Google warns against facial recognition database
\nGoogle\u2019s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has warned Governments against \u2018foolish\u2019 legislation \u2013 and said facial recognition is too creepy even for Google<\/p>\n
Matt Warman
\nBy Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor 11:57PM BST 18 May 2011<\/p>\n
Eric Schmidt, Google\u2019s executive chairman, has said that the search giant would not build a database capable of recognising individual faces even though it is increasingly possible.<\/p>\n
Mr Schmidt, speaking at Google\u2019s \u2018Big Tent\u2019 conference on internet privacy, said that the rapid development of facial recognition technology has been one of the things that has surprised him most in a long career as a computer scientist. Such \u201csurprising accuracy\u201d was, however, he said, \u201cvery concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked a question about coining the phrase \u201ccrossing the creepy line\u201d to describe an aspect of how Google thinks about privacy, Mr Schmidt indicated that, for him, a database utilising facial recognition advances was \u201cunlikely\u201d to be a service that Google would create. He suggested \u201csome company by the way is going to cross that line\u201d. …more<\/a><\/p>\n