Rekognition

Amazon extends Rekognition police ban indefinitely as Congressional regulation stalls

| Importance: 7/10

On May 18, 2021, Amazon extended its global ban on police use of Rekognition facial recognition software indefinitely “until further notice,” prolonging what was originally announced as a one-year moratorium in June 2020. The extension came just weeks before the original moratorium was …

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Amazon announces one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition after George Floyd protests

| Importance: 7/10

On Wednesday, June 10, 2020, Amazon announced a one-year moratorium on police use of its Rekognition facial recognition software, shocking civil rights activists and researchers who had spent two years fighting to stop the company from selling surveillance technology to law enforcement. The …

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ACLU test reveals Amazon Rekognition misidentified 28 Congress members as criminals, showing racial bias

| Importance: 8/10

On July 26, 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released results of an independently verified test demonstrating that Amazon’s Rekognition facial recognition software incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress with mugshots from a database of arrest photos. The test, which cost …

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Amazon aggressively pitches Rekognition facial recognition to ICE during family separation crisis

| Importance: 9/10

In June 2018, at the height of the Trump administration’s family separation crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, Amazon Web Services officials met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representatives in Redwood City, California to pitch Rekognition facial recognition technology for …

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Amazon launches Rekognition facial recognition service, targeting law enforcement

| Importance: 8/10

Amazon Web Services announced the launch of Amazon Rekognition at its re:Invent developer conference in Las Vegas on November 30, 2016. The cloud-based facial recognition service marked Amazon’s entry into surveillance technology, offering image and video analysis capabilities including face …

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