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Comment by all_blue_chucks | Hacker News Reader

When will the media realize that Amazon didn't invent facial recognition software? It would be here regardless of Bezos.

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This is a weird take. Does it extend to anything? Murder would be here regardless, so it's NBD if any particular individual murders? Fraud is going to be here regardless, so individual instances of fraud are NBD?

Why does it matter who invented something when the conversation is about building an empire around it?

Here's the article summary to ponder:

> If Bezos were the political victim of surveillance state abuses, it would be scandalous and dangerous. It would also be deeply ironic. That’s because Amazon, the company that has made Bezos the planet’s richest human being, is a critical partner for the U.S. Government in building an ever-more invasive, militarized and sprawling surveillance state.

Which of that ruffles you?

It's disingenuous to compare a tool to an act. Would you blame Home Depot if someone bought a pipe there and used it to bludgeon someone to death?

If they marketed it as a bludgeoning tool.. Yes.

Neither pipes nor facial recognition software are marketed for criminal purposes. And neither amazon nor home depot invented them.

Now wait a minute. Serveillance technology is definitely sold as more than just tools for building a house. They are tools of war and authoritarianism. Sure you have your run of the mill equipment for securing your building. But then you have massive networks of Spyware to catalog an entire nation's activity embedded without notice into the products you use without your consent. Your politician will sell you it for homeland security but the companies that sell the tech to the government sell in the same way arms dealers do. A Tomohawk missile is also a tool. And if home depot was selling that, especially if they were selling it under the pretence of a 'self defence tool' you but your shiny behind I'd have a problem with it. Wouldn't you?

Now consider home depot and Amazon are both warehouse businesses. Only one of them is helping the US government extend its digital spy network and increase its cyberwar capabilities.

Surveillance is not unethical, it's not unique to Amazon, and it's not remotely new.

Cameras are surveillance technology. Are you outraged at every manufacturer of cameras? Cameras are directly marketed as security systems (aka "surveillance").

A person staring at a CCTV looking out for a specific person holding a photo has been around forever. Facial recognition makes them more efficient.

None of this is new. None of this is unique to Amazon. Making this about amazon is dishonest.

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