Incident 48: Passport checker Detects Asian man's Eyes as Closed

Description: New Zealand passport robot reader rejects the application of an applicant with Asian descent and says his eyes are closed.

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Alleged: New Zealand developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed Asian People.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
48
Report Count
22
Incident Date
2016-12-07
Editors
Sean McGregor

CSETv0 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Full Description

Richard Lee, a New Zealander of Asian descent had submitted his ID photo to an online photo checker at New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs and was told his eyes were closed. He was trying to renew his passport so he could return to Australia where he was studying aerospace engineering in Melbourne in December 2016. When asked about the incident, Lee said, "No hard feelings on my part, I've always had very small eyes and facial recognition technology is relatively new and unsophisticated."

Short Description

New Zealand passport robot reader rejects the application of an applicant with Asian descent and says his eyes are closed.

Severity

Negligible

Harm Distribution Basis

Race

Harm Type

Harm to civil liberties

AI System Description

The facial recognition software used by New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs detects passport photos to make sure they meet all the government requirement.

Sector of Deployment

Administrative and support service activities

Relevant AI functions

Perception, Cognition, Action

AI Techniques

Facial recognition

AI Applications

Facial recognition

Location

New Zealand

Named Entities

New Zealand, Richard Lee, Department of Internal Affairs

Technology Purveyor

New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs

Beginning Date

12/2016

Ending Date

12/2016

Near Miss

Unclear/unknown

Intent

Accident

Lives Lost

No

Data Inputs

ID photos

Robot passport checker rejects Asian man's photo for having his eyes closed
telegraph.co.uk · 2016

A man of Asian descent in New Zealand had his passport application rejected after the software that approves photos claimed his eyes were closed.

Richard Lee, a 22-year-old DJ and student, had his photo turned down by the Department of Inte…

Passport blunder sees photo rejected for 'closed eyes'
newshub.co.nz · 2016

(Richard Lee / Facebook)

The Department of Internal Affairs has found itself in a bit of a blunder after a young Asian man submitting a photo for his passport had it rejected due to 'closed eyes'.

Richard Lee is a Kiwi living in Australia a…

NZ government accused of racism after passport renewal software ‘failed’ Asian man’s photo
news.com.au · 2016

THE NEW Zealand government was accused of being racist after its passport renewal software failed to recognise an Asian man’s picture.

Richard Lee is from Taiwan but grew up in New Zealand. He has since moved to Australia and he went to ren…

Racist robot rejects Asian man's passport photo, claiming 'eyes are closed'
nydailynews.com · 2016

At the very least, Lee had a sense of humor about the situation. Using a Snapchat filter that ever so slightly exaggerated his features, he took another picture in which his eyes were more robot-friendly.

Facial recognition software rejects Asian man's passport photo because it thinks his eyes are closed
techspot.com · 2016

Can software be racist? No, though humans can inadvertently design programs that appear racially insensitive, or, as was the case with Microsoft’s Tay chatbot, intentionally turn an AI into a raging hatemonger. Facial recognition systems oc…

Racist robot? New Zealand govt website tells Asian man to open eyes, rejects passport
indiatoday.in · 2016

A New Zealand man of Asian descent had his passport photograph rejected when facial recognition software mistakenly registered his eyes as being closed.

Richard Lee's attempt to renew his passport was blocked after he submitted the picture …

New Zealand passport reader accuses Asian of having 'eyes closed'
theinquirer.net · 2016

MOVE OVER Prince Philip, your racist remarks about Asian facial expressions are as nothing to the gesture of one Passport checking facial recognition robot.

Richard Lee, 22, was unable to renew his New Zealand passport after the software wh…

Facial Recognition Tells An Asian Man His Eyes Are Closed
digitaltrends.com · 2016

Facial recognition is cool technology, but it’s not perfect. It’s used in many applications and services to provide an easier means of verification, such as Windows Hello using the tech to unlock Windows 10 so users aren’t required to manua…

Asian man’s picture is rejected by New Zealand’s passport photo software because his “eyes were closed”
thesun.co.uk · 2016

AN Asian man’s passport photo was rejected by the New Zealand government after its facial recognition software claimed his “eyes were closed”.

Richard Lee, who is originally from Taiwan, shared a screenshot of the awkward error message on F…

New Zealand passport robot tells applicant of Asian descent to open eyes
reuters.com · 2016

A screenshot of New Zealand man Richard Lee's passport photo rejection notice, supplied to Reuters December 7, 2016. Richard Lee/Handout via REUTERS

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A New Zealand man of Asian descent had his passport photograph rejected …

New Zealander says passport photo rejection 'not racist'
bbc.com · 2016

Image copyright Reuters/Richard Lee

A New Zealander of Asian descent has shrugged off the rejection of a passport application photo by software because of his eyes.

The system sent an error message after deciding Richard Lee's eyes were clo…

An algorithm rejected an Asian man's passport photo for having "closed eyes"
qz.com · 2016

Another knock against the robots.

Earlier this week, an Asian New Zealander posted a screenshot to Facebook showing his passport photo being rejected for having closed eyes, even though they are visibly open. Twenty-two-year-old Richard Lee…

New Zealand Passport Website Rejects Asian Man's Photo For Having 'Closed' Eyes
gizmodo.com.au · 2016

Anyone who's dealt with the complexities of passport photo requirements would probably jump at the chance to have their pics checked online, but automated systems can have their own complications, as a New Zealand man recently learned.

Scre…

'Racist' robot rejects Asian-face passport photo
rappler.com · 2016

A computer-generated response said the photo of a New Zealander of Asian descent did not meet New Zealand's criteria because the 'eyes are closed'

Published 9:24 AM, December 08, 2016

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A New Zealander of Asian desce…

Passport robot donned ‘racist’, tells applicant of Asian descent to open eyes
tenplay.com.au · 2016

A New Zealand man of Asian descent had his passport photo rejected when facial recognition software registered his eyes as being closed.

Richard Lee was trying to renew his passport so he could return to Australia from New Zealand after Chr…

Racist Passport Machine Rejects Photo Because "Subject's Eyes Are Closed"
elitereaders.com · 2016

No one likes their passport photo. No matter how well you dress up or fix your hair or do your makeup, you’ll always look just a little bit awkward with a poker face, ears out, and facing the camera head-on.

Well one man looked nice enough …

New Zealand passport robot thinks this Asian man's eyes are closed
edition.cnn.com · 2016

(CNN) It's a common annoyance, you're filling out a form online and you get some error.

New Zealander Richard Lee was applying for a passport online when the system objected to the image he uploaded.

"The photo you want to upload does not m…

Passport photo rejected by 'racist' facial recognition robot in New Zealand
dailystar.co.uk · 2016

DECLINED: The robots did not accept this photograph

Richard Lee, 22, sent a picture to a new online passport photo checker run by the government in New Zealand.

But the automated system told the furious DJ and engineering student his photo …

Man sees humour in 'racist' facial recognition software
nzherald.co.nz · 2016

A New Zealand man of Asian descent had his passport photo rejected by a government website when its facial recognition software registered his eyes as being closed.

Richard Lee was trying to renew his passport so he could return to Australi…

'Racist' passport request riles New Zealand citizen of 10 years
stuff.co.nz · 2017

A Palmerston North woman is alleging she was racially profiled by a health centre worker who said she didn't look like a Kiwi and asked for passport proof of her New Zealand citizenship.

But the health centre says the situation was a misund…

New Zealand Passport Photo Checker Rejects Asian Guy’s Picture, Says His Eyes Are Closed
boredpanda.com · 2017

Look at this picture of 22-year-old Richard Lee. Do his eyes look open to you? Of course they do. But that didn’t stop an automated online system from rejecting his passport renewal because, according to the facial recognition software, his…

‘Racist’ passport machine accuses Asian man of having eyes closed
rt.com · 2019

A New Zealand passport scanner made a ‘racist’ error when it rejected the photo of a man of Asian descent because it thought his eyes were closed.

Richard Lee had his passport renewal blocked when he submitted his photo to an online passpor…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.

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