The regulator that rates video games for age appropriateness has proposed using facial recognition software to determine if a buyer is old enough to buy adult video games.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board, the self-regulatory body that attaches age ratings to video games, sent a proposal to the Federal Trade Commission asking if it can use software to identify users' ages. The software, Privacy-Protected Facial Age Estimation software, would allow parents to offer input on if a teenager or child can buy certain games. The pitch, though, is sure to raise eyebrows among privacy advocates.
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The program would work by having users take a photo of themselves. The software would check to see if there is a live face in the frame, and then the image would be uploaded to a server for software to "estimate" the user's age.
The software's developer, Yoti, claims that it would not save any of the analyzed images and that anything submitted would be "immediately, permanently deleted, and not used by Yoti for training purposes."
Yoti also claimed in the proposal that the software does not present any substantial risks to parents' privacy or allegations of bias.
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"To the extent that there is any risk, it is easily outweighed by the benefits to consumers and businesses of using this [Facial Age Estimation] method," the proposal argued.
Facial recognition has become a growing part of modern-day security and is used in stores to combat crime and expedite lines in airports. Some academics have warned about the software holding intrinsic biases and discriminating against users.