[ad_1]
The American Civil Liberties Union in Washington held a press conference outside the headquarters of the Amazon to urge Amazon to stop selling its face monitoring system, Rekognition, to the government. (Elaine Thompson / AP)
The Orlando Police Department said it would not immediately renew a pilot program with Amazon.com for controversial facial recognition technology, a decision that civil rights advocates have claimed as a victory.
Orlando had deployed software, known as Rekognition, in five cameras at police headquarters and three cameras in downtown for a six-month trial period.
"The city of Orlando is always looking for new solutions to strengthen our ability to ensure the safety of our residents and our visitors," said Monday the city of Orlando and the police department of Toronto. 39; Orlando. "Partnering with innovative companies to test new technologies, while respecting privacy laws and in no way violating the rights of others, is essential for us to ensure the safety of our community.
The existence of the pilot program was revealed last month, when the American Civil Liberties Union released documents detailing Amazon's sale of powerful facial recognition tools to several law enforcement agencies , including Orlando and Washington County, Ore. a coalition of civil rights groups, arguing that such tools will be used to disproportionately target vulnerable minority communities.
On Monday, the Florida ACLU Foundation and many civil society groups called on Orlando police chief, John Mina, to give up the use of facial recognition technology as a tool for the future. ;law application. In response, Orlando said the pilot program had expired last week. Orlando officials said that no decision had been made as to whether to continue the pilot project.
Amazon has not responded to requests for comments. (The CEO of Amazon Jeffrey P. Bezos owns the Washington Post.)
Matt Cagle, a technology and civil liberties attorney at the ACLU of California who co-wrote the survey report on Amazon, said that people in Orlando and across the country do not want the face monitoring technology used in their communities. "While the city of Orlando is doing well by not renewing its contract for Amazon's face surveillance technology, Orlando needs to listen to members of its community and publicly commit to not not use this dangerous technology. "
Brian Brackeen, director of Kairos, said on Monday that he would not sell his tools to law enforcement and that no one else should do it. Brackeen, who is black, said in a TechCrunch essay that facial recognition technology contains prejudices against people of color and can be used to dehumanize entire populations.
"In a social climate torn by protests and anguish around disproportionate prison populations and police misconduct, an engaging software that is clearly not ready for civilian use in the activities of the police." 39 Law enforcement does not serve citizens.Whether you believe that government surveillance is acceptable, the use of commercial face recognition in law enforcement is irresponsible and dangerous.
The Orlando announcement comes as employees of Google, Microsoft and Amazon have protested their companies' technology partnerships with government agencies. Last week, Amazon workers began broadcasting an internal e-mail calling Bezos to reduce the company's business ties with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to stop the sale of Facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies. "Our society should not be in the surveillance business, we should not be in the policing sector, we should not be helping people who are watching and oppressing marginalized populations," the email said.
Similar efforts have already sparked policy changes at Google. After a string of resignations and protests over an artificial intelligence contract with the Pentagon, company officials said the deal would not be renewed and that Google would ban the development of AI that can be used in weapons. The general manager of Microsoft has also been pushed to respond to internal critics about the company's deal with ICE. After the employees claimed the end of the $ 20 million contract, CEO Satya Nadella tried to reassure Microsoft workers that the company's business with ICE had nothing to do with politics separation of migrant children from the US border.
[ad_2]
Source link
