SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A live demonstration uses artificial intelligence and facial recognition in dense crowd spatial-temporal technology at the Horizon Robotics exhibit at the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2019 in Las Vegas on January 10, 2019. (Photo: David McNew/AFP/Getty Images)
'Your Turn, Amazon and Microsoft': Civil Liberties Advocates Applaud IBM Decision to Ditch Facial Recognition
"This huge IBM move will force other large tech companies to take a stand, even if their silence is their statement."
Jun 09, 2020
Tech giant IBM is getting out of the facial recognition software business, the company's CEO announced Monday in a letter to Congress calling on lawmakers to develop polices to address racial injustice and inequity, leading rights advocates to call on other companies in the field to walk away from the technology.
"This huge IBM move will force other large tech companies to take a stand, even if their silence is their statement," tweeted Wired writer Jessi Hempel.
\u201cThis huge #IBM move will force other large tech companies to take a stand, even if their silence is their statement.\u201d— Jessi Hempel (@Jessi Hempel) 1591700993
The company's CEO, Arvind Krishna, declared in his letter to Congress that IBM was stepping away from facial recognition due to the technology's racial and gender biases as well as other concerns about mass surveillance and its use by law enforcement.
"IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values," said Krishna.
As CNBC reported:
IBM decided to shut down its facial recognition products and announce its decision as the death of George Floyd brought the topic of police reform and racial inequity into the forefront of the national conversation, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC. It follows testimony from Joy Buolamwini, founder of Algorithmic Justice League, before Congress last year, about her research for MIT into the bias she found in facial recognition software.
The ACLU welcomed the decision and urged IBM's competitors to do the same.
\u201cYour turn, @Amazon and @Microsoft.\u201d— ACLU (@ACLU) 1591666622
Krishna's letter also expressed support for the Justice in Policing Act, a legislative package introduced by congressional Democrats on Monday..
In a statement, ACLU senior legislative counsel Kanya Bennett urged lawmakers to avoid investing in surveillance infrastructure as they look to address policing issues around the country.
"We need to invest in technologies that can help eliminate the digital divide," said Bennett, "not technologies that create a surveillance infrastructure that exacerbates policing abuses and structural racism."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Tech giant IBM is getting out of the facial recognition software business, the company's CEO announced Monday in a letter to Congress calling on lawmakers to develop polices to address racial injustice and inequity, leading rights advocates to call on other companies in the field to walk away from the technology.
"This huge IBM move will force other large tech companies to take a stand, even if their silence is their statement," tweeted Wired writer Jessi Hempel.
\u201cThis huge #IBM move will force other large tech companies to take a stand, even if their silence is their statement.\u201d— Jessi Hempel (@Jessi Hempel) 1591700993
The company's CEO, Arvind Krishna, declared in his letter to Congress that IBM was stepping away from facial recognition due to the technology's racial and gender biases as well as other concerns about mass surveillance and its use by law enforcement.
"IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values," said Krishna.
As CNBC reported:
IBM decided to shut down its facial recognition products and announce its decision as the death of George Floyd brought the topic of police reform and racial inequity into the forefront of the national conversation, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC. It follows testimony from Joy Buolamwini, founder of Algorithmic Justice League, before Congress last year, about her research for MIT into the bias she found in facial recognition software.
The ACLU welcomed the decision and urged IBM's competitors to do the same.
\u201cYour turn, @Amazon and @Microsoft.\u201d— ACLU (@ACLU) 1591666622
Krishna's letter also expressed support for the Justice in Policing Act, a legislative package introduced by congressional Democrats on Monday..
In a statement, ACLU senior legislative counsel Kanya Bennett urged lawmakers to avoid investing in surveillance infrastructure as they look to address policing issues around the country.
"We need to invest in technologies that can help eliminate the digital divide," said Bennett, "not technologies that create a surveillance infrastructure that exacerbates policing abuses and structural racism."
Tech giant IBM is getting out of the facial recognition software business, the company's CEO announced Monday in a letter to Congress calling on lawmakers to develop polices to address racial injustice and inequity, leading rights advocates to call on other companies in the field to walk away from the technology.
"This huge IBM move will force other large tech companies to take a stand, even if their silence is their statement," tweeted Wired writer Jessi Hempel.
\u201cThis huge #IBM move will force other large tech companies to take a stand, even if their silence is their statement.\u201d— Jessi Hempel (@Jessi Hempel) 1591700993
The company's CEO, Arvind Krishna, declared in his letter to Congress that IBM was stepping away from facial recognition due to the technology's racial and gender biases as well as other concerns about mass surveillance and its use by law enforcement.
"IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values," said Krishna.
As CNBC reported:
IBM decided to shut down its facial recognition products and announce its decision as the death of George Floyd brought the topic of police reform and racial inequity into the forefront of the national conversation, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC. It follows testimony from Joy Buolamwini, founder of Algorithmic Justice League, before Congress last year, about her research for MIT into the bias she found in facial recognition software.
The ACLU welcomed the decision and urged IBM's competitors to do the same.
\u201cYour turn, @Amazon and @Microsoft.\u201d— ACLU (@ACLU) 1591666622
Krishna's letter also expressed support for the Justice in Policing Act, a legislative package introduced by congressional Democrats on Monday..
In a statement, ACLU senior legislative counsel Kanya Bennett urged lawmakers to avoid investing in surveillance infrastructure as they look to address policing issues around the country.
"We need to invest in technologies that can help eliminate the digital divide," said Bennett, "not technologies that create a surveillance infrastructure that exacerbates policing abuses and structural racism."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.