IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU.
Pledge to Support Black Lives, not Amazon’s Profits
Red flags: This relationship is toxic.
As people across the country take to the streets demanding an end to police violence against Black communities, Amazon is quietly positioning itself to rake in the benefits of the next evolution of policing. Instead, Amazon should sincerely align itself with today’s Movement for Black Lives, which demands our cities to #DefundThePolice. The funding spent on policing, surveilling, and caging Black and brown communities hardest hit by the COVID19 pandemic should be reinvested back into housing, education, and other relief programs.
We know breakups are hard, but we’re here to remind you that Amazon doesn’t deserve you:
Digital Policing
Amazon’s Facial Recognition:
Amazon’s Rekognition software is being used to build a future where you will be identified and tracked everywhere you go in your community. Black and brown communities, already over-policed and prone to being misidentified by this technology, will face the highest cost of surveillance, from increased criminalization and incarceration to police violence.
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Amazon continued to sell their facial recognition software, “Rekognition” to law enforcement, knowing the racial bias in its algorithms. Despite a yearlong moratorium, Amazon continues secretive agreements with DHS, ICE, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, suggesting their technology is used directly to separate families at the border.
Mass Surveillance
Amazon’s Ring:
Ring gives police backdoor access to your front-door footage. Over 1,600 police departments partner with Amazon Ring. Nearly half have a history of excessive force or police-involved civilian deaths. That’s over 10 million households helping Amazon digitize racist “Stop & Frisk” policies and powering more police violence against Black lives.
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Neighbors, Amazon Ring’s reporting app, encourages people to spy on anyone passing by and label them as “suspicious,” which automates racial profiling. There is no evidence to support that Amazon Ring and the Neighbors app actually help reduce crime or maintain public safety. Meanwhile, they put Black lives in danger.
Mass Deportations
Amazon’s Web Services:
AWS powers government agencies and private companies by collecting and analyzing data for the policing, surveillance, detention and deportation of majority Black and Latinx communities. Since 2014, AWS profits from government agencies — tied to violence against Black lives abroad and at home — grew from $200 million to over $2 billion.
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Palantir, a surveillance company and key enabler of one of the worst human rights violations we’ve ever seen, is one of their customers. Palantir uses AWS to run its surveillance software, including ICE’s Intensive Case Management System and FALCON. AWS powers family separations, massive workplace raids, and kidnapping unaccompanied children.
It’s time to break up. Take the pledge to support Black lives, not Amazon’s profits.
Dear Amazon, we are done. Black Friday is coming soon, so now is as good a time as any because we can’t keep dragging this along.
We are talking about over 1,600 police partnerships and counting nationwide. More than 280 of these partnerships were added after George Floyd’s death—all rooted in the worst kinds of hatred and fear-mongering. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, you’re spreading facial recognition tech all over the country to help ICE separate immigrant families. Your technology powers ICE raids on our people’s homes. This is unbelievable. We can no longer be a part of this
