Amazon shareholders ask the company to suspend sales of controversial facial recognition...

[Polycount]

In context: If you've been tuning into Amazon-related news for the past several months, you probably know about "Rekognition." In short, it's Amazon's proprietary facial recognition technology, and it came under fire in 2018 after it was revealed that the retail giant had been selling the tech to law enforcement agencies throughout the US.

As a result of these findings, Amazon has already faced plenty of external criticism from lawmakers and the public. Both groups demand that Amazon stop selling Rekognition to law enforcement, or even shut the project down entirely.

However, it isn't just public critique that Amazon has been forced to deal with - internal pressure is mounting as well. In October, hundreds of anonymous Amazon employees reportedly signed a letter addressed to company CEO Jeff Bezos, which laid out their concerns about Rekognition.

While employee outrage doesn't seem to have affected Rekognition's sales in any way, a new proposal from Amazon's own shareholders just might. The proposal outlines concerns investors have with Rekognition's potential risks to the company's stock value, and the civil and human rights of American citizens.

To be clear, the proposal doesn't call for a complete shut-down of all things Rekognition. Instead, it requests that Amazon temporarily suspend sales of the technology until a civil rights investigation (performed independently) can take place.

If that investigation doesn't turn up anything concerning, shareholders are happy to let sales continue. If the opposite occurs, investors request that Amazon's board of directors "prohibit" Rekognition sales.

Only time will tell whether or not Amazon will take this proposal seriously, but given its source, it seems likely that it will be addressed it one way or another.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/78326-amazon-shareholders-ask-company-suspend-sales-controversial-facial.html

 

[brucek]

If law enforcement is buying facial recognition tech from Amazon, I don't see the point in making this problem about Amazon. Law enforcement would just end up shopping elsewhere, or rolling their own.

Why not address the concerns head on with legislation and administrative policy on how this kind of tech should and should not be used?

 

[toooooot]

I only ask that the giant tech companies that have best minds and ideas under their wing dont aid opressive dictatorships like that of Chins and not help to make it easier control and rule in the way that brings pain and suffering that tho... Who am I kidding, they would gladly do or already doing it given the price is good

 

[Bubbajim]

Why not address the concerns head on with legislation and administrative policy on how this kind of tech should and should not be used?

Because for some reason we live in an era where Missing The Point has become the hallmark of public life.

 

[captaincranky]

Because for some reason we live in an era where has become the hallmark of public life.

"Missing The Point", is likely a hallmark of inbreeding. Some scientists believe the entire human race may have been as few as 600 breeding pairs, at the end of the most recent ice age.

When you couple that with current socio-economic mating patterns, which essentially pair socially dependent and stupid, with socially defiant and stupid and uneducated, and inundate the offspring with commercial and information media propaganda, what else do you think you'd come up with, save for gullible, violent, and stupid?

(Perhaps with a heavy dose of lackadaisical thrown in to make the whole genetic disaster even worse).