The moratorium arrives as academics, civil rights advocates and the company’s own employees have all expressed concerns Amazon’s facial recognition technology will lead to policing abuses.
(Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
As calls for police reform simmer in the US, Amazon is going to stop offering its controversial facial recognition technology for “police use” for one year.
“We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested,” Amazon said in the announcement, which is pretty light on details.
The company made no mention of when the moratorium will begin, or how it’ll be enforced. Amazon has only said its facial recognition technology will remain available to organizations like Thorn, The International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics, which are all devoted to protecting children from abuse, and stopping human trafficking.
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A company spokesperson declined to elaborate on today’s announcement, which doesn’t clearly spell out if the moratorium applies to federal law enforcement. In 2018, The Daily Beast reported that Amazon was trying to sell the technology to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
