Privacy Expert Slams Amazon’s Facial Recognition ‘Pause’

Amazon has come under fire from privacy groups after saying it will only pause police use of its controversial facial recognition software for a year.

The tech giant said in a statement that it wants to give lawmakers time to improve regulation of the industry.

“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,” it said. “We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.”

Launched in 2016, Amazon’s Rekognition software has, like many similar products, been accused of racial bias. A 2019 MIT study on this even led to a shareholder vote on whether the company should stop selling the product to governments. However, only 2.4% of shareholders voted in favor.

“Automated systems are not inherently neutral. They reflect the priorities, preferences and prejudices – the coded gaze – of those who have the power to mold artificial intelligence,” that study concluded.

“We risk losing the gains made with the civil rights movement and women’s movement under the false assumption of machine neutrality. We must demand increased transparency and accountability.”

Amazon’s decision comes in the wake of civil unrest in the US over the death of George Floyd in police custody.

However, it came in contrast to IBM, which earlier this week a ..

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