pointed
to a requirement that police obtain a court order before a common
use of facial recognition: Identifying a missing or deceased
person.
As he signed the law, Mr. Inslee, a Democrat, said it "provides
state and local governments a set of guidelines around facial
recognition technology while balancing the interests of
law-enforcement, the business community and individuals' right to
privacy."
Write to Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 31, 2020 16:49 ET (20:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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