ACLU has published "Amazon's Disturbing Plan To Add Surveillance To Your Front Door," a piece warning against recent developments concerning the corporate giant's patent application. The patent describes the technology as a "powerful deterrent against would-be burglars," a concept the ACLU receives as a "massive decentralized surveillance network."
Amazon, in association with the doorbell camera company Ring, would use facial recognition like Rekognition. The information would round up "fingerprints, skin-texture analysis, DNA, palm-vein analysis, hand geometry, iris recognition, odor/scent recognition, and even behavioral characteristics," to be analyzed for indicators of the individual's being potentially "suspicious."
From this database, a potentially suspicious person who has been flagged in the system could be pursued by the police for simply walking past the doorbell camera technology. While this could aid law enforcement efforts, ACLU perceives the patent as a proponent of "authoritarian surveillance that advocates, activists, community leaders, politicians, and experts have repeatedly warned against."
Amazon has given coy responses to questions regarding their apparent collaboration with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The company's vice president for public policy Brian Huseman told Buzzfeed News, "We provide our Rekognition service to a variety of government agencies, and we think that the federal government should have access to the best available technology..."
