Alibaba admits it built facial-recognition-as-a-service to detect oppressed Uyghur minority in China
(2020/12/18)
- Reference: 1608260165
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/12/18/alibaba_ethnicity_detecting_ai/
- Source link:
Alibaba Group today admitted its cloud business developed what it is described as “a facial recognition technology … that included ethnicity as an algorithm attribute for tagging video imagery,” then vowed it will never again see the light of day.
The Chinese web and e-commerce giant [1]also made references to “recent reports” about this technology. The Register believes that points to [2]this December 16 article by independent video surveillance analysts and consultants IPVM, which collaborated with The New York Times on [3]this piece .
Both articles report that Alibaba Cloud’s website openly offered the ability to detect “Uyghur/ethnic minority” faces in video streams, plus real-time alerts when Uyghurs appeared in view. Both stories add that not long after they asked Alibaba Cloud about the service, references to it disappeared from the company’s website.
China oppresses the Uyghur people within its borders, and is said to have forcibly moved over one million of them – Chinese citizens all – to internment and reeducation camps that aim to suppress their culture and practice of Islam. China justifies the campaign as an anti-extremism measure.
Alibaba chief says China's new internet laws aren’t just good, they’re right and welcome and necessary [4]READ MORE
IPVM’s report noted that Alibaba Cloud “claimed, without evidence or explanation, that these features were only used ‘within a testing environment’.”
The Alibaba Group's admission today stated the super-org “never intended our technology to be used for and will not permit it to be used for targeting specific ethnic groups, and we have eliminated any ethnic tag in our product offering.”
“This trial technology was not deployed by any customer,” its post added. “Racial or ethnic discrimination or profiling in any form violates Alibaba’s policies and values,” it adds, before wrapping up with: “We do not and will not permit our technology to be used to target or identify specific ethnic groups.”
Alibaba’s declaration that it developed this capability spells trouble because the United States has already [5]banned Chinese AI startups for being complicit in the crackdown on China’s Uyghur population.
But it appears that China has sought this capacity from several suppliers, as [6]Huawei recently admitted that it, too, had developed a test system capable of detecting Uyghur but had not put it into production for any clients. ®
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[1] https://www.alizila.com/statement-from-alibaba-group-regarding-recent-reports-of-the-companys-facial-recognition-technology/
[2] https://ipvm.com/reports/alibaba-uyghur
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/technology/alibaba-china-facial-recognition-uighurs.html
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/24/alibaba_approves_china_internet_regulations/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2019/10/09/us_ai_sanctions/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/12/in_brief_ai/
[7] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Chinese web and e-commerce giant [1]also made references to “recent reports” about this technology. The Register believes that points to [2]this December 16 article by independent video surveillance analysts and consultants IPVM, which collaborated with The New York Times on [3]this piece .
Both articles report that Alibaba Cloud’s website openly offered the ability to detect “Uyghur/ethnic minority” faces in video streams, plus real-time alerts when Uyghurs appeared in view. Both stories add that not long after they asked Alibaba Cloud about the service, references to it disappeared from the company’s website.
China oppresses the Uyghur people within its borders, and is said to have forcibly moved over one million of them – Chinese citizens all – to internment and reeducation camps that aim to suppress their culture and practice of Islam. China justifies the campaign as an anti-extremism measure.
Alibaba chief says China's new internet laws aren’t just good, they’re right and welcome and necessary [4]READ MORE
IPVM’s report noted that Alibaba Cloud “claimed, without evidence or explanation, that these features were only used ‘within a testing environment’.”
The Alibaba Group's admission today stated the super-org “never intended our technology to be used for and will not permit it to be used for targeting specific ethnic groups, and we have eliminated any ethnic tag in our product offering.”
“This trial technology was not deployed by any customer,” its post added. “Racial or ethnic discrimination or profiling in any form violates Alibaba’s policies and values,” it adds, before wrapping up with: “We do not and will not permit our technology to be used to target or identify specific ethnic groups.”
Alibaba’s declaration that it developed this capability spells trouble because the United States has already [5]banned Chinese AI startups for being complicit in the crackdown on China’s Uyghur population.
But it appears that China has sought this capacity from several suppliers, as [6]Huawei recently admitted that it, too, had developed a test system capable of detecting Uyghur but had not put it into production for any clients. ®
Get our [7]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.alizila.com/statement-from-alibaba-group-regarding-recent-reports-of-the-companys-facial-recognition-technology/
[2] https://ipvm.com/reports/alibaba-uyghur
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/technology/alibaba-china-facial-recognition-uighurs.html
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/24/alibaba_approves_china_internet_regulations/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2019/10/09/us_ai_sanctions/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/12/in_brief_ai/
[7] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Alibaba
Anonymous Coward
Alibaba is also behind a massive mobile advertising fraud campaign here in the US using GoDaddy's servers.
I reported this along with many examples to GoDaddy's abuse department.
What about ...?
Throatwarbler Mangrove
Hey, just wanted to be the first to ask "What about that thing over there that The West has done?" The West is just as bad, so your criticism of China is invalid! Now go read the collected works of A.A. Milne, comrade.
Good luck on your next IPO...
How's that line go again? oh yeah...
I am Jacks lack of meaningful remorse.
Can we get them blocked by Visa and Mastercard too? I'm pretty sure ethnocide, genocide and slavery are all worse than porn. They literally have been using them as slave labor in cotton fields.
"Never again see the light of day" it what you say about a coverup. They should be providing the footage they helped collect to the Hague, not trying to pretend they didn't help fortify the concentration camps and hope everyone forgets.