Rekognition
Latest
Employees ask Amazon not to sell face recognition to law enforcement
A group of Amazon employees has penned a letter to company chief Jeff Bezos, asking him to stop selling facial recognition to law enforcement. They said that "in the midst of historic militarization of police, renewed targeting of Black activists, and the growth of a federal deportation force currently engaged in human rights abuses," Amazon's facial recognition software will surely serve as a powerful surveillance tool for the government. They also pointed out that a tool like it will "ultimately serve to harm the most marginalized." The employees wrote the letter after an American Civil Liberties Union investigation revealed that the tech giant sells its Rekognition facial detection system to law enforcement customers.
Amazon faces pressure to stop selling facial recognition to police
Amazon may not have much choice but to address mounting criticism over its sales of facial recognition tech to governments. The American Civil Liberties Union has delivered both a petition and a letter from 17 investors demanding that Amazon drop its Rekognition system and exit the surveillance business. While the two sides have somewhat different motivations, they share one thing in common: a concern for privacy.
Congress wants answers from Amazon on facial-recognition technology
Amazon's controversial face-recognition technology is being tested and used by the Orlando police department, and apparently Congress isn't happy about that. Two members of the House of Representatives, Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), have sent Jeff Bezos a letter demanding he explain exactly how the tech, called Rekognition, is being used by law enforcement.
Orlando confirms it's testing Amazon's facial recognition in public
After the ACLU discovered that Orlando's cops are using Amazon's controversial Rekognition facial detection system, police chief John Mina said they're only testing the software at their headquarters. Now, Mina has admitted at a news conference that three of the city's IRIS cameras downtown are also equipped with the software. He insisted that despite Rekognition's presence in public cameras, it can still only track the seven officers who volunteered to test the system. Mina admitted that they could use the software to track persons of interest in the future, but they're "a long way from that."
Amazon is selling facial recognition tech to law enforcement
If you're nervous about the privacy implications of Amazon's camera technology, there might be a good reason for it. The ACLU and a coalition of civil rights groups are calling on Amazon chief Jeff Bezos to stop offering Rekognition facial detection system to government customers after learning that the company is actively helping law enforcement implement the potentially invasive technology. Police in multiple regions have partnered with Amazon on surveillance projects, including an Orlando proof-of-concept that lets Amazon search for "people of interest" through city cameras as well a Washington County, Oregon initiative that lets officers scan people to see if they turn up in a mugshot database.
