In her latest New York Times column, Kara Swisher reflects on last week’s Code conference. She says tech leaders had not taken on-board Tim Cook’s call that they take responsibility for the chaos their products cause.
Consider a wide-ranging interview I did during the Code conference last week with Andy Jassy, the sharp chief executive of Amazon Web Services, who defended his company’s facial recognition software. The program is called Rekognition — perhaps one of the creepiest names you could give surveillance software — and can match photos and videos with databases. It has been sold to businesses and law enforcement agencies, and its capabilities scare many, given questions of how and where it is deployed. Some critics, for example, are concerned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be using Rekognition to help deport immigrants, but Mr. Jassy would not comment on whether that agency uses the program or not.
Check It Out: Tech Leaders Are Not Listening to Tim Cook
I wish **Apple** would listen to Tim Cook. He was right on target when he excoriated Silicon Valley for “taking credit without taking responsibility.”
A good example of this is the end-user license “agreements” that we are required (!) to “agree” to whenever we use any Apple product that we have purchased. In those “agreements” Apple explicitly disclaims all liability and insists that any and all problems are entirely our fault as Apple users, and that all Apple products are used solely at our risk.
No other industry enjoys such breathtaking immunity from liability. It is high time that we take Tim Cook’s advice to heart, and hold Silicon Valley – and Apple – accountable, just as every other industry is accountable when it harms its customers.