Facial recognition can be fantastic when it’s built into a smartphone to unlock it or validate purchases. However, she worries when used by the police. In 2018, a report revealed the existence of a secret partnership between Amazon and the American police services. The Seattle firm provided a service called Rekognition that helped police recognize someone by their face. This story quickly became controversial and Amazon had no choice but to interrupt this confidential agreement.
They extend the ban. We cannot repeat it enough, but how effective it is when a company is caught with its hand in the bag doing things that are not very moral! Each time, the reaction is the same, to prevent her image from being degraded by the media and social networks, she will undoubtedly make the right decision to end the controversy. This is exactly what happened with Amazon when a report revealed that the company was collaborating with US law enforcement to provide facial recognition service! This information made the headlines of all the media and Amazon quickly reversed its decision by removing access from Rekognition.to the American police. Originally, Amazon had planned to end the collaboration for a year, then after this ban, everything would come back as before. Finally, the Seattle firm has changed its position, access to Rekognition by the police is suspended “until further notice”, a way for Amazon to definitively calm the revolt around this tool.
The deputy director of the American Union for Civil Liberties in the United States, Nathan Wessler, said:
We’re pleased that Amazon is extending its moratorium on law enforcement’s use of the company’s facial recognition technology. Now, the Biden administration and lawmakers across the country must further protect communities from the dangers of this technology by ending its use by law enforcement, regardless of which company sells it.
All over the world, facial recognition worries people who see it as surveillance and a lack of respect for privacy. The major source of concern is obviously in connection with China. Their facial recognition is omnipresent, whether in the street, in supermarkets or in private places. We can quickly see the excesses when a government imposes this technology on its population, especially since according to a study conducted by Beijing News, 87.46% of Chinese respondents are against facial recognition!
