Congress wants answers in two weeks
In context: US lawmakers have issued another letter to Amazon CEO Jeff
Bezos demanding details on the company’s facial recognition software
called “Rekognition.” This is the third attempt by Congress to get
sufficient answers regarding the program and its sale to law enforcement
agencies.
Rekognition came under scrutiny when it was reported that it
misidentified 28 Congressmen as criminals back in July. It is worth
mentioning that the ACLU performed the test and did not publish its
methodology. However, those on Capitol Hill took note and immediately
drafted two letters — one from the House of Representatives and one from
the Senate.
Both letters asked Amazon for more information regarding the facial
recognition software. While Amazon did respond to the inquiries,
Congress was apparently not satisfied with some of its answers.
On Thursday, Senator Ed Markey and Representatives Luis Gutiérrez, Jimmy
Gomez, Jan Schakowsky, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Judy Chu, and John
Lewis penned a third letter to Bezos reiterating questions that they
felt were being avoided.
"Regrettably, despite asking you a series of questions on this subject
and requesting specific information in letters sent to you on July 26,
2018 and July 27, 2018, your company has failed to provide sufficient
answers."
Specifically, the lawmakers want to know if Amazon has conducted any
bias assessments of the software and the results of those tests. They
seek to learn whether the system seems to give more positive results
based on race, gender, ethnicity, or age.
Congress is also concerned if the system is collecting and storing
biometric information. It asks if Rekognition has any built-in
algorithms that automatically delete unused bio-data.
They would like Amazon to account for any audits that it may perform to
ensure that the software is not being misused by law enforcement. The
representatives are particularly concerned about whether it is being
used in violation of citizens civil rights. In other words, is it being
used in violation of the Fourth Amendment?
Finally, the lawmakers ask if Rekognition is currently being integrated
into LEO body cams or other “continual, real-time, public-facing”
surveillance measures and if so, what agencies are performing such
monitoring. Again, this could violate citizens Fourth Amendment
protections.
Congress requests Amazon responds by December 13 giving Bezo two weeks to draft a reply.
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