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An image of a presentation by Ranju Das of Amazon shows a facial recognition demonstration and real-time tracking. Das said the video came from a traffic camera in Orlando, where the police were in a pilot program of Rekognition's Amazon service.
Amazon Web Services Korea via YouTube / Screen Capture by NPR
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Amazon Web Services Korea via YouTube / Screen Capture by NPR
An image of a presentation by Ranju Das of Amazon shows a facial recognition demonstration and real-time tracking. Das said the video came from a traffic camera in Orlando, where the police were in a pilot program of Rekognition's Amazon service.
Amazon Web Services Korea via YouTube / Screen Capture by NPR
The city of Orlando, Florida, says that it has ended a pilot program in which its police is using real-time facial recognition from Amazon – a system called "Rekognition" that has triggered complaints from groups of rights and privacy. year.
The Orlando contract to open some of its camera systems to Amazon was reported by NPR's Martin Kaste in May, after the ACLU noticed that an Amazon Rekognition executive mentioned the city as a customer.
On Monday, the Florida ACLU wrote a letter to Mayor Dyer and Orlando City Council, demanding that the city "immediately" close "any face surveillance or agency use deployment. of the city and the departments ".
On the same day, the authorities of the city of Orlando and the police issued a joint statement saying that the test of how its officers could use the Rekognition technology ended last week.
The city added: "The staff continues to discuss and evaluate whether it should recommend the continuation of the pilot project at a later date," adding that "the contract with Amazon has expired".
It is believed that Orlando is the first police force in the United States to try a real-time face recognition system; Other agencies have mainly used the software to sift crime scene images and compare the faces of these people to photos taken in photographs.
The Orlando police said the test was limited to only a portion of the city's cameras, and that during the pilot, the department tested the system by following its own agents.
Rekognition's deal with Orlando caused a sensation – and this prompted Amazon to clarify the level of engagement, after one of its executives described Orlando's pilot program in a speech. pronounced in South Korea early May.
Specifically, the company said that Ranju Das, who heads the Rekognition unit, had exaggerated the current use and capacity of the system in Orlando when he said:
"City of Orlando is our launch partner, it's a smart city, it has cameras all over the city, the authorized cameras broadcast the data … we subscribe to the feed, we analyze the video in real time , search against the collection of faces that they have. "
Police could use the system, said Das, to follow "people of interest," citing the case of people attending high-profile public events.
Amazon said that "the Orlando police could use real-time facial analysis in public spaces without notice or debate," said Amazon, "it's not correct that". they have installed cameras all over the city or that they use in production. The company is also excused for any confusion or misunderstanding about the use of the system.
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Here's how the Orlando Police Department describes the pilot program, in an email sent to NPR on Tuesday:
"There are eight video streams (from City-owned cameras) that Amazon would have access to through the pilot program, and it also includes pictures of the faces of seven OPD officers who volunteered to use their cameras. images in the driver.
In his letter attacking the Rekognition program, the ACLU wrote: "These systems allow the locating of mass of residents without criminal suspicion, the product of Amazon is ready for such abuse."
As reported by the WMFE member station, "the ACLU has asked the city council to pass a resolution or an order terminating the program".
The letter followed a similar complaint last week when 10 community groups based in Orlando joined the Arab-American Institute to ask Chief John Mina to close the Amazon program.
In this letter, the groups said: "The context of increased ice raids, FBI targeting of Black Lives Matter activists, securing communities through initiatives to counter violent extremism, disparities racial in police use The ban has led to increased levels of distrust both within our community and across the country. "
According to the letter, five Rekognition cameras were at police headquarters and three others in downtown Orlando, whose signatories were going to immigration advocates at the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association. and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The use of the facial recognition system, writes the groups, would probably increase suspicion and reduce freedoms.
As reported by NPR in May, "there are no laws explicitly prohibiting law enforcement from using facial recognition in real time, and constitutionality does not exist. has not been tested by the higher courts ".
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