With AI-related risks being inherently global in nature, the hope and anticipation is that there will be a suitably robust regulatory environment wherever the technology is deployed, Michael Connor, Executive Director at Open MIC, tells ESG Investor.
“Many companies have global activities, so we need to ensure that if they are applying a higher standard in Europe due to EU regulations, this should be the case wherever they operate to foster greater corporate accountability in the deployment and use of digital technologies,” he says.
The lack of information is a problem for shareholders and users alike. Investors play a critical role in holding corporations accountable by ensuring that companies like Amazon are upholding their human rights commitments and avoiding risky behaviors. But without more transparency, investors are left in the dark.
Michael Connor, the executive director of Open MIC (Media and Information Companies Initiative), a nonprofit that works on socially responsible investing and is also part of the coalition, said the law is “simply good business.”
“These resolutions are based on a simple premise: Companies benefit from knowing when sexual harassment, discrimination and unlawful behavior are happening in the workplace, which is why employees should be encouraged to speak out about such conduct,” he said.
To Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit that works with sustainable funds to organize shareholder proposals, that's a sign that things are trending in the right direction. "Over time even if shareholder proposals are voted down, it doesn't mean directors don't have a fiduciary duty to worry about those issues and be concerned about them," Connor said.
“Last week’s vote confirms that Amazon needs to take aggressive steps to address investor concerns about its facial recognition technology, Rekognition,” said Michael Connor, Executive Director of Open MIC in relation to another proposal asking for a report on customer use of certain technologies that over 34% of shareholders supported. “Amazon’s current moratorium on police use of Rekognition isn’t sufficient. At the very least, Amazon must now broaden the scope of the moratorium to bar the use of Rekognition not only by police but also by ANY government agency or ANY law enforcement... ANYWHERE in the world.”
“Face surveillance dramatically expands law enforcement’s power and threatens rights including privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and due process for everyone. But the threats are greatest for Black and Brown communities, Muslim communities, immigrant communities, Indigenous communities, and other people historically and currently marginalized and targeted by policing,” Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit advocating for Harrington, said in a statement.
Tech giants are facing increasing pressure from activists to adopt proposals aimed at expanding whistleblower protections, investigating potential civil rights violations and curbing hate speech online.
Activist shareholders are pushing for the proposals to be adopted during this week’s annual meetings, the first to be held after a year that’s included nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol and challenging working conditions for many on-site workers in the tech industry.
In its brief blog post, Amazon said it had “advocated governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge.
Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a non-profit that works with shareholders to foster corporate accountability in the tech sector, welcomed the news after years of shareholders’ organising to push Amazon to end what was described as "sales of harmful, unregulated technology to police”.
“But it’s only a temporary moratorium, and it doesn’t address deeper concerns that shareholders have regarding Amazon’s role in a rapidly-developing surveillance economy,” he said.
