An Uber driver who lost his job when automated face-scanning software failed to recognise him is accusing the firm of indirect race discrimination in a legal test case. The black driver, who worked on the Uber platform from 2016 until April 2021, has filed an employment tribunal claim alleging his account was illegally deactivated when facial-verification software used to log drivers on to the ride-hailing app decided he wasn't who he said he was. The Independent Workers of Great Britain trade union, which is backing the action, claimed at least 35 other drivers had had their registration with Uber terminated as a result of alleged mistakes with the software since the start of the pandemic. It is calling for Uber to scrap the "racist algorithm" and reinstate terminated drivers. An Uber spokeswoman said the firm "strongly refutes the completely unfounded claims" and said it is "committed to fighting racism and being a champion for equality--both inside and outside our company."

Face-recognition software can guess your gender with amazing accuracy – if you are a white man. Joy Buolamwini at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tested three commercially available face-recognition systems, created by Microsoft, IBM and the Chinese company Megvii. The systems correctly identified the gender of white men 99 per cent of the time. But the error rate rose for people with darker skin, reaching nearly 35 per cent for women. Face-recognition software is already being used in many different situations, including by police to identify suspects in a crowd and to automatically tag photos.

Face-recognition software can guess your gender with amazing accuracy – if you are a white man. Joy Buolamwini at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tested three commercially available face-recognition systems, created by Microsoft, IBM and the Chinese company Megvii. The systems correctly identified the gender of white men 99 per cent of the time. But the error rate rose for people with darker skin, reaching nearly 35 per cent for women. Face-recognition software is already being used in many different situations, including by police to identify suspects in a crowd and to automatically tag photos.

Facebook could be in hot water over its facial recognition software. The social media giant is accused of violating users' privacy by collecting and storing biometric data without permission in order to make tagging suggestions. Facebook has argued to have the civil suit dismissed, but a US judge rejected this request. Facebook could be in hot water over its facial recognition software. The social media giant was accused of violating users' privacy by collecting and storing biometric data without permission in order to make tagging suggestions.

Who needs tickets when you have a face? From today, the ticketed tourist town of Wuzhen in China is using face-recognition technology to identify people staying in its hotels and to act as their entry pass through the gates of the attraction. The system, which is expected to process 5000 visitors a day, has been created by web giant Baidu – often referred to as the "Chinese Google". Wuzhen is a historic town that has been turned into a tourist attraction with museums, tours and traditional crafts. When people check in to hotels in the tourist area, they will now have their pictures taken and uploaded to a central database.

San Francisco (AFP) - A US judge rejected a request by Facebook to toss out a civil suit accusing it of violating privacy with face-recognition software to help "tag" people in pictures. A lawsuit filed by three Illinois residents under the auspices of the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act can proceed, US District Court Judge James Donato said. "The court accepts as true plaintiffs' allegations that Facebook's face recognition technology involves a scan of face geometry that was done without plaintiffs' consent," he said in the ruling. It appeared that legislators in Illinois passed the act to address emerging biometric technology such as Facebook face-recognition software at issue in the case, according to the judge. Facebook had argued in a motion to dismiss that analyzing uploaded photographs did not qualify as biometric data and that the Illinois law did not apply.