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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Wednesday 23 May 2018
Amazon urged not to sell facial recognition tool to police

By GENE JOHNSON in body camera videos. increasing public safety.”
Associated Press Amazon released Rekogni- Orlando has a network of
SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon’s tion in late 2016, and the public safety cameras, and
decision to market a pow- sheriff’s office in Washing- in a presentation posted to
erful face recognition tool ton County, west of Port- YouTube this month , Ranju
to police is alarming priva- land, became one of its first Das, who leads Amazon
cy advocates, who say the law enforcement agency Rekognition, said the com-
tech giant’s reach could customers. pany would receive feeds
vastly accelerate a dysto- A year later, deputies were from the cameras, search
pian future in which cam- using it about 20 times a them against photos of
era-equipped officers can day — for example, to people being sought by
identify and track people in identify burglary suspects in law enforcement and no-
real time, whether they’re store surveillance footage. tify police of any hits.
involved in crimes or not. Last month, the agency ad- “It’s about recognizing
It’s not clear how many opted policies governing its people, it’s about track-
law enforcement agencies use, noting that officers in ing people, and then it’s
have purchased the tool, This Sept. 6, 2012, file photo, shows the Amazon logo. the field can use real-time about doing this in real
called Rekognition, since its Associated Press face recognition to identify time, so that the law en-
launch in late 2016 or since That could have potentially last weekend. suspects who are unwilling forcement officers ... can
its update last fall, when dire consequences for mi- Amazon’s technology isn’t or unable to provide their be then alerted in real time
Amazon added capabili- norities who are already ar- that different from what own ID, or if someone’s life to events that are happen-
ties that allow it to identify rested at disproportionate face recognition compa- is in danger. ing,” he said.
people in videos and follow rates, immigrants who may nies are already selling to “We are not mass-collect- The Orlando Police Depart-
their movements almost in- be in the country illegally law enforcement agen- ing. We are not putting a ment said in an email that it
stantly. or political protesters, they cies. camera out on a street “is not using the technology
The Washington County said. But its vast reach and its in- corner,” said Deputy Jeff in an investigative capac-
Sheriff’s Office in Oregon “People should be free to terest in recruiting more po- Talbot, a spokesman for ity or in any public spaces
has used it to quickly com- walk down the street with- lice departments — at ex- the sheriff’s office. “We at this time.”
pare unidentified suspects out being watched by the tremely low cost — are trou- want our local community The testing has been lim-
in surveillance images to government,” the groups bling, said Clare Garvie, an to be aware of what we’re ited to eight city-owned
a database of more than wrote in a letter to Amazon associate at the Center on doing, how we’re using it cameras and a handful of
300,000 booking photos on Tuesday. “Facial rec- Privacy and Technology at to solve crimes — what it officers who volunteered to
from the county jail — a ognition in American com- Georgetown University Law is and, just as importantly, have their images used to
common use of such tech- munities threatens this free- Center. what it is not.” see if the technology works,
nology around the country dom.” “This raises very real ques- It cost the sheriff’s office Sgt. Eduardo Bernal wrote
— while the Orlando Po- In an emailed statement, tions about the ability to re- just $400 to load 305,000 in an email Tuesday.
lice Department in Florida Amazon Web Services main anonymous in public booking photos — which “As this is a pilot and not
is testing whether it can be stressed that it requires all spaces,” Garvie said. are already public records being actively used by
used to single out persons- of its customers to comply While police might be able — into the system and $6 a OPD as a surveillance tool,
of-interest in public spaces with the law and to be re- to videotape public dem- month in fees to continue there is no policy or proce-
and alert officers to their sponsible in the use of its onstrations, face recogni- the service, according to dure regarding its use as it is
presence. products. tion is not merely an exten- an email obtained by the not deployed in that man-
The American Civil Liber- The statement said some sion of photography but a ACLU under a public re- ner,” Bernal wrote.
ties Union and other pri- agencies have used the biometric measurement — cords request. The privacy advocates’
vacy advocates on Tues- program to find abducted more akin to police walking Last year, the Orlando, letter to Amazon followed
day asked Amazon to stop people, and amusement through a demonstration Florida, Police Department public records requests
marketing Rekognition to parks have used it to find and demanding identifica- announced it would begin from ACLU chapters in Cali-
government agencies, lost children. British broad- tion from everyone there, a pilot program relying on fornia, Oregon and Florida.
saying they could use the caster Sky News used Rek- she said. Amazon’s technology to More than two dozen orga-
technology to “easily build ognition to help viewers Some police departments, “use existing city resources nizations signed it, includ-
a system to automate the identify celebrities at the including Seattle, have to provide real-time de- ing the Electronic Frontier
identification and tracking royal wedding of Prince policies that bar the use of tection and notification of Foundation and Human
of anyone.” Harry and Meghan Markle real-time facial recognition persons-of-interest, further Rights Watch.q