Amazon Halts Police's Use Of Facial Recognition Software: Reuters

  • Amazon.com Inc AMZN indefinitely extended the halt since June 2020 on the police use of its facial recognition software, Reuters reports.
  • The nationwide backlash against police brutality towards non-Whites intensified by the murder of African-American George Floyd by a white policeman led to the initial halt.
  • Civil liberties advocates, including Nathan Freed Wessler, a deputy project director at the American Civil Liberties Union, have warned against unwarranted arrests, loss of privacy, and freedom of expression from wrong face matches by law enforcement.
  • Customers still have access to Amazon’s face-matching service Rekognition for the detection of human trafficking victims.
  • Critics reported against Rekognition’s sex determination inability for darker skin tone individuals. However, Amazon refuted the allegations.
  • Microsoft Corp MSFT is waiting for regulatory approval to sell its face recognition software to the police.
  • Pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp RAD reportedly aborted the software usage at its stores.
  • Price action: AMZN shares traded lower by 0.50% at $3,216.23 on the last check Wednesday.
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