Microsoft Alters Policy on Facial-Recognition Investments
March 27 2020 - 8:18PM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Armental
Microsoft Corp. has decided to no longer hold minority interests
in companies that sell facial-recognition technology, a policy
change that follows a controversial investment in Israeli startup
AnyVision.
On Friday, Microsoft said it would sell its minority stake in
AnyVision in implementing a new investment policy for companies
that sell facial-recognition technology, since minority stakes
don't "generally allow for the level of oversight or control that
Microsoft exercises over the use of its own technology."
AnyVision had been accused of surveilling Palestinians in the
West Bank.
A Microsoft-funded audit, led by former U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder at Covington & Burling, found AnyVision's
technology is being used at the border between the West Bank and
Israel but not for mass-surveillance.
Microsoft made its investment in AnyVision last June.
"Microsoft's focus has shifted to commercial relationships that
afford Microsoft greater oversight and control over the use of
sensitive technologies," the company said Friday.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 27, 2020 20:03 ET (00:03 GMT)
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