Amazon markets and sells facial recognition (“Rekognition”) to government that may pose significant financial risks due to privacy and human rights implications;
Human and civil rights organizations are concerned facial surveillance technology may violate civil rights by unfairly and disproportionately targeting and surveilling people of color, immigrants and civil society organizations;
Nearly 70 organizations asked Amazon to stop selling Rekognition, citing its role enabling “government surveillance infrastructure”;
The ACLU found Rekognition incorrectly identified 28 Congressional members as having been arrested for a crime, and falsely matched 1 in 5 California lawmakers. Research shows Rekognition is worse at identifying black women than white men and misgenders nonbinary people;
Reports indicate restricting facial recognition is a rising trend:
-Multiple cities and states have banned government facial technology.
-In 2022, the Facial Recognition Ban on Body Cameras Act was reintroduced in Congress.
-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged a moratorium on Artificial Intelligence (AI) until adequate safeguards exist, calling for a ban on AI inconsistent with international human rights law.
There is little evidence our Board of Directors, as part of its fiduciary oversight, has rigorously assessed risks to Amazon’s financial performance, reputation and shareholder value associated with privacy and human rights threats to all stakeholders;
For 5 years, similar proposals have been before Amazon. In 2023 the proposal received 37.40 percent support.
Responding to the growing movement against police brutality and criminal justice bias, Amazon issued an indefinite moratorium on Rekognition used by police departments. While this acknowledges risks, it is unclear whether it includes other government agencies. In 2021, the Government Accountability Office found 19 of 24 United States government agencies surveyed were using facial recognition.
Microsoft banned face recognition sales to police awaiting federal regulation, then announced the removal of features from its AI service to ensure facial recognition technology meets ethical guidelines, while IBM stopped offering the software. Following a $550 million settlement from a lawsuit alleging nonconsensual use of facial recognition, Facebook ceased using facial recognition.
RESOLVED: Shareholders request the Board of Directors commission an independent study of Rekognition and report to shareholders regarding:
-The extent to which such technology may endanger, threaten or violate privacy and/ or civil rights, and unfairly or disproportionately target or surveil people of color, immigrants and activists in the United States;
-The extent to which such technologies may be marketed and sold to authoritarian or repressive governments, including those identified by the United States Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices;
-The potential loss of good will and other financial risks associated with these human rights issues;
The report should be produced at reasonable expense, exclude proprietary or legally privileged information, published no later than December 31, 2024.
Details…
We are proud to announce that our proposal was reintroduced for the 2024 proxy season, marking a record six years running! Although the proposal dipped slightly in terms of support from the previous year, it amassed a hearty 37.5%, indicating support from shareholders remains strong.
Our proposal is included in the 2024 proxy material and shareholder ballot.
We were honored to have Tee Sannon, Technology Policy Program Director of American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, represent HII at the shareholders’ meeting — Click here to read Tee’s statement.
• Date for Amazon’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders: May 22nd
• The proposal received approximately 19% support from shareholders.