Nuns and Other Amazon Investors Pressure Jeff Bezos Over Face Recognition
A group of investors representing over $1 billion in assets called for Amazon to halt government sales of face recognition
By Alex Pasternack
Amazon’s face recognition software is under fire from human rights groups, employees, and a growing number of its investors. In a shareholder resolution issued on Thursday, a group of investors is pushing the company to halt government sales of Amazon Web Services’ Rekognition, software that can identify faces and track bodies, citing potential civil and human rights risks.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) raised concerns of racial bias in Rekognition after conducting tests last year, and hundreds of Amazon employees questioned the sale of the software in a letter and during a staff meeting in November. Amazon has sold Rekognition to law enforcement agencies in at least two states, pitched the software to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is now testing it with the FBI, according to the investor letter. The company has so far resisted calls to cease its government sales, including another petition signed by the ACLU and dozens of human rights groups earlier this week.
