FOIA requests from 14 municipalities reveal the scope of face-recognition contracts signed with AWS since 2019 — and the contractual clauses that prevent public disclosure.
Through FOIA requests filed with 28 U.S. municipalities, we obtained contracts and statements of work for Amazon Rekognition deployments across 14 cities. The findings reveal a systematic pattern of surveillance expansion.
The Contracts
The 14 cities with confirmed Rekognition contracts include: Orlando, FL; Detroit, MI; Baltimore, MD; Phoenix, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Nashville, TN; Kansas City, MO; Indianapolis, IN; Columbus, OH; Denver, CO; Portland, OR; and Seattle, WA.
The Clauses
Every contract reviewed contains a non-disclosure clause prohibiting the municipality from disclosing the contract terms, pricing, or technical specifications without Amazon's written consent. Seven contracts include clauses that specifically prohibit the publication of accuracy test results.
The Scale
Combined contract value across all 14 cities totals $42.7 million over five years. The average annual cost per city is $610,000. The largest single contract is Detroit's $8.2 million, 5-year agreement signed in 2021.
Civil Liberties Impact
Internal documents obtained through FOIA reveal that in at least 6 of the 14 cities, Rekognition is integrated with real-time CCTV feeds, enabling live face identification without warrant oversight.
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