Privacy groups to quit US talks on facial recognition standards

Nine privacy groups plan to withdraw from U.S. government-hosted negotiations to develop voluntary facial-recognition privacy standards because the groups feel the process won’t lead to adequate privacy protections.

Industry representatives at the talks have been pushing to limit consumer control over the facial recognition data collected, the groups said in a letter to be released Tuesday.

“We are convinced that in many contexts, facial recognition should only occur when an individual has affirmatively decided to allow it to occur,” wrote the groups, including the Center for Digital Democracy, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Consumer Action. “Industry stakeholders were unable to agree on any concrete scenario where companies should employ facial recognition only with a consumer’s permission.”