S.T.O.P. Condemns ESRB’s Gaming Facial Recognition Plans

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View this email in your browser For Immediate Release S.T.O.P. Condemns ESRB’s Gaming Facial Recognition Plans (New York, NY, 7/26/2023) - Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy and civil rights group, condemned the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) proposal to use facial recognition to surveil gamers’ ages. The proposal was made in a filing to the Federal Trade Commission, detailing software that would use gamers’ photos to determine their age. The civil rights group warned that facial recognition bias would likely discriminate against gamers of color, women, and non-binary players. SEE: Gizmodo – The ESRB Wants to Scan Gamers' Faces to Verify Their Ages https://gizmodo.com/esrb-rating-face-scan-age-verification-1850674601 RE: Application for Approval of a Verifiable Parental Consent Method Pursuant to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule 16 C.F.R. §312.12(a) https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Application-for-a-new-VPC-method-ESRB-SuperAwesome-Yoti-06-02-2023.pdf “This is yet another example of video game surveillance harming the very children it’s supposed to help.” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn.  “As we detailed in two reports earlier this year (Game Over & Banned For Being), increasingly invasive video game surveillance poses a threat not just to gamers, but to the future of the internet. As gaming platforms increasingly converge with other internet services, these sorts of practices pose a potent threat to the promise of an open internet. And the fact that ESRB is exploring a invasive, biased, and error-prone technology like facial recognition for this purpose is even more concerning.” Earlier this year, the civil rights group released two reports detailing existing video game surveillance’s harm and bias. The group found that existing game moderation systems systematically silence BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and female gamers. The group also found that the growing surveillance of gaming spaces was likely to spill over to other aspects of internet regulation, endangering an open internet. SEE: Research Report – Game Over https://www.stopspying.org/game-over Research Report – Banned For Being https://www.stopspying.org/banned-for-being The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color. --END-- CONTACT: S.T.O.P. Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn, 571-766-6273, albert@stopspying.org.   Copyright © 2021 Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.