Amazon to Pitch Own Facial Recognition Laws to Lawmakers

According to CEO Jeff Bezos, Amazon is writing its own facial recognition laws with the hope that federal lawmakers will adopt it.

Amazon’s controversial facial recognition tech, Rekognition has endured criticisms in recent times. Back in February, the company released a guideline which suggests how the facial recognition technology should be used.

But, it didn’t occur as Amazon had planned. Within months of publishing the guidelines, reports surfaced that law enforcement agencies were misusing the tech.

Now, the retail giant is taking another step.

On Wednesday, Bezos told reporters at Amazon’s annual Alexa Gadget Event in Seattle that the company would develop new facial recognition laws. Also, it would share the new regulations with lawmakers and hoped they would enact it.

In response to a reporter’s question, Bezos said:

“Our public policy team is actually working on facial recognition regulations; it makes a lot of sense to regulate that.”

The idea is simple.

Amazon would write its draft of what it thinks federal regulation on the technology should look. Then, it would pitch to lawmakers, with the hope that they would adopt as much of the draft as possible.

Why is Amazon Pushing For Facial Recognition Laws?

Amazon’s Rekognition allows users to match photos and videos of people with a database in realtime. As expected, the powerful technology has raised a lot of concerns.

Civil liberties group and AI experts suggested that Rekognition could lead to false matches, which could lead to false arrests.

For example, during a test, Amazon’s facial recognition tech incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress with mugshots of people that have committed crimes.

The regulation could be Amazon’s attempt at relieving the public fear. It’s a way to reassure people about innovative technologies whose downside also terrifies the public.

In a statement about facial recognition technology, Jeff Bezos said:

“It’s a perfect example of something that has really positive uses, so you don’t want to put the brakes on it. But, at the same time, there’s also potential for abuses of that kind of technology, so you do want regulations. It’s a classic dual-use kind of technology.”