Microsoft deletes face recognition database

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48555149

by chwolfe • 7 years ago

175 47 7 years ago

bbc.co.uk

codemac• 7 years ago

I'm surprised at the title. Microsoft only said the database was "unavailable" because someone left the company.

Are there any citations or press releases of Microsoft saying it was deleted?

nerdponx• 7 years ago

This is both vague and slightly unsettling:

Microsoft told the FT the database was no longer available, because the person who curated it had now left the company.

dsfyu404ed• 7 years ago

Microsoft only said the database was "unavailable" because someone left the company.

People champion pet projects all the time. At my company we joke that every major website UI redesign is just another VP pissing on the web portal fire hydrant.

Without a key person to pitch the value of this project's continued existence it got killed.

Edit: If MS is anything like the BigCo I work at those servers are gonna be wiped and re-imaged after a bunch of automated "these servers were owned by X who has left the company, do you still need them?" emails are ignored by X's boss.

maximente• 7 years ago

this reply adds nothing to answer the question of whether or not the database was truly deleted

seanmcdirmid2• 7 years ago

It happened in a research lab, hardly the typical BigCo scenario.

reaperducer4• 7 years ago

Something similar happened at a billion dollar company where I worked.

I ran their web site. When my job got outsourced, I got exactly four minutes notice before being shown the door. I was (and still am) the only one with the password for the domain registrar. The people who own the company have too much arrogance and pride to call me to ask for the password so they can give it to the Indian company that replaced me, so after several weeks of the web site not being updated with the current pricing (which changed almost daily), they opened a new domain.

As of last month, my site still sits there as a time capsule with the old pricing, employee bios, and everything from six years ago. I can understand why the domain hasn't changed, because they paid for 10 years in advance. But I don't know why they're still paying the hosting bill.

seanmcdirmid2• 7 years ago

It looks like this was done at Microsoft Research Asia as a research project. It isn't weird that research projects implode when the researchers working on them leave the lab, whether in Beijing or Redmond, since these things were never in production in the first place. For all we know, this was just an intern project (though it looks like everyone in the paper list are FTEs).

klodolph• 7 years ago

Same story, different actors: Company throws Machine Learning at a problem, gets a good data set for training, uncovers horrifying implications (the data set is racist, the tools enable abuses of power, the model is incomprehensible, the tool is spreading anti-vax messages to sell more ads).

xvector• 7 years ago

Meanwhile Amazon is rolling full-steam-ahead on developing facial recognition technologies and making no exception to handing them out to countries with track records for human rights abuses.

It's depressing how even when some companies are doing the right thing at their own expense, others delve straight into unrestricted greed with no regard for human lives.

grillvogel• 7 years ago

unrestricted greed with no regard for human lives.

well that has basically always been amazon's m.o.

fooey2• 7 years ago

We're leveraging Amazon facial recognition for a time tracking kiosk, and it's scary creepy how good their technology has become.

We'd tried it a few years ago and it was too unreliable, but now it's amazingly accurate.

anbop• 7 years ago

The way this story is different is that the company's reaction was "Fuck, delete this" instead of "Fuck, we're rich!"

cbhl• 7 years ago

"Database" seems like the wrong word for the headline. Did they delete the training data (the photos and labels)? The models trained on the data? Both? The article only appears to talk about the training set.

If they only deleted the training data, but not the ML models generated from them, then you get the worst of both worlds (people still using the models to do things, and no way to validate or improve the fairness of said models by adding or removing labelled training data).

madrox• 7 years ago

Whether they did or not, the data was publicly available for some time, so you'll see mirrors around. However, on longer timelines both model and training data are less useful, which I think is the actual outcome here.

johnnycab• 7 years ago

Did they delete the training data (the photos and labels)? The models trained on the data? Both?

It would be interesting to find out if that were the case, considering that it forms the basis of Azure ML Ops (along with Pipelines), introduced at Build a month ago, with an aim to track assets and create an 'end-to-end' audit trail.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/blog/take-your-machine-lea...

deugtniet• 7 years ago

I think this is Microsofts way to limit legal, but more importantly, public image liability. These models can be used for bad stuff, like the profiling thats happening in <insert unethical organization/government here> right now. And Microsoft wants nothing to do with it.

reitanqild• 7 years ago

Last year Microsoft President Brad Smith asked the US Congress to take on the task of regulating the use of facial recognition systems because they had "broad societal ramifications and potential for abuse".
More recently, Microsoft rejected a request from police in California to use its face-spotting systems in body cameras and cars.

Sounds like they are actually starting to get some principles and are standing up for them.

la_barba• 7 years ago

Q: "Why is this database unavailable"

A: "Because we don't have anyone to maintain it"

News Media: "Microsoft deletes database".

Does anyone feel like today's news articles, are written by gossip/tabloid writers?

simongr3dal• 7 years ago

If making access to the database available was a priority, surely a company with Microsoft's resources could find someone to maintain it?

And why shouldn't the database continue to work just because there isn't someone to maintain it? It's not like the maintainer is actually hand-cranking the generator that powers the database server.

And yeah there's definitely a trend with trying to make every news story look like a big dramatic news event with lots of intrigue and "tea". Mostly it's just pretty boring and undramatic stuff.

grogenaut• 7 years ago

Some companies try to offer services that actually work. in general I don't think a team should have less than seven people on it if they're on an on call rotation and keeping a service alive without burning out the people involved. And if you can't afford that for a service and you're not really doing the right thing for the users of it.

Also if it's not being used why would you keep it up and running.

finally not sure why you're against someone getting rid of a facial recognition database

SN76477• 7 years ago

Because it generates clicks and clicks mean money.

The concept of real value was thrown out a long time ago.

TillE• 7 years ago

At least in terms of their online coverage, BBC News' reporting has been thoroughly mediocre on all issues for a long time.

0X3jdRielGJRHSU• 7 years ago

(Throwaway due to my employment.)

Meanwhile this[0] was posted on some of the entrances to the common buildings on Microsoft's campus for some time. They seemed to be training an algorithm for "fairness" by taking video of employees that were entering via certain doors. You could "opt out" by choosing another entrance though.

[0] https://imgur.com/a/qYuelxD

metildaa• 7 years ago

Silence is not consent, its a basic rule in the photography class I took. Microsoft seems to be going by the legal minimums, getting a dataset skewed by whoever is employed in that building (likely not terribly diverse).

pizza• 7 years ago

I haven't even read the book but for some reason this reminds me of the bit in Philip K Dick's Ubik where the main character dismantles his sentient door that demands to be paid before it will open.

“I’ll sue you,” the door said as the first screw fell out.
Joe Chip said, “I’ve never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it.”

hanniabu• 7 years ago

Where does the fairness come in? Not quite understanding

lohszvu• 7 years ago

Anyone have a bittorrent hash for the data set?

sbr464• 7 years ago

You can create an account trillionpairs and access the downloads. It's free and instant.

It's the Asian subset, 4 files, about 300 Gigs.

http://trillionpairs.deepglint.com/overview

addl info

https://megapixels.cc/datasets/msceleb/

asymptotically2• 7 years ago

but it added that it also included a lot of people who "must maintain an online presence for their professional lives".

Maybe some of the images in the database were scraped from LinkedIn or GitHub

Microsoft deletes face recognition database

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