Richard Grenell said Microsoft should not be given access to federal contracts.
Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence, made the declaration after the technology giant announced it would refuse to sell facial recognition software to police in the United States.
“They should now be barred from federal government contracts — there should be consequences for not selling technology to police departments,” Grenell tweeted early Friday morning.
They should now be barred from federal government contracts – there should be consequences for not selling technology to police departments. @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/dsOVPVfufI
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) June 12, 2020
Grenell’s tweet caught the attention of President Trump, who retweeted the post.
Microsoft President Brad Smith told the Washington Post on Thursday that he will not sell facial recognition software to police departments until there is a federal policy in place that places the proper limits on its use.
“We will not sell facial-recognition technology to police departments in the United States until we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights, that will govern this technology,” Smith said, later adding, “The bottom line for us is to protect the human rights of people as this technology is deployed.”
Grenell reacted to this comment later in the day, tweeting: “Speaking of human rights…69 countries criminalize homosexuality. Do you sell technology to any of them?”
He added: “Journalists should ask @Microsoft and Brad Smith about their technology sales to countries that throw gays and lesbians off buildings — since they are so concerned about human rights in the US.”
Grenell, who was the first openly gay Cabinet-level official during his three-month stint as acting spy chief, engaged in an effort to review how U.S. intelligence agencies can help advance the Trump administration’s goal of decriminalizing homosexuality worldwide. Grenell also served as the U.S. ambassador to Germany from May 2018 until the beginning of June.
Microsoft is not the only company that has halted the sale of facial recognition technology to police departments. Amazon made the decision on Wednesday to wait until there are federal regulations. IBM said it will no longer produce facial recognition software at all because of their concerns about its usage.
Facial recognition software has been found to be faulty in some cases, especially when analyzing the faces of black people.
The announcements from Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft follow weeks of protests against police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
