Facebook取消面部识别
Facebook plans to stop using facial-recognition software that could automatically recognize people in photos and videos posted on the social network, marking a massive shift both for the tech industry and for a company known for collecting vast amounts of data about its billions of users.
Facebook计划停止使用面部识别功能，该功能可以自动识别出用户在社交媒体上发布的图片与视频中的人物。这一决定标志着整个科技行业的巨大转变，也代表这个以收集大量用户数据而闻名的公司正在转型。
Facebook, which changed its company name to Meta in late October, also said it plans to delete the data it had gathered through its use of this software, which is associated with over a billion people's faces.
继上个月改名为Meta之后，该公司表示将删除已经通过该功能收集到的数据——包括超十亿张人脸的信息。
The move, announced in a blog post authored by artificial intelligence vice president Jerome Pesenti, comes as the company is widely scrutinized for the potential real-world harmsof its social platforms in the wake of a whistleblower's leak of hundreds of internal documents.
Facebook负责AI部门的副总裁Jerome Pesenti在一篇博文中公开了上述决定。此前，有检举者公布了上百份公司内部文件，引发了广大民众对Facebook的严格审视——人们怀疑该公司旗下的社交平台可能对现实生活构成潜在风险。
The move to both stop using the software and to wipe the data that is related to existing users of the feature marks an about-face for Facebook, which has been a major user and proponent of the technology.
Facebook一直是面部识别技术的主要推动者和使用者。停用这一功能，并删除现有面部数据的决定标志着该公司将改头换面。
Since 2010, the social network has allowed people to opt in to a facial-recognition setting that would automatically tag them in pictures and videos — a move that massively benefited Facebook as it made it easier for users to engage with each other, leading them to spend yet more time on Facebook.
自2010年以来，该社交网络支持人们选用“面部识别”设置，人们的面部会在图片和视频中被自动标记。面部识别设置给Facebook带来了极大的好处，使Facebook用户们彼此的线上接触更加便捷，从而让他们能花更多的时间在Facebook上。
Pesenti wrote that more than a third of the company's daily active users had opted in to the setting — or more than 643 million people, as Facebook had 1.93 billion daily active users in the third quarter of 2021.
Pesenti写道，三分之一以上的Facebook每日活跃用户选择了使用面部识别设置。Facebook在2021年第三季度的每日活跃用户数为19.3亿，这代表有超过6.43亿人使用了面部识别设置。
Woodrow Hartzog, a law and computer science professor at Northeastern University, called the decision a "win" that shows the need for ongoing privacy advocacy and critiques of tech companies. "It also shows that these technologies are neither inevitable, nor are they indispensable," he said.
美国东北大学的法律和计算机科学教授Woodrow Hartzog称，取消面部识别的决定是一场“胜利”。这项决定表明，提倡隐私权保护和批评违背隐私保护原则的科技公司都是有必要的。Hartzog说：“这也表明，面部识别之类的技术并不是不可避免的，也不是不可或缺的。”
Other tech firms such as Amazon and Microsoft have both suspended facial recognition product sales to policeas the uses for the technology have become more controversial.
由于面部识别技术的使用已变得更具争议性，亚马逊、微软等其他科技公司都已暂停向警方出售面部识别产品。
为何取消面部识别？
Facebook, which as well as running the world's largest social media network also owns Instagram and the messaging service Whatsapp, has come under growing pressure from regulators and politicians.
Facebook不仅运营着世界上最大的社交媒体网络，还拥有Instagram和即时通讯服务Whatsapp。目前它正面临着来自监管机构和政界人士的与日俱增的压力。
Lorna Woods at the University of Essex, UK, says Meta’s move may have been driven by the fact that opt-outs are less compatible with recent data privacy legislation, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, and are increasingly less tolerated by the general public.
英国埃塞克斯大学的Lorna Woods认为，Meta此举可能受以下事实的推动：其Opt-out机制越来越与最近的数据隐私立法（如欧盟的《一般数据保护条例》）相违背，而且公众越来越不能容忍其所作所为。
Opt-out：没有经过用户事先同意发送的广告。
In 2019, a US government study suggested facial recognition algorithms were far less accurate at identifying African-American and Asian faces compared to Caucasian faces.
2019年，美国政府的一项研究表明，面部识别算法识别非洲裔和亚裔面孔时，远不如识别白人面孔准确。
It is facing increased scrutiny from regulators including the US the Federal Trade Commission, which has filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging anticompetitive practices.
该公司现在正面临包括美国联邦贸易委员会在内的监管机构越来越严格的审查。美国联邦贸易委员会已提起反垄断诉讼，指控Facebook存在反竞争行为。
And last month, a former employee accused the company of unethical behaviour. Frances Haugen released a cache of internal documents which she said showed Facebook had put profit before user safety.
上个月，一名Facebook的前员工指控该公司有不道德的行为。Frances Haugen公布了一份内部文件，她表示，这些文件展示了Facebook以利益为重而忽视用户安全的问题。
Frances Haugen在华盛顿对Facebook进行指控
网友的“灵魂四问”
1.What will happen to tagged photos?
被标记的照片会发生什么变化?
A spokesperson for Facebook said there would be no change to existing tagged photos or videos that were tagged using the technology, just that there will not be a suggested tag in the future.
Facebook发言人表示，被面部识别技术标记的照片或视频本身目前不会发生变化，只是Facebook未来不会自动生成照片或视频的推荐标签。
2.What will happen to my faceprint?
这是否会影响我的面纹?
If you opted out of the service before this, or never opted in, or deleted your account, Facebook has said the faceprint would not be retained.
Facebook表示，如果你在面纹服务退场之前选择停用它，或从未选用面纹服务，或注销了你的Facebook账户，Facebook将不会保留你的面纹信息。
3.Had there been any data breach or sale of faceprint information?
是否有任何数据泄露或面纹信息遭出售的风险?
Facebook has previously said that the only person who could access the faceprint was the account user, and a spokesperson confirmed there had been no other access to the faceprint information.
Facebook此前曾表示，唯一可以访问Facebook账户面纹的人是该账户的用户本人，一位发言人曾证实过，没有其他途径可以访问面纹信息。
4.Will it be replaced with something else?
会有新的技术替代面部识别吗？
The spokesperson said Meta believes there are “a number of potentially positive use cases for facial recognition in the future”and it’s something the company will explore, but privacy, control and transparencywill be front of mind.
元宇宙公司发言人表示他们相信“未来可能会有很多合理运用面部识别技术的情况”，这也是元宇宙公司所追求的。然而，隐私保护、风险管控和信息透明度依旧是完善该技术的重中之重。
元宇宙还会使用面部识别技术吗？
Although Meta says it will delete the faceprints of Facebook users, Ella Jakubowska at campaign group European Digital Rights says there is no mention of deleting the AI algorithms that have been trained on the data, and which have the actual power to recognise people in images.
虽然元宇宙公司表明他们会删除脸书用户的面纹，欧洲数字权利组织项目组成员Ella Jakubowska说，元宇宙并没有提到删除能自主学习数据分析的人工智能算法，所以他们依然掌握能够识别图像中人们面纹的技术。
“They’ve had this database for over 10 years and they might now be thinking that they’ve got what they needed out of it, to train the algorithms… and actually, they can get rid of the database,” she says.
“脸书已经十多年握有面纹数据库了。他们现在可能认为自己已经获得了可以脱离数据库来直接训练人工智能算法的的技术，而事实正是如此。”Ella Jakubowska说。
Meta still sees a future for face recognition, either to verify users’ identity or to prevent fraud or impersonation, and says it will keep working on developing those new technologies. The company says that on-device face recognition, which doesn’t share data with external computer servers, is one possible way forward.
为了核实用户的身份、防止网络欺诈或是冒名顶替，元宇宙公司未来很可能会继续使用面部识别技术。该公司表示他们会继续研究相关的新技术。他们还表示在未来，不和外部电脑服务器共享数据的、基于独立设备的面部识别，是该技术可能的实现形式。
难点词汇表达
scrutinize v.仔细查看；认真检查；细致审查 to look at or examine sb/sth carefully
eg: She leaned forward to scrutinize their faces.
about-face n/v. （意见、计划、行为的）彻底改变a complete change of opinion, plan or behaviour
eg: The government did an about-face over nuclear energy.
antitrust adj. 反垄断的 preventing companies or groups of companies from controlling prices unfairly
e.g.Restarting antitrust authorities need to move from the industrial age into the 21st century.
impairment n.缺陷a symptom of reduced quality or strength
eg:He has a visual impairment in the right eye.
breach n.破坏；辜负 an action that breaks an agreement to behave in a particular way
eg：The congressman was accused of a breach of secrecy rules.
impersonation n.顶替pretending to be another person
eg:User impersonation is conceptually simple.
原文链接
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2295967-why-is-facebook-ditching-face-recognition-and-will-it-delete-my-data/#ixzz7BKRXvPT4
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/02/tech/facebook-shuts-down-facial-recognition/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/02/facebook-to-shut-facial-recognition-system-and-delete-1bn-faceprints?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
https://apnews.com/article/85a21a8079a757f2ff99972f1858f7ce
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59143323
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2295967-why-is-facebook-ditching-face-recognition-and-will-it-delete-my-data/#ixzz7BKRXvPT4
编译 | 蒋祖儿 郝喜桓 黄怡涛 谢曈 周奕言
排版 | 谢曈
