Orlando didn't renew its facial recognition contract with Amazon

The Orlando Police Department is one of the law enforcement groups that has been testing Amazon's facial recognition service Rekognition, using it in its headquarters and in downtown Orlando, though supposedly only with officers that agreed to test the system. However, the pilot program expired last week and the department says it has not yet decided to renew it. "Staff continues to discuss and evaluate whether to recommend continuation of the pilot at a further date. At this time that process in still ongoing and the contract with Amazon remains expired," the city of Orlando and the police department said this week in a joint statement given to Floridapolitics.com. Amazon and the city of Orlando have received pushback over the program, with those opposing it expressing concerns over the ample potential for its misuse.