"Amazon shareholders demand company stop selling facial recognition technology to governments", 19 June 2018

A group of Amazon shareholders is asking CEO Jeff Bezos to stop selling and marketing pattern-recognition technology to governments after civil liberties groups warned of the potential for abuse. Earlier this year, a group of advocacy organisations led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a report detailing how Amazon was marketing its Rekognition tool to American law enforcement agencies...A letter signed by 19 shareholders - and provided to The Independent by the ACLU - urges Mr Bezos to halt the tool's expansion until those concerns can be addressed..."While Rekognition may be intended to enhance some law enforcement activities, we are deeply concerned it may ultimately violate civil and human rights", the letter said. "We are concerned the technology would be used to unfairly and disproportionately target and surveil people of colour, immigrants, and civil society organisations"...Shareholders of major technology companies have increasingly been broadcasting their concerns about the financial and reputational damage of privacy violations.