Amazon to continue to sell facial recognition software to law enforcement

Amazon has come under fire of late for the licensing of its controversial Rekognition system, a powerful piece of facial recognition software, to government and law enforcement agencies, with the most recent development involving revelations that Amazon met with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the summer to strike a deal for Rekognition use. Now, Amazon employees are grilling the company’s leadership over the selling of such technology, especially when it could be used to track human beings and send them back into potentially dangerous environments overseas.

Amazon Web Services CEO Andrew Jassy told employees at an all-hands meeting that, “We feel really great and really strongly about the value that Amazon Rekognition is providing our customers of all sizes and all types of industries in law enforcement and out of law enforcement,” according to an Amazon employee who spoke with The Verge under the condition of anonymity and provided a partial transcript of the conversation. Gizmodo first reported on Jassy’s comments.

Read more at The Verge