Following IBM and Amazon, Microsoft announced that it was imposing a moratorium on the sale of its facial recognition technology to the American police. About this in a conversation with the publication The Washington Post said the president of the Redmond giant Bradford Smith (Bradford Smith).

He noted that Microsoft currently has no plans to sell this technology to US police departments. Smith then added that the situation would not change until “na national law based on human law will be adopted to regulate the use of this technology“.

Smith’s comments came a day after Amazon announced a temporary boycott of facial recognition systems. The company said it would ban US police officers from using the proprietary smart facial recognition software Rekognition, which Amazon unveiled in 2016, for one year. A few days earlier, IBM issued a statement in which it announced that it was going out of the business of developing and selling this technology.

In a conversation with the American publication, Smith expressed solidarity with his colleagues, but also noted the need for the US Congress to take actions that would not allow other companies to occupy this technological niche.

“The steps taken by IBM and Amazon are very important. Obviously, we should have taken the same step. But at the same time, if all responsible companies cede this market to unscrupulous players, our actions are unlikely to serve the national interests or the lives of the black population of our country. It needs Congress to get involved, not just tech companies. This is the only way to guarantee the safety of people. “Smith commented.

Microsoft is promoting, or rather has been promoting, facial recognition technology as part of its Azure cloud computing platform. The official website states that developers can use the facial recognition system in their applications to provide an easy and highly secure user experience. Microsoft technology is used, for example, by Uber. She uses it to identify drivers through her database.

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By Alex

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is a Silicon Valley-based consultant and writer. His latest book Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less (Basic Books, 2016) and The Distraction Addiction (Little Brown, 2013) blend history, psychology, and neuroscience to explore the hidden role of leisure and mind-wandering in creative lives.

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