Oct 04, 2019 12:40:00

It is clear that 3D data for Google's face authentication improvement was collected by tricking homeless with a 500 yen gift certificate

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To improve Pixel 4's face authentication function, it turns out that Google's subcontracting company was taking a strategy of collecting face 3D scan data in exchange for gift cards for homeless and students who are struggling with money It was. 3D scans are explained as if they were “games” or “surveys”, and it was revealed that they were mainly intended for people with dark skin.

Google using dubious tactics to target people with 'darker skin' in facial recognition project: sources-New York Daily News
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-google-darker-skin-tones-facial-recognition-pixel-20191002-5vxpgowknffnvbmy5eg7epsf34-story.html

Google reportedly targeted homeless people with 'dark skin' to improve AI | Technology | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/03/google-data-harvesting-facial-recognition-people-of-color

Google contractors reportedly targeted homeless people for Pixel 4 facial recognition-The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/2/20896181/google-contractor-reportedly-targeted-homeless-people-for-pixel-4-facial-recognition

Google's image recognition algorithm has a problem that it can not recognize people with dark skin well, and in the past, Google Photos recognized black people as gorillas as a problem.

Developer apologizes for the case where Google Photos recognized blacks as gorillas-GIGAZINE

Google is trying to improve facial recognition technology, but a new Google subcontracting company `` collected scan images of faces from ordinary people including homeless in exchange for $ 5 (about 530 yen) gift card '' New York Daily News revealed that.

According to an anonymous source actually involved in the project, a day laborer called “Google TVC” receives payment from a Google subcontracting agency called “Randstad” and collects scan data of homeless and student faces It seems to have been. The Randstad representative told TVC, “Hide or lie that the video is recorded, go to a colored race to shoot a face and maximize the amount of data collected. It seems to have explained, 'To collect face data by explaining it as a self-shooting game like Snapchat'.

Some TVCs have been instructed to tell subject candidates that they can “get a gift card in a few minutes of a smartphone game” or “a new app that can get $ 5”. The scanned data was stored on each TVC user page and evaluated regularly at performance meetings.

This is where volunteers are actually 3D scanning their faces. A Starbucks gift card is placed on the desk.

The app looks like this.

TVC has solicited homeless and university students and

BET Award participants. A former employee of Randstad says Randstad has sent a TVC team to Atlanta, soliciting a project for the homeless. “The homeless told me to target because they couldn't talk to the media,” “the homeless people didn't know what was happening at all,” says a former employee. Some people have received instructions that tell people who are in trouble with money that they can 'give them a gift card'.

Gift cards are also attractive for university students who are struggling with money. New York Daily News encounters a college student TVC that actually collects data, and sells a fellow who gives a fellow student a 3D scan of his face and gives a $ 5 Starbucks gift card I witness the act. The students who photographed their faces said that they had never thought that the 3D scan data of the faces was “sold”. A 3D-scanned student has just entered college and is trying to make friends, and says that he received a TVC offer that he wanted to test because he bought a new Android.

Sometimes Randstad misunderstood that the image collection was “survey” on the subject. In order to scan, the subject must agree to the consent form, but the consent form is considered as a survey questionnaire, and the subject agrees before reading the consent form firmly.

The app will answer a questionnaire like this before scanning, and a screen will appear indicating whether you agree with the consent form. In addition to age and gender, the questionnaire also includes items that answer skin color.

In response to this report, Google spokesperson admitted that volunteers were conducting research to incorporate “fairness” into the unlocking of Pixel 4 face recognition. On the other hand, “This report on lie and consent forms violates our volunteer research and training requirements,” “takes the claim seriously and conducts an investigation,” Google says . Although there seems to be no fact that Google instructed Randstad to `` target homeless '', New York Daily News said that Google Manager directed to target people with dark skin color It is written.

To passers 'Hello, I'm working on Google, we are collecting the data in order to improve the unlock technology of the next generation of face authentication smartphone' talk with, to collect the face data in exchange for gift cards Human presence was also reported in July 2019. However, this case is more malicious than the July case, and it has received severe criticism from experts. Attorney Jake Snow said, “This is an unacceptable act of a Google subcontract. The answer to resolving the algorithmic prejudice is not to target the vulnerable.”