Benzinga | May 19, 2021 12:41PM EDT

Amazon Halts Police's Use Of Facial Recognition Software: Reuters

* Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) indefinitely extended the halt since June 2020 on the police use of its facial recognition software, Reuters reports.

* The nationwide backlash against police brutality towards non-Whites intensified by the murder of African-American George Floyd by a white policeman led to the initial halt.

* Civil liberties advocates, including Nathan Freed Wessler, a deputy project director at the American Civil Liberties Union, have warned against unwarranted arrests, loss of privacy, and freedom of expression from wrong face matches by law enforcement.

* Customers still have access to Amazon's face-matching service Rekognition for the detection of human trafficking victims.

* Critics reported against Rekognition's sex determination inability for darker skin tone individuals. However, Amazon refuted the allegations.

* Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) is waiting for regulatory approval to sell its face recognition software to the police.

* Pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp (NYSE: RAD) reportedly aborted the software usage at its stores.

* Price action: AMZN shares traded lower by 0.50% at $3,216.23 on the last check Wednesday.