Lawmakers representing communities of color are requesting a meeting with Amazon after a report by the American Civil Liberties Union revealed Thursday that the company's controversial facial recognition tool Rekognition falsely matched 28 members of US Congress with mugshots in its database. And on Friday, the letter was signed by 23 more members of Congress, including Virginia Rep. Tom Garrett, a Republican, making the lawmakers' demand to meet with Amazon officially a bipartisan effort.
On Thursday, Reps. Jimmy Gomez and John Lewis (a prominent civil rights leader) shared the letter exclusively with BuzzFeed News asking to meet with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
“The potential for this technology to wreak havoc on people of color cannot be understated,” said Rep. Gomez. “It’s time for Mr. Bezos to recognize the role his company plays in this situation and to accept our bipartisan invitation to discuss these concerns and the impacts such technology can have on our constituents when put in the hands of law enforcement officials.”
Separately, Sen. Edward Markey and Reps. Luis Gutiérrez and Mark DeSaulnier also sent a letter expressing their concern and asking for more information about Amazon's facial recognition services.
