IBM exits facial recognition biz as CEO calls out inequity in tech usage

IBM will stop offering facial recognition software and oppose any use of such technology for purposes of mass surveillance and racial profiling, said company's CEO Arvind Krishna.

International Business Machines Corp will no longer offer general purpose facial recognition or analysis software, new Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said in a letter to the members of the United States Congress on Monday.

The company will stop offering facial recognition software and oppose any use of such technology for purposes of mass surveillance and racial profiling, Krishna said.

The tech giant's decision to get out of the facial recognition business, employed by multiple companies, comes as the United States grapples with nationwide protests over the death of a black man, George Floyd, under police custody in Minneapolis.

"IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and Principles of Trust and Transparency," he was quoted as saying in the letter.

Government officials across the country have proposed reforms to address police brutality and racial injustice aimed at boosting oversight of law enforcement agencies.

In the letter sent to prominent U.S. Senators, including Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, Krishna also called on for greater transparency and accountability to policing.

Krishna, the key architect of IBM's $34 billion (26.74 billion pounds) Red Hat acquisition last year, took over the chief executive officer role from Ginni Rometty in April.

Donald Trump wanted to deploy 10,000 troops in Washington: Official

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US President Donald Trump told his advisors at one point this past week he wanted 10,000 troops to deploy to the Washington D.C. area to halt civil unrest over the killing of a black man by Minneapolis police, according to a senior US official.

The account of Trump's demand during a heated Oval Office conversation on Monday shows how close the president may have come to fulfilling his threat to deploy active duty troops, despite opposition from Pentagon leadership.

At the meeting, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and Attorney General William Barr recommended against such a deployment, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The meeting was “contentious,” the official added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has since appeared satisfied with deployments by the National Guard, the option recommended by the Pentagon and a more traditional tool for dealing with domestic crises. Pentagon leaders scrambled to call governors with requests to send Guard forces to Washington. Additional federal law enforcement were mobilized too.

But also key for Trump appears to have been Esper's move to preposition — but not deploy — active duty soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and other units in the Washington D.C. area. Those troops have since departed.

“Having active duty forces available but not in the city was enough for the president for the time,” the official said.

Barr told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that no active duty troops were deployed on Washington streets, but there were some military police nearby.