Amazon shareholders reject proposal to limit sales of AWS face recognition software

[Bubbajim]

In brief: Amazon has been at the center of the debate around facial recognition technology and its implementation by law enforcement. Shareholders won the right to vote on whether or not to ban sales pending an independent inquiry, but in the end only 2% voted for the motion.

In April we reported that shareholders had won the right to challenge Amazon’s sales of facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies, following two rulings by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That vote has now taken place, and despite it being such a hot topic, a mere 2% of shareholders voted for the ban.

The technology called ‘Rekognition’ had garnered attention as critics say that it – as well as others’ implementations of facial scanning infrastructure – hasn’t been properly appraised in light of concerns around privacy and civil liberties. The proposed ban was not to halt sales entirely, but instead to limit contracts with police and other government agencies until a full and independent inquiry had assessed the potential risks.

Amazon maintains that Rekognition helps keep the public safe, but other implementations across the world have not been demonstrated to be fully trustworthy.

In the UK, technology implemented by the Metropolitan Police wrongly identified innocent people as suspects 96% of the time in one test. Whether or not you believe that a 4% success rate is enough to justify the potential privacy invasion of the other 96% of people, that amount of false positives clearly show the system is not working in that instance.

In the U.S., states like California are already taking their first steps towards banning facial recognition, with a bill currently making its way through the state Assembly.

Then of course there is China, perhaps the biggest user and most malicious actor within the sector. China has infamously implemented systems which add a ‘social scoring’ element, and attempts to disincentivize non-criminal ‘bad bahavior’ through punishments like public transport bans.

For now though, given the overwhelming failure of the vote, Amazon will continue to sell the technology to whomever is willing to pay.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/80232-amazon-shareholders-reject-proposal-limit-sales-aws-face.html

 

[Morris Minor]

I'm sick of quotes of orwell but this is getting silly

 

[Danny101]

It would be interesting to know who these investors are. I suspect, not the general public.

 

[Uncle Al]

The bottom line is that this should not rely upon stock holders but should be a directive by the FCC. We have seen far too many abuses by law enforcement over the years that have allowed guilty officers to get away with murder. Are we now expected to "accept" when an officer guns down an innocent because "the facial recognition software said she was criminal"? We forget that these police officers are purportedly the trained professionals and should be given consideration but in far too many police departments those officers are given 140 hours of firearms training and a mere 2 hours of social interdiction to "talk down" the suspects.
Tools are a good thing and over the past two decades police have been provided many, many useful tools that would prevent wrongful shootings. Police are no longer trained that their firearm is used "at last resort". Police Departments are fighting Citizen Review Boards, probably because they don't want to be judged by those they are policing.
The old maxim of "Protect & Serve" has been replaced with "shoot em down first, sort em out later".
Giving one more tool that will be subject to gross abuse simply isn't helpful ... unless your the one that's making bucks from it's use, regardless of how it's used and/or misused.

 

[toooooot]

The bottom line is that this should not rely upon stock holders but should be a directive by the FCC. We have seen far too many abuses by law enforcement over the years that have allowed guilty officers to get away with murder. Are we now expected to "accept" when an officer guns down an innocent because "the facial recognition software said she was criminal"? We forget that these police officers are purportedly the trained professionals and should be given consideration but in far too many police departments those officers are given 140 hours of firearms training and a mere 2 hours of social interdiction to "talk down" the suspects.
Tools are a good thing and over the past two decades police have been provided many, many useful tools that would prevent wrongful shootings. Police are no longer trained that their firearm is used "at last resort". Police Departments are fighting Citizen Review Boards, probably because they don't want to be judged by those they are policing.
The old maxim of "Protect & Serve" has been replaced with "shoot em down first, sort em out later".
Giving one more tool that will be subject to gross abuse simply isn't helpful ... unless your the one that's making bucks from it's use, regardless of how it's used and/or misused.

How can we trust FCC with a watermelon head who would gladly sell his mother wife and even children given the price is right? FCC will always chose money instead of people's interests .

 

[Mr Majestyk]

The bottom line is that this should not rely upon stock holders but should be a directive by the FCC. We have seen far too many abuses by law enforcement over the years that have allowed guilty officers to get away with murder. Are we now expected to "accept" when an officer guns down an innocent because "the facial recognition software said she was criminal"? We forget that these police officers are purportedly the trained professionals and should be given consideration but in far too many police departments those officers are given 140 hours of firearms training and a mere 2 hours of social interdiction to "talk down" the suspects.
Tools are a good thing and over the past two decades police have been provided many, many useful tools that would prevent wrongful shootings. Police are no longer trained that their firearm is used "at last resort". Police Departments are fighting Citizen Review Boards, probably because they don't want to be judged by those they are policing.
The old maxim of "Protect & Serve" has been replaced with "shoot em down first, sort em out later".
Giving one more tool that will be subject to gross abuse simply isn't helpful ... unless your the one that's making bucks from it's use, regardless of how it's used and/or misused.

How can we trust FCC with a watermelon head who would gladly sell his mother wife and even children given the price is right? FCC will always chose money instead of people's interests .

Ajit or as I like to call him Dipshit is former Verizon laywer and Trump really had to dig deep into the crap at the bottom of the swamp to find this scumbag.

 

[Impudicus]

This is when we start seeing everyone wear masks when out in public.

 

[gollum21]

This is when we start seeing everyone wear masks when out in public.

I'll be wearing the Guy Fawkes mask haha