“The face is familiar”: Amazon’s Rekognition software…boon or bane?
Remember back when Amazon was an internet bookstore?
Things have certainly changed!
Readers of this blog are no doubt aware of many, many things that Amazon does now that have little to do with that original mission. That’s not just selling things: it’s making TV shows, providing web services, streaming games…so much!
Even so, I’m guessing a lot of you are not aware of
Rekognition
What does it do?
It’s software that recognizes stuff.
That seems inevitable to me.
It’s really necessary for many artificial intelligence-based applications which will change our lives.
Clearly, self-driving cars need to be able to determine what objects they are “seeing”.
It will be even more important when we are wearing what I call “auggies” (VAM…virtuall/augmented/mixed/merged reality “glasses”). If you are in Virtual Reality, you can’t see what’s going on around you (which you can do when you using Augmented Reality). So, you want software that can recognize a police car or somebody giving away free samples. 😉
This goes back to when Amazon introduced the Fire Phone (I was one of the few who had one). When tech writers thought that the Fire Phone had a chance to succeed, they touted the “Firefly” feature, which in part was object recognition:
CNET article: “Firefly is the Amazon Fire Phone’s Secret Weapon” by Nick Statt (June 18, 2014)
It wasn’t enough to save the Fire Phone, which I felt was introduced as too much of a “luxury” model…Amazon has done better with lower-priced items, when there are clearcut, pre-established competitors.
You would think that Amazon improving a basic function like object recognition would be welcomed by everybody. If we agree that it is something that our technology is going to have to do, don’t we want it to do it as well as it can?
Well, there was recently an
open letter to Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos
signed by many organizations (notably, different ACLU…American Civil Liberties Union…groups).
It “demands” that Amazon stop selling Rekognition to government entities.
You see, Rekognition is already being used by groups such as the Orlando Police Department.
It can do facial recognition…look at video, and identify who is in it.
It can also do person tracking…identify where an individual goes as they pass from camera to camera.
This is not, by the way, an unintended consequence for Amazon…it’s part of what they advertise that it can do.
Here’s the question:
Let’s say you are walking down the street in your hometown. Is it wrong for people on the street to recognize you? Would it be wrong for a human police officer to recognize you? If those two are okay, what makes it wrong for software to recognize you?
This, by the way, is just the beginning. Rekognition can also identify expressions, for one thing.
Now, I love a free app from Microsoft called
Seeing AI
I’ve had a lot of fun with it. It’s designed for people with visual challenges, although it also works for people with autism, since it can (like Rekognition) identify some emotions (and how old people are, pretty accurately).
Amazon is going to pioneer, so Amazon is going to face these sorts of challenges. As another example, Alexa can now (well, it’s rolling out) identify different voices from different people…and it does it automatically, rather than training a voice profile, which was the previous situation.
Update: I probably should have included a link to my review
The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us To Choose Between Privacy And Freedom? (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
by David Brin. The 1999 book is still completely relevant, and especially applicable here. My review (from about five years ago):
What do you think? Did you know Amazon was selling this software? Do you have a problem with it being used to identify people in public places? What if Amazon software predicted that someone might commit violence (a la Minority Report) based on their expressions and movements? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.
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* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. 
Shop ’til you help!
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.
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