Microsoft has 6 ethics for using facial recognition techniques: fairness, transparency, accountability, non-discrimination, notice and consent, and lawful surveillance. The company is strict when it comes to complying with these ethics. Today Microsoft has hired former United States Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct an investigation on facial recognition company AnyVision to determine whether it complies with Microsoft’s ethical principles on how the biometric surveillance technology should be used.
M12, Microsoft’s capital venture has invested in AnyVision as part of a $74 million Series A funding round in June. AnyVision’s facial recognition technology is used by the Israeli military at border crossing checkpoints to log the faces of Palestinians crossing into Israel. A report suggests that the company is secretly monitoring the Palestinians who are residing in West Bank and it is not complying with the 6th principle of Microsoft.