The FBI plans to use Amazon’s controversial Rekognition cloud service “to extract information and insights from lawfully acquired images and videos,” according to US Justice Department documents.
In its Agency Inventory of AI Use Cases, the DOJ lists the project, code-named Tyr, as being in the “initiation” phase for the FBI, which intends to customise and use the technology “to review and identify items containing nudity, weapons, explosives, and other identifying information.”
The DOJ document doesn’t mention a start date, and simply says the Feds will be using a Rekognition-based commercial off-the-shelf system purchased pre-built from a third party. The FBI declined to comment, and though Amazon promised The Register a statement in response to our inquiries, that has yet to arrive.
In addition to providing facial recognition and analysis services, Amazon says Rekognition can also search for objects in image and video libraries and detect “inappropriate, unwanted, or offensive content,” among other capabilities.
Amazon previously pledged to indefinitely ban police from using Rekognition — but with some loopholes. It didn’t pause selling the service to government agencies, however, or to third-parties that may then provide the technology to cop shops.
So, to be fair, Project Tyr doesn’t break any earlier promise by the cloud giant. It does, however, come at a time when concerns about warrantless surveillance seems to be growing, especially when the FBI is snooping.
