Google has been accused of using rather controversial methods of improving their facial recognition system, and while the original story in the New York Daily News cant be accessed from Europe, we do get the basics from a lot of other American media.
It all started back in the summer when Google had to admit collecting facial scans from random people to improve the Pixel 4 facial recognition software, for the price of a $5 USD gift card. However, it turns out that contractor Randstad went a step further.
Groups of homeless people were targeted, according to these reports, and college students were not informed that the data would be recorded and stored.
Several sources who worked on the project have confirmed that Randstad had people in Atlanta who specifically targeted homeless people and those with dark skin, rarely informing them of their affiliation with Google, nor that they were recording the face of the person.
While Google has not been proven to instruct Randstad in this, New York Daily has a source claiming that a Google manager instructed Randstad to target those with dark skin.
"They said to target homeless people because they're the least likely to say anything to the media," the ex-staffer said. "The homeless people didn't know what was going on at all."
Some were told to gather the face data by characterizing the scan as a "selfie game" similar to Snapchat, they said. One said workers were told to say things like, "Just play with the phone for a couple minutes and get a gift card," and, "We have a new app, try it and get $5."
Another former TVC said team members in California were specifically told they could entice cash-strapped subjects by mentioning a state law that says gift cards less than $10 can be exchanged for cash."
While Google claims that participants all signed a consent form that allowed all data to be recorded from even before they touched the phone, people hired via Randstad said outright that they were trained to both lie and be pushy to get the needed data.
Google has defended itself by investigating "dubious tactics", and we'll update as and when the story develops.