IBM will no longer offer, develop, or research facial recognition technology:
IBM will no longer offer general purpose facial recognition or analysis software, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a letter to Congress today. The company will also no longer develop or research the technology, IBM tells The Verge. Krishna addressed the letter to Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Reps. Karen Bass (D-CA), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).
"IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any [facial recognition] 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 and Principles of Trust and Transparency," Krishna said in the letter. "We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies."
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Senator fears Clearview AI facial recognition could be used on protesters:
Sen. Edward Markey has raised concerns that police and law enforcement agencies have access to controversial facial recognition app Clearview AI in cities where people are protesting the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died two weeks ago while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
[...] "As demonstrators across the country exercise their First Amendment rights by protesting racial injustice, it is important that law enforcement does not use technological tools to stifle free speech or endanger the public," Markey said in a letter to Clearview AI CEO and co-founder Hoan Ton-That.
The threat of surveillance could also deter people from "speaking out against injustice for fear of being permanently included in law enforcement databases," he said.
Markey, who has previously hammered Clearview AI over its sales to foreign governments, use by domestic law enforcement and use in the COVID-19 pandemic, is now asking the company for a list of law enforcement agencies that have signed new contracts since May 25, 2020.
It's also being asked if search traffic on its database has increased during the past two weeks; whether it considers a law enforcement agency's "history of unlawful or discriminatory policing practices" before selling the technology to them; what process it takes to give away free trials; and whether it will prohibit its technology from being used to identify peaceful protestors.
[...] Ton-That said he will respond to the letter from Markey. "Clearview AI's technology is intended only for after-the-crime investigations, and not as a surveillance tool relating to protests or under any other circumstances," he said in an emailed statement.
Previously:
Amazon announces one-year ban on police use of facial recognition tech
Amazon is instituting a one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition, its facial recognition software, the company announced on Wednesday.
"We've advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology," Amazon wrote in its blog post announcing the change. "Congress appears ready to take on this challenge. We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules."
Amazon says that groups like the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children will continue to have access to the technology.
Sounds like a job for Palantir.
Also at CNBC, Ars Technica, and (older) Amazon Says The Face Recognition Tech It Sells to Cops Can Now Detect 'Fear'.
Previously:
(2019-12-14) Palantir Wins New Pentagon Deal With $111 Million From the Army
IBM Will No Longer Offer, Develop, or Research Facial Recognition Technology
AWS Facial Recognition Platform Misidentified Over 100 Politicians As Criminals:
Comparitech's Paul Bischoff found that Amazon's facial recognition platform misidentified an alarming number of people, and was racially biased.
Facial recognition technology is still misidentifying people at an alarming rate – even as it's being used by police departments to make arrests. In fact, Paul Bischoff, consumer privacy expert with Comparitech, found that Amazon's face recognition platform incorrectly misidentified more than 100 photos of US and UK lawmakers as criminals.
Rekognition, Amazon's cloud-based facial recognition platform that was first launched in 2016, has been sold and used by a number of United States government agencies, including ICE and Orlando, Florida police, as well as private entities. In comparing photos of a total of 1,959 US and UK lawmakers to subjects in an arrest database, Bischoff found that Rekognition misidentified at average of 32 members of Congress. That's four more than a similar experiment conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – two years ago. Bischoff also found that the platform was racially biased, misidentifying non-white people at a higher rate than white people.
These findings have disturbing real-life implications. Last week, the ACLU shed light on Detroit citizen Robert Julian-Borchak Williams, who was arrested after a facial recognition system falsely matched his photo with security footage of a shoplifter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @06:33PM (5 children)
Is this due to realizing that facial recognition is not practical, wrapped in convenient virtue signaling? I find it odd that a major government contractor would just take out part of their portfolio for a few current-event brownie points, unless the technology has no possibility of working in the near future for all kinds of human faces.
Perhaps it will signal the end for much of the current AI hype.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 09 2020, @06:39PM (2 children)
Maybe it costs too much to develop? And maybe IBM doesn't want to admit that? Maybe IBM is behind in developing this? Maybe mainframes, despite a few unique advantages, aren't cost effective for the task. Maybe facial recognition is too far away from IBM's actual business? IBM's hardware can still run someone else's facial recognition tech. After all, why isn't IBM developing self driving car tech?
Despite the huge splash Watson made some years back, I rarely if ever seem to hear of it any more.
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 09 2020, @07:15PM
Gets my vote.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday June 10 2020, @02:40AM
> IBM's hardware can still run someone else's facial recognition tech.
This is what I think. In recent years, IBM has focused on iron, so to speak.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @06:47PM
I wonder if people thought transistors were hype when they first started taking off. Morons in every era.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @09:14PM
It's them losing in the marketplace and dumping an unprofitable product group wrapped up in purity signaling in a sad attempt to buy some good PR.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Tuesday June 09 2020, @06:34PM (18 children)
Possible translations:
They have come up with something better than facial recognition. (be scared)
They have realized (like many have) that this is exploitable and never 100% reliable, despite what managers may think.
They are afraid of lawsuits if their systems identify certain groups of people as apes (It keeps flagging this one orange guy as an orangutan)
Their facial recognition offering sucks and they don't want to admit it.
They are in some boring legal or contract position that happens to prevent this, so paint a friendly face on it.
Anyway, walmart will just buy their facial recognition from someone else.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday June 09 2020, @06:49PM (2 children)
IBM found a way to fire people and look good at the same time. How could they possibly pass this opportunity up?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @06:58PM (1 child)
At IBM: "Our expectations for you were low, but holy fuckin' shit, man..."
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday June 09 2020, @07:04PM
International Business Machines (Gone Flexible [soylentnews.org])
They should rename to International Business Services.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday June 09 2020, @07:18PM
Probably just removing the thing from public view, put under a gag order? Anything is plausible with all the secrecy
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday June 09 2020, @07:38PM (7 children)
Possibly a combination of several of them. They probably want to cut fields of business that are somehow controversial at the current time -- just see all the little drones at Google, Microsoft, Facebook etc rising up over various contract etc. So they are proactive here and just cut that line of business.
There have been prior news about how facial rec just doesn't work all that well unless you are white and male -- their interpretation of this was as I recall it now that the system was racist? or created by them.
Then you probably have the whole slew of legal issues, wrongful identification to racial profiling to something else.
... or they just simply unloaded all these things into another corporation or entity as to not taint the Big blue brand -- they learned their WW2 lesson already with selling punch card systems to Germany. Don't want to repeat that thing again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @07:44PM (6 children)
Unless things have changed massively in recent times, that was never the culture at IBM. You did the job you were assigned to do, good on you if it had visibility and good funding. If you don't like it, you can leave and find out what life is like in Poughkeepsie, NY, outside of IBM.
(Score: 1, Troll) by looorg on Tuesday June 09 2020, @07:50PM (5 children)
I'm sure woke-culture has reached Poughkeepsie by this time, or is about to -- nobody seems to be immune. While they used to be the suit and tie place I figure they have changed to. Don't recall many corporations being as sensitive as they are these days.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @08:07PM
Seeing how one of their early gigs was keeping track of all the Final Solution inventory through tatooed serial numbers to use on International Business Machines, one could see how they would be leery about recent return of fascism in the United States. Palantir is still on track [thedailybeast.com], however, fueled by "young blood" transfusions, even if the principal has gone sour on the #BunkerBoy. [salon.com]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @09:08PM (1 child)
I'm sure there will be some hard core white supremacists that will never wrap their heads around the concept of equality and respect. Not sure why it is such a contentious issue, but then again the US has plenty of literal Nazis and hard core racists still angry about losing their slaves :|
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @10:53PM
Flamebait huh? Reality gotcha triggered bruh? Need to share Ben Shapiro's safe space bruheimer?
Wasn't even a personal attack on who I replied to, but I guess some people just HATE reality being pointed out. Citation: the last week plus all the rest of US history.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday June 09 2020, @09:27PM (1 child)
What does woke-culture have to do with facial recognition software?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @02:35AM
I don't know. Why did Krisha send this letter to these congressmen in particular:
All Democrats too. The letter doesn't mention that it is in reply to their request. so it seems to project proactive wokeness and virtue signaling.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @07:48PM (5 children)
Or they were compelled by a government agency to do something with it that was an egregious violation of human rights and their only way out was to simply say "we don't sell or develop that so we can't help you."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @08:28PM (4 children)
The company that worked with actual Nazis? Puuuuuuuuuuuleaze.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @09:54PM (2 children)
Did you just say "actual" Nazis? There are actual literal White Supremacist Nazi Fascists in every board room in America. Every looter is a alt-right Nazi. Every cop is a Nazi bastard. All wypipo are Nazis and should be exterminated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @11:03PM
Your nanny sure hated you to drop you on the head so many times.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @06:39AM
Punch'em in the face and be done with it.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Wednesday June 10 2020, @01:58AM
Lumping in the current management with those of 80 years ago is a bit of a stretch. I know it's very witty to point that out, but what you're effectively saying is that people and corporations are incapable of change. If that's the case then there's no point in trying.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @06:45PM
So are you trying to say that you will make special purpose facial recognition software? Perhaps that purpose is hinted at by the second quote, or maybe this is all what someone wants me to think and I need to go RTFA instead of the carefully selected quotes...
(Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Tuesday June 09 2020, @07:11PM (13 children)
It's one things to see commies raising mobs, gates forcing worldwide vaccines marked 666, worldwide pollution, 2000 year religions being chaffeurs of a new world order and the ever looming nuclear threats, but, when IBM behaves like the good guy, you JUST KNOW the apocalypse is near.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @09:11PM (5 children)
They're just embarassed about last time they helped the fascists and they can see the Trumping on the Wall. Hmph, well, on the parts of the wall that actually got built that is.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Bot on Tuesday June 09 2020, @10:30PM (4 children)
>They're just embarassed about last time they helped the fascists
Not a smart move from the nazis, using the enemy to count your crimes against humanity, was it? Not to mention the energy expenditure of burning corpses (they had a lil world war with russia and the allies, nothing to worry about, so let's turn some jew waterbags to ashes... hmmm)
Meanwhile, the rest of the world performed genocides with mass graves. Bonus points for most kills per bullet to the Yugos who tied up prisoners, shoot one and threw the lot in natural holes called foibe. Only because us Italos invaded them a bit. Barbarians want to have the exclusive on invasions).
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @11:28PM (1 child)
"jew waterbags to ashes"
Probably preferable to a life getting raped by Italian pedophiles.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday June 10 2020, @08:00AM
Wew lads who wrote your history books?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday June 10 2020, @06:55AM (1 child)
Would it surprise you to learn that human body's combustion is exothermic [astm.org]? (17kJ/g extra energy)
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday June 10 2020, @08:03AM
Yet you don't get paid to be cremated? Hmm
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 09 2020, @09:37PM (4 children)
Even Microsoft tries to behave like the good guy now.
Not that I believe it.
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday June 09 2020, @10:33PM (3 children)
Must be the Embrace part.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @11:21PM (1 child)
Don't worry, MS may be evil but at least their embrace isn't as bad as the priests.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday June 10 2020, @08:05AM
I thought priests were experienced, you should give em a bad review.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 10 2020, @02:23PM
The Embrace part is actually not so much to be feared. It is merely the warning to beware of the Extend part.
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday June 10 2020, @12:19AM (1 child)
Are you off your meds again or what? Jesus fuck, "vaccines marked 666?"
We. Have. Been. Over. This. Before. "Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the Beast, for it is the number of a man, and the number is sixhundred-threescore-and-six." Neron Qaisar in Gematria. Revelation was speaking of events that took place over 1900 years ago. It does not apply to the current time period.
Stop twisting the plain meaning of the text with your bizarre eisegesis. The book itself states that "..whoever addeth aught to it, the plagues of this book shall be added to him." Unless you have a serious hankering for some man-sized scorpions you'd better cut that shit out PDQ...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday June 10 2020, @08:17AM
I guess you don't read replies, which makes this one redundant.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @10:13PM (1 child)
Companies are just virtue signaling in hopes they won't be lined up when this thing goes full speed.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @11:31PM
It is called PR and morality, but sure you can try and give it a negative spin. Poor dogs, their whistles should never have been associated with you lily white cowards.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by MrGuy on Tuesday June 09 2020, @10:33PM (1 child)
IBM is addicted to IP. They have lease the world in patents filed for and patents granted every year for decades.
If they were really serious about being anti-facial recognition, they’d pledge to to license any of their considerable patent portfolio to anyone doing facial recognition I have zero doubt they have considerable IP on this space - it’s what they do.
If they did that, I’d consider them truly committed. If they don’t, then this is a have-and-eat-cake situation. They don’t do any of the bad thing, but can continue to monetize the research they’ve already done by licensing their tech to firms with lesser scruples.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @04:58AM
In what weird world are you living in where pledges by IBM to license facial recognition patents would discourage use of facial recognition?
Would make more sense if you said stuff like IBM should pledge to send "stop infringing our patents" threats to anyone doing facial recognition.