Three of the world’s biggest tech companies cut cords this week with police departments across America that used their facial recognition platforms in what police leaders described as both an uninformed move and public stunt.
IBM told a handful of senators this week that it had shut down its facial recognition and analysis software, becoming the first major corporation to shutter relations with law enforcement following nationwide protests for racial equality and changes to police treatment of black people. The revoked access for police comes after several years of complaints by the public and admissions by tech companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, that systems more often fail to identify people with darker skin than those with lighter skin.
