Researchers Voice Rights Concerns Over Emotion Recognition Technology
Posted by Joseph Brouwer | Mar 3, 2021
Emotion recognition technology is being marketed globally as the next frontier of facial recognition, with proponents claiming it particularly well-suited for two starkly different environments: schools and prisons. In the Chinese context, companies have explicitly attached themselves to nationwide surveillance schemes such as the Sharp Eyes program, which aims to conduct real-time surveillance of vast swaths of China using high-tech surveillance cameras, facial recognition technology, and algorithmic modeling. In January 2021, British human rights organization Article 19 published a research paper by Vidushi Marda and Shazeda Ahmed on emotion recognition technology in China and the threat its adoption poses to the freedoms of expression, privacy, and the right to protest. The report also highlighted the