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Article

4 Apr 2019

Author:
Open MIC

A win for shareholders in effort to halt sales of Amazon's allegedly racially biased surveillance technology

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"A win for shareholders in effort to halt sales of Amazon's racially biased surveillance technology," 

[T]he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled late yesterday that Amazon must give shareholders an opportunity to consider and vote on two separate shareholder resolutions that address major business risks posed by the sale of Amazon's facial recognition technology to government agencies. The SEC’s ruling comes amidst mounting criticism of the Amazon technology, “Rekognition,” as racially biased... The two shareholder resolutions, which were filed with Amazon in December, focus on the business risks to the company from sales of Rekognition. One resolution asks Amazon to halt sales of Rekognition to government unless the board “concludes the technology does not pose actual or potential civil and human rights risk;” the other resolution requests the board commission an independent study of Rekognition regarding the extent to which the technology may “endanger, threaten, or violate” privacy or civil rights. The SEC’s decision means the shareholder resolutions will be voted on at the Company’s annual meeting... The shareholder resolution echoes concerns of over 70 civil rights and civil liberties groups, hundreds of Amazon’s own employees, and 150,000 people who signed a petition — all seeking to end sales of Rekognition to government agencies.

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Shareholders & civil society groups urge Amazon to halt sale of facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies

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