Tech

Amazon extends moratorium on police use of facial recognition software

Published

3 years ago

May 19, 2021

Nearly one year ago, Amazon banned the use of its facial recognition software, Rekognition, from being used by US police departments, and now it seems like that ban is set to continue indefinitely.

The initial decision came after nationwide protests against police violence in the US, following the death of George Floyd.

It is unclear how many police departments use facial recognition technology to track down potential suspects or persons of interest.

Nathan Freed Wessler, a deputy project director at the American Civil Liberties Union, expressed support for Amazon’s move and called on federal and state governments to ban law enforcement’s use of the software.

“Face recognition technology fuels the over-policing of Black and Brown communities, and has already led to the false arrests and wrongful incarcerations of multiple Black men,”

Critics have noted research born out of a project called Gender Shades, which showed Rekognition struggled to determine the sex of individuals with darker skin tones. Amazon has contested this.

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp has also suspended the technology at its stores.

News

Boeing’s bad luck continues following Starliner malfunction

Published

13 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Nathan Langridge

Long-awaited first crewed test flight of the new Starliner space capsule was called off over a technical issue that launch teams could not resolve in time.

Originally scheduled for liftoff from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, the mission aimed to demonstrate Starliner’s capabilities and certify it for regular crewed flights to the ISS, as reported by Reuters.

News

Will Tesla’s supercharger layoffs eventually payoff?

Published

2 days ago

May 6, 2024

Nathan Langridge

Tesla CEO Elon Musk dissolves supercharging team, leaving customers stranded.

Elon Musk’s decision to disband Tesla’s electric vehicle charging team has left customers concerned about the future of the company’s charging infrastructure.

The move comes as a surprise to many, considering Tesla’s commitment to expanding its charging network to support its growing fleet of EVs #featured