Parents of a Black teenager are livid after their daughter was refused entry to a skating rink after being misidentified by facial recognition software, Fox 2 Detroit reports.
Juliea Robinson dropped her 14-year-old daughter Lamya off at the Riverside Arena skating rink in Livonia last Saturday.
But Lamya was unable to enter the building after the company's facial recognition software misidentified her as being involved in a brawl in March.
"I was like, that is not me. Who is that?" she said. "I was so confused because I've never been there."
"I just don't think it's right, that my picture was used in some type of lineup, and I never been in trouble," she explained.
Her mother slammed the company for the faulty software.
"To me, it's basically racial profiling," said Juliea Robinson. "You're just saying every young Black, brown girl with glasses fits the profile and that's not right."
Tawana Petty of Data 4 Black Lives argues the software is fundamentally racist.
"Facial recognition does not accurately recognize darker skin tones," Petty said. "So, I don't want to go to Walmart and be tackled by an officer or security guard, because they misidentified me for something I didn't do."
Petty says Lowes and Macy's are among the major companies using facial recognition software.
The girl's father is thankful nothing happened to her after she was kicked out of the skating rink.
"You all put my daughter out of the establishment by herself, not knowing what could have happened," said Derrick Robinson. "It just happened to be a blessing that she was calling in frustration to talk to her cousin, but at the same time he pretty much said I'm not that far, let me go see what's wrong with her."
The skating rink defended itself in a statement, claiming "the software had her daughter at a 97 percent match."
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