Amazon has announced that it will temporarily stop providing police forces its facial recognition technology for a year, amidst anti-racism protests.
E-commerce giant Amazon has decided to stop providing its facial recognition software to police temporarily for a year amid criticism about the firm's efforts in fighting systemic racism.
Amazon's decision
According to the company, it made the decision to implement a one-year moratorium on the use of Amazon Rekognition to give Congress time to "implement appropriate rules" for police use of facial recognition algorithms, which the US government has found are often more likely to misidentify people of color.
In a blog post, Amazon said: "We’ve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge."
"We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested," the company explained.
However, the company reiterated that it will continue to allow organizations to use the technology "to help rescue human trafficking victims and reunite missing children with their families."
These organizations include Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics.
Ring, a subsidiary of Amazon that manufactures home security and smart home technology, has partnered with over 1,300 law enforcement agencies across the country.
Access to Ring's technology granted many agencies far greater visibility into communities through the eyes of homeowners and their video surveillance cameras.
However, there seem to be few limitations on how the police can apply Amazon's Rekognition software to video footage obtained from Ring. In 2019, Ring admitted that its policies do not cover how police departments handle or store video evidence.
Support for greater regulation
Amazon has previously expressed its support for increased regulation regarding the use of facial recognition. It has also recently released a statement regarding its support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
In its website, the e-commerce company said "the inequitable and brutal treatment of Black and African Americans is unacceptable." Amazon chief executive officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos even posted on Instagram that he is "happy to lose" customers who oppose Black Lives Matter.
Amazon's announcement follows IBM's letter to US legislators saying it will stop providing biased facial recognition technology for "mass surveillance or racial profiling".
IBM wrote a letter to the US Congress, saying AI systems used in law enforcement needed to be tested “for bias”.
In the letter, IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna claimed that the "fight against racism is as urgent as ever", identifying three areas where the company wanted to work with Congress. These are police reform, responsible use of technology, and broadening skills and educational opportunities.
Krishna wrote: "IBM firmly opposes and will not condone the uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms."
"We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies," the IBM chief added.
