Amazon is approving the idea of government regulation of facial recognition technology, as part of an all-embracing statement of its values on a range of political and social issues. The US tech giant, which has come under inspection by antitrust enforcers and has been condemned over its usage of facial recognition software, stated its positions in an announcement posted late Thursday on its company website.
Some of those standpoints, such as its endorsement of a raise in the federal minimum wage, were formerly revealed by Amazon. The statement also repeated the latest comments by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos on struggles to fight climate change.
Giving an opinion on facial recognition, Amazon said it believes that “governments should act to control the use of this technology to make sure it’s used properly.”
The company stated that it offered its own set of recommendations for facial recognition that “safeguards individual civil rights and guarantees that governments are transparent in their application of the technology.”
The statement asked governments to work quickly to formulate a regulatory framework for the technology, which has been used more and more around the world in the midst of criticism on privacy and civil liberties fears.
Amazon also said it encourages diversity and rights of persons of any race, gender, ethnicity, age, faith, and sexual orientation and “vehemently” endorses immigrant privileges and immigration reform.
The company said it will support US federal privacy legislation “that requires transparency, access to personal info, ability to erase personal information, and that forbids the sale of personal data without permission.”
In the United States, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour “is too little and should be increased,” Amazon said, noting that it has vowed to pay a least of $15 an hour and has motivated others to follow the example.
According to critics, Amazon has paid little or no income taxes in current years said it endorses an evaluation of the international tax system.
“Corporate tax codes in any country should incentivize investment in the economy and job creation,” the company said.
“Besides, tax codes, particularly between countries, should be synchronised to have neither gaps that allow artificially lower tax charges nor overlaps that cause higher tax rates or redundant taxation, because these alter company behaviour in ways that don’t profit consumers or the economy.”
Leave a reply