Cory Doctorow | Boing Boing | Source URL After decades of back-and-forth over internet freedom, China has figured out a method for allowing people to use the internet for social and business purposes, but not for political reform — a combination of huge boiler-rooms full of censors, centralization of internet […]
Networks of New York author Ingrid Burrington points out all the devices around us that are watching our every move. Samantha Cole | Motherboard | Source URL If you live in a major metropolitan area, the odds are good you’re being watched and listened to at all times. And even […]
Verizon and other telcos have been selling phone location data to companies catering to marketers and low level law enforcement. Now, Verizon says it is cutting ties with certain firms that abused that data access. Joseph Cox | Motherboard | Source URL Verizon says it will stop selling customers’ phone […]
Michael Maharrey | Tenth Amendment Center | Source URL LANSING, Mich. (June 17, 2018) – A new law banning “material support or resources” for warrantless federal surveillance programs went into effect in Michigan. This is an essential step every state needs to take at a time when the federal government seems […]
Dave Gershgorn | Quartz | Source URL Affordable consumer technology has made surveillance cheap and commoditized AI software has made it automatic. Those two trends merged this week, when drone manufacturer DJI partnered June 5 with Axon, the company that makes Taser weapons and police body cameras, to sell drones to local police departments […]
Five years after historic NSA leaks, whistleblower tells the Guardian he has no regrets Ewen MacAskill & Alex Hern | The Guardian | Source URL Edward Snowden has no regrets five years on from leaking the biggest cache of top-secret documents in history. He is wanted by the US. He is […]
Gary Robbins | San Diego Union-Tribune | Source URL Feel like earning a little extra money and maybe improving your health at the same time? Consumers will soon be able to sell or rent their DNA to scientists who are trying to fight diseases as different as dementia, lupus and […]
Lee Fang | The Intercept | Source URL FOLLOWING THE REVELATION in March that Google had secretly signed an agreement with the Pentagon to provide cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology for drone warfare, the company faced an internal revolt. About a dozen Google employees have resigned in protest and thousands have signed a petition calling for […]
Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge | Source URL The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that a device used to eavesdrop on cell phones and other electronic devices was detected near the White House, prompting concerns that it may have been used to spy on key government officials – including President […]
Homeland Security Newswire | Source URL Last month at a cybersecurity conference, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen previewed the May unveiling of DHS’s new cybersecurity strategy and issued a stern warning to cybercriminals. The new DHSCybersecurity Strategy was released 15 May. Nielsen said: “I have a news flash for America’s adversaries: Complacency […]
RT | Source URL Google decided not to renew a controversial AI contract with the Pentagon after receiving backlash from its employees, reports say. The company’s staff earlier said they didn’t want the product to be used for war. Diane Greene, the CEO of Google Cloud, said the tech giant […]
Cory Doctorow | Boing Boing | Source URL Senator Ron Wyden [D-OR] has sent a letter to the DHS with his view that “nefarious actors may have exploited” the cellular phone system “to target the communications of American citizens.” He’s referring to well-understood vulnerabilities in the ancient, creaking SS7 messaging […]
Karl Bode | Techdirt | Source URL I’ll admit that I traditionally haven’t been as paranoid as many people in regards to the surveillance powers of digital assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home. Yes, putting an always-on microphone in your home likely provides a wonderful new target for intelligence agencies […]
Marjorie Cohn | Truthout | Source URL After the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration created a secret “kill list” to step up the targeting of alleged terrorists for assassination. The criteria for inclusion on the list have apparently morphed over three presidential administrations, yet they remain elusive. Last year, two journalists filed a […]
The Sacremento Bee | Source URL California’s dramatic new license plate is hitting the streets — a digital display board that allows changeable messages controlled by the driver or remotely by fleet managers. The new plates use the same computer technology as Kindle eBook readers, along with a wireless communication […]
Associated Press | Source URL TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – No longer a novelty, drones are becoming an everyday tool for more police and fire departments, new research has found. The number of public safety agencies with drones has more than doubled since the end of 2016, according to data collected […]
Forbes Amazon chief Jeff Bezos received a letter Tuesday from the American Civil Liberties Union and its supporters. It demanded he stop selling a little-known service provided by the tech giant to U.S. law enforcement agencies: facial recognition, powered by artificial intelligence. The tool, dubbed Rekognition, can recognize up to 100 people in […]
Nextgov | Source URL The new algorithm which promises to accurately look at images of people and determine their ethnic background. The biggest danger AI poses today isn’t the potential of killer robots or Roko’s Basilisk—it’s the potential to scale bias and racism to the size of the internet. The latest […]
Rachel Blevins | The Free Thought Project | Source URL Michigan has become the first state to ban the National Security Agency’s intrusive data collection practices by passing a law that prohibits law enforcement and state agencies from turning over personal data to the federal government without due process. The […]
AFP | Source URL Montreal (AFP) – Mass surveillance by government agencies is increasing, especially in the United States, whistleblower Chelsea Manning told a Montreal audience on Thursday as she called for limits on the development of artificial intelligence. “Ten years ago, I was working in military intelligence and I […]
TechDirt | Source URL We’ve talked a great deal about my home city of Chicago, largely for the myriad of awful, corrupt practices it has put in place around topics that we cover here. For instance, we have an alderman trying to shore up the city budget by taxing the […]
Joseph Marks | Nextgov | Source URL The Defense Department is funding a project that officials say could revolutionize the way companies, federal agencies and the military itself verify that people are who they say they are and it could be available in most commercial smartphones within two years. The […]
Rachel Blevins | The Free Thought Project | Source URL Portland, Oregon – A concerned family is speaking out after they claim that their Amazon Alexa device recorded a conversation they were having in their home, and sent it to a random contact who alerted them to the fact that […]
Carole Cadwalladr and Emma Graham-Harrison | The Guardian | Source URL Company gathered data from texts and photos of users and their friends, court case claims Facebook used its apps to gather information about users and their friends, including some who had not signed up to the social network, reading […]
Reuters | Source URL SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google sought to ease online publisher concerns on Thursday about the effects European data privacy rules going into effect in just a few hours will have on their ad business. Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the biggest overhaul […]
Tim Stickings | The Daily Mail | Source URL Google collected sensitive personal data from 4.4 million iPhone users and used it to divide people into categories for advertisers, the High Court has heard. The tech giant is facing a mass legal action over claims that it bypassed privacy settings on Apple iPhone […]
Carey Wedler | The Antimedia | Source URL Amid the highly-publicized spate of mass shootings in America, one public school district is set to impose unprecedented police state tactics to ensure “security” and safety for students. Starting next school year, schools in New York’s Lockport district will be equipped not […]
Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge | Source URL On May 10, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) unveiled the Urban Reconnaissance through Supervised Autonomy (URSA) program, which addresses the issues of reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition within urban environments. The primary objective of the URSA program is to evaluate the feasibility […]
ABC News | Source URL Amazon’s decision to market a powerful face recognition tool to police is alarming privacy advocates, who say the tech giant’s reach could vastly accelerate a dystopian future in which camera-equipped officers can identify and track people in real time, whether they’re involved in crimes or […]
Glyn Moody | TechDirt | Source URL Techdirt has written many stories about facial recognition systems. But there’s a step-change taking place in this area at the moment. The authorities are moving from comparing single images with database holdings, to completely automated scanning of crowds to obtain and analyze huge numbers of facial […]