Friday, December 14, 2018
Ethical But Self-Interested
Google has announced that it won't sell its facial recognition technology for the time being as it works through technology and policy questions. That is an ethical stance since facial recognition is hardly perfect and false positives are a problem. Also, dictatorial countries are using it to track citizens and invade their privacy. It is a self-interested position because Google understands it will create a hurricane of protest if it does merchandise the software. Resistance will come not only from the outside but from its own employees who had not been quiet about the company's previous work with the Defense Department. It is an instance where necessity and virtue meet. Google can take a bow for being public-minded but it shouldn't be too deep. It wouldn't have won under any circumstance.
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