Amazon Shareholders Ask Company Not to Sell Facial Recognition Software to Government

Government Technology: A coalition of nearly 20 groups of Amazon shareholders have joined together to send a message to CEO Jeff Bezos: Stop selling Rekognition software to police.

In the letter, the shareholders express their concerns about how the software can be used. Right now, users can use the software to detect objects and faces in images and videos and upload a face to automatically identify individuals. In the letter, the shareholders wrote that, "We are concerned the technology would be used to unfairly and disproportionately target and surveil people of color, immigrants, and civil society organizations," and  "We are concerned sales may be expanded to foreign governments, including authoritarian regimes."

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