Amazon was fired by the
protestors when they charged the company of hypocrisy. The multi-billion dollar
company had recently released a statement supporting the #BlackLivesMatter
movement. It has also condemned police brutality and the cold-hearted murder of
George Floyd.

However, corporate
had forgotten that it had somewhat aided the police enforcement by providing it
with the controversial facial recognition technology. Hence, on Wednesday, the
company announced that it would be suspending police use of its infamous technology
for the upcoming year.

Amazon Web Services has
sold its controversial tech device to police departments across the country.
Research has shown that this device is biased towards black and people of
color. It’s no news that black people are more likely to be stopped, searched
and killed by police officers.

Source: Vox 

In 2019, A study led by
MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini also revealed that this device had
trouble identifying female faces, especially the women of darker tones.

However, Amazon has
decided to continue its allowance to organizations like Thorn, the
International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics
as a means to help human-trafficking victims and minors.

“We
hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement
appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.”
– revealed one of Amazon’s blog posts.

ACLU and MediaJustice
were amongst the first few agencies that raised their voice against Amazon for
selling Rekognition (the device) to the law enforcement. On Tuesday, a police officer had pinned down a black Amazon worker for simply parking the wrong way
in Warren.

Amazon has asked the
government to intervene and ensure that the device is used justly.