PremiumThe tech giant had announced in June last year that it was implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of its technology, saying the pause could give Congress time to enact safeguards against misuse of facial recognition
Amazon said on Tuesday that it is extending its ban on the use of its face-recognition technology by police, amid persistent concerns of bias.
The tech giant had announced in June last year that it was implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of its technology, saying the pause could give Congress time to enact safeguards against misuse of facial recognition.
The company has now confirmed an extension of that ban "until further notice" without elaborating.
Amazon and other technology companies have been under pressure from civil rights activists and their own workers to halt the sale of face-recognition systems to law enforcement agencies.
One concern is that the technology can incorrectly identify people with darker skin.
Activists have targeted Amazon Web Services cloud-computing unit's "Rekognition" facial recognition technology and Ring surveillance cameras used for home security. It was not clear the degree to which police have used the systems.
Amazon has pushed back again bias claims and touted its technology's accuracy.
At least seven states already have enacted restrictions limiting government use of the technology and several other states, cities and regional governments are debating similar proposals. One of the latest to consider a ban is the governing council of King County, Washington, which encompasses Seattle, where Amazon is based.
Amazon's pause of the police use of its facial-recognition technology came at a time of nationwide protests and a renewed focus on racial injustice in the US after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee against his neck.
Microsoft and IBM also paused sales of their software to police around the same time last year, though most police departments look to lesser-known firms for technology.
Last week, a coalition of activist groups called for Amazon to permanently stop selling its Rekognition system and on Tuesday said the company should commit to scrapping the system.
"Facial recognition technology is too dangerous for it to be implemented at the whims of corporations like Amazon," said Evan Greer of the activist group Fight for the Future, one of the groups in the coalition.
Amazon didn't say on Tuesday why its ban was extended or how long it would last.
The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday applauded Amazon for extending its moratorium. But it added that “the Biden administration and legislatures across the country must further protect communities from the dangers of this technology by ending its use by law enforcement entirely, regardless which company is selling it."
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