Amazon imposes moratorium on police use of its facial recognition software

[Gagaloo911 12,959]

Amazon is implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of its artificial intelligence software Rekognition amid growing backlash over the tech company’s ties to policing.

The company has posted in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which advocates for police reform, but sells its facial recognition software to police forces. Amazon has not said how many police forces use the technology, or how it is used but Amazon marketing materials promoted Rekognition being used in conjunction with police body cameras in real time. 

When it was first released, Amazon’s Rekognition software was criticized by human rights groups as “a powerful surveillance system” that is available to “violate rights and target communities of color”. Advocacy groups also said the technology could disproportionately negatively impact non-white people.

An experiment run by the ACLU in 2018 showed Rekognition incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress to photos of people arrested for a crime. It disproportionately misidentified Congress members who are not white. 

Facial recognition software, like many forms of artificial intelligence, has a long history of racial bias. The field of artificial intelligence, which is overwhelmingly white and male, is frequently criticized for its lack of diversity.

In a statement on its blog Wednesday, Amazon said it will pull the use of its technology from police forces until there is stronger regulation around it. The move follows IBM putting a permanent end to its development of facial recognition technology. 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/10/amazon-rekognition-software-police-black-lives-matter

[Fatigay 21,209]

The fact that this exists in the first place...

F*ck Amazon

[GagaSine 7,464]

Wow amazing! Hopefully they keep their promise.

[PoetsTryinWrite 1,262]

Fascists. 

[CautiousLurker 19,709]

Cool, now stop treating your warehouse employees like trash