Ashton Kutcher's NGO Supplies Police with Free CIA-linked Surveillance Tool to 'Protect Kids'
A suspect NGO claiming to combat child trafficking by providing surveillance tech to US police
has allowed Amazon to continue supplying U.S. law enforcement with facial recognition software
despite the tech giant’s moratorium on its sale to police.
As calls for dramatic reforms of U.S. police departments have swept the country in recent
months, several of Silicon Valley’s largest companies have tried to salvage their image by
asserting that they will no longer sell their facial recognition software to police departments.
Among these companies is Amazon, which decided to place a one-year pause on the sale of its
software “Rekognition” to U.S. police departments in early June.
At the time the moratorium was announced, The New York Times noted that “the announcement was
a striking change for Amazon…” due to the fact that, “more than other big technology companies,
Amazon has resisted calls to slow its deployment.”
Amazon’s efforts to ensure the widespread adoption of its facial recognition software gained
notoriety after a study found that Rekognition falsely tied 28 members of Congress, most of
whom were politicians of color, to mugshots, causing critics to accuse Amazon’s product of
both racial bias and inaccuracy.
However, what The Times and other outlets failed to pick up on, then and now, is the fact that
Amazon’s Rekognition is still being supplied to U.S. police, despite its official moratorium.
Indeed, U.S. law enforcement agencies are still being offered Amazon’s facial recognition
software by a NGO partnered with Amazon that was created by actor Ashton Kutcher, who frequently
co-invests with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
That NGO, called “Thorn,” continues to supply the controversial software to law enforcement
agencies around the country under the guise of helping police “combat child trafficking.”
Thorn’s role in supplying such software to law enforcement despite moratoriums is also notable
because its founder Ashton Kutcher has publicly and “tearfully” supported Black Lives Matter
amid the recent protests that provoked Amazon’s moratorium on sales of Rekognition to police in
the first place.
In addition, Kutcher is also a major investor, alongside Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, in a company
that supplies AI-powered software to law enforcement agencies, further undermining Kutcher’s
professed support for ending racial inequities in policing.
Yet, further investigation into Thorn casts even greater doubt on its professed altruistic
objectives, given the organization’s ties to CIA cut-outs, Wall Street banks and another
“anti-child trafficking” organization that was launched by Hillary Clinton and Cherie Blair,
the wife of former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The CIA, Wall Street and Thorn’s “Spotlight”
Read the rest here: too long to post.
https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/09/investigative-reports/ashton-kutchers-ngo-supplies-police-with-free-cia-linked-surveillance-tool-to-protect-kids