Amazon pauses police use of its facial recognition tech

Amazon on Wednesday announced that it is placing a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial recognition technology, Rekognition.

“We’ve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge,” the company wrote in a blog post.

“We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.”

Amazon said it will still allow organizations to use Rekognition for work tracking human trafficking victims and finding missing children.

The company’s decision to block police use of its facial recognition comes amid concern from activists and civil rights groups that law enforcement may be using the technology to identify individuals participating in the anti-police brutality demonstrations that have erupted across the nation since the death of George Floyd.

It also comes on the heels of IBM ending its own facial recognition business.