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Facial recognition tech misidentified 26 California lawmakers as criminals
The ACLU, which wants to ban facial recognition technology in police body cameras, says that its own tests of the technology mistakenly flagged 26 California lawmakers as criminals. More than half of those falsely identified were people of color. The experiment follows a similar test conducted last year, where 28 members of Congress -- the majority also people of color -- were mistakenly identified as criminals.
Death by text: How the Michelle Carter case will impact free speech
Words can kill, a Massachusetts Juvenile Court judge decided last Friday, when he found 20-year old Michelle Carter guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 suicide of her then-boyfriend, Conrad Roy III. This decision, with its broad interpretation of the manslaughter statute, could potentially pose long-lasting consequences for how we speak to each other online and how cyberbullying is addressed by social media platforms.
UK drops plan to allow online guilty pleas for minor crimes
A government plan to introduce online convictions, allowing those who've committed petty crimes to plead guilty and pay fines without having to go to court, has been scrapped. The online option was provided in the Prison and Courts Bill, which has been de-prioritised as Parliament focuses on pushing through other legislation before the end of the current session, and ahead of the snap general election on June 8. In light of this, a public committee yesterday voted not to proceed any further with the bill.
Brits can soon plead guilty and pay fines for petty crimes online
As part of new plans, UK criminals accused of minor offenses will soon be able to plead guilty and receive their sentence online. In a government report published today, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice acknowledged that letting defendants accept their conviction online and letting them pay a pre-determined penalty (including fines and legal costs) upfront would free up magistrates and courts so that they can focus on more complex cases.
The Art of Wushu: Doing the time for doing crime
Bounties are the primary way that PK victims in Age of Wushu get to fight back against their assailants. If you murder someone, your victim can force you to spend time in jail and pay a constable for the service of putting you behind bars. Much as in EVE Online's original bounty system, there are a few kinks. Overall, it works reasonably well, but there is a disconnect between the intent of the system and how it actually works. As a career criminal, I feel that having a bounty and dealing with it is what separates professional killers from mass murderers.
Owner of e-sports team charged with participation in massive hacking operation
What do League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counterstrike have in common? If you answered "all three games were played by eSports team Moscow 5," you are remarkably well-informed and also correct. And if you're that well-informed, you also probably know that the team owner, Dmitry Smilianets, was arrested a year ago as part of an investigation by the FBI. What you might not be aware of is that Smilianets has now been officially charged with taking part in a massive hacking network along with five other Russian and Ukranian nationals. According to a statement by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, this represents the largest such case tried in the US, as Smilianets and his accomplices are charged with stealing at least 160 million debit and credit card numbers. Smilianets is in custody, as he was arrested while sightseeing in the United States, and is expected to be in federal court next week.
EVE Evolved: Three ways to break Retribution
EVE Online's upcoming Retribution expansion is set to revolutionise PvP with its brand-new criminal and bounty hunting systems. Players will be able to hunt down criminals who show their faces in highsec, and bounty hunters will track not just individuals but also entire corporations and alliances. If past expansions are any indication, however, the first thing players invariably do with any new feature is to try to break it. Some people will undoubtedly find ways to bend the new gameplay into scams, others will trick players into getting themselves killed for a few laughs, and a few will hunt for borderline exploits. We now know enough about Retribution's new features to figure out some of the ways they can be potentially abused. The ability to sell kill rights opens up a whole new scam based on tempting players with a juicy target and then pulling the rug out from under their feet. The new Suspect flag that lets players dispense justice to criminals can also be used to bait innocent players into getting themselves killed. There may even be a way to get rid of bounties for free, undermining one of the expansion's core mechanics. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at three potential pitfalls in the upcoming Retribution expansion, how they might work when the expansion goes live, and how to protect yourself from falling victim to them.
iPhones smuggled into China in beer bottles
It's pretty easy to understand most of this story. Someone in Hong Kong wanted to get a bunch of iPhones into Shenzen, China, so they decided to smuggle them across the border. That's illegal, but it makes sense. China charges heavy taxes on importing goods like these, and whoever ran this scheme wanted to avoid the tax. What doesn't make sense, however, is how they did it. The culprit cut open empty beer bottles, placing iPhones inside three at a time, and then resealed the bottles with tape. You can see the full Chinese news report below. Over 200 iPhones were being smuggled in beer bottles. I guess the best explanation is that people often bring empty bottles into China for recycling, and the hope was that these would just get lost in the mix. But it's definitely an unusual scheme. [via OBP]
NYPD makes many arrests in iPhone/iPad sting operation
The New York Police Department ran an undercover sting operation recently on vendors and businesses accused of selling stolen iPads and iPhones, and came up with a whopping 141 arrests. That's a pretty crazy bust -- apparently undercover officers actually went out to businesses with iPhone 4s and iPad 2s that they claim were stolen, and when the business owners agreed to buy them, they swooped in for the arrests. The businesses were previously suspected of selling stolen merchandise, however -- I am not a lawyer, but just sending cops in to try and sell stolen goods seems like entrapment to me. Not all of the arrests were necessarily of the businesses' owners; it's possible that the cops used information given to make other arrests as well. But that's a nice swath of (alleged) criminals to pick up. Apple's devices make for quite a gray and black market around the world, and it's good to see that the NYPD is cracking down on these stolen items.
GamersFirst reveals APB live action trailer
It may be Veteran's Day here in the States, but GamersFirst is exhorting shooter fans to "be all you can't be" courtesy of a new APB: Reloaded trailer that mixes live action cinematography with in-game mayhem. The clip is a three-and-a-half-minute exercise in gangsta wish fulfillment, and it features enough short skirts, big guns, and urban thug chic to fill several summers' worth of action films. The video release coincides with APB: Reloaded's new Facebook campaign, which is designed to spread the word about the free-to-play title and reward customers who get their friends to join in the fun. Check out the clip after the break, and head to the official website for more details. [Source: GamersFirst press release]
PAX 2011: On the (re)starting line with APB: Reloaded
There's nothing like a car crash to slow down traffic as everyone rubbernecks at someone else's misfortune. Likewise, gamers and media alike were fascinated with the premature demise of last year's All Points Bulletin, craning their heads to see how extensive the damage was. But out of the wreck a new and improved version of the game was born, and now the crowds are equally taking notice of this resurrection. Not every canceled MMO gets a second chance at life, after all. This is why we were glad to sit down with GamersFirst's Jon-Enee Merriex at PAX to discuss how APB's reloading is going, what the devs have planned between now and launch, and what other projects they're tackling. Put the pedal to the metal and hit that jump -- this interview can't drive 55!
NYPD creates social networking unit to pick perps, not poke them
You've heard of the Special Victims Unit, but what about the Social Networking Unit? The time has come for criminals dumb enough to boast about their exploits on Facebook and Twitter to pay the proverbial piper. According to NY Daily News, the Big Apple's newly minted Assistant Commissioner, Kevin O'Connor, will enlist the department's juvenile justice unit to hunt down ne'er-do-wells on various social networking sites. So remember, even if your friends don't care about the Cookie Puss you just posted to your Facebook page, somewhere out there someone is watching.
Chinese Hero Online coming to European market
If you live in Europe but haven't heard of a Taiwanese MMORPG called Chinese Hero Online, chances are you will in the near future thanks to a new agreement between Mail.Ru Games and Chinese Gamer. The deal will bring the free-to-play MMO to the European market (and Mail.Ru will also be changing the name to an as-yet undetermined title). According to a Mail.Ru press release, Chinese Hero Online is based on the 1980s cult comic series Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword by Ma Rongcheng and will place players in 1930s China. Conflict arises thanks to various criminal clans and mafia organizations -- of which the player is a member -- leading to a showdown and eventual migration to the United States. Gameplay details are scarce, but we'll bring you more info on Chinese Hero Online as it becomes available.
BodyGuard stun-glove leaps out of comic books, into the arms of LA Sheriff's Department
What's better than a seasoned crime fighter? How about a seasoned crime fighter packing a 300,000-volt punch? A new prototype stun-glove is poised to make such Robocop-inspired dreams a reality, integrating a non-lethal taser, LED flashlight, and laser guided video camera into a fetching piece of futuristic armor. Activated by pulling out a grenade-like pin and palming an embedded finger pad, the Armstar BodyGuard 9XI-HD01 sparks a loud and visible arc of electricity between its wrist-mounted taser spikes, a sight that inventor David Brown hopes will encourage would-be crooks to surrender. The gauntlet's hard plastic shell is even roomy enough to add GPS equipment, biometrics, chemical sensors, or other embedded additions, as needed. The first batch of pre-production superhero gloves will hit the streets of LA later this year for testing and evaluation. Need more? Check out the via to see Kevin Costner (what field of dreams did he walk out of?) take the edge off this shocker in a surprisingly dull video.
Brazilian police live out Robocop fantasies, test glasses that scan for criminals
In advance of the 2016 Olympics 2014 World Cup (and the thousands of visitors it'll draw), military police in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are testing glasses topped with cameras capable of scanning crowds for criminals. The camera analyzes 46,000 biometric points on up to 400 faces per second -- data that then gets compared with a database of up to 13 million people. If a mug happens to match a wanted person or known troublemaker, a red light will appear on a small screen connected to the glasses. And, in a twist particularly befitting Robocop, the glasses can purportedly be calibrated to zoom in from 12 miles away, though they'll typically be used to manage crowds at a much more personal 50 meters (164 feet). For now, local cops will use them to tame crowds (and likely brawls) at soccer matches and even concerts, but hope to eventually monitor those crowded World Cup stands. As for us, we're all kinds of curious. Where do those tens of millions of faces come from -- Santa's naughty and nice list? What if people wear masks? Or sunglasses at night?
Rumor: APB buyout apparently nearing the "light at the end of the tunnel" [Updated]
reddit_url = "http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/24/apb-buyout-apparently-nearing-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunne/"; reddit_target="gaming"; Tweet "It's looking like there might be light at the end of the tunnel for APB. The end of the administration process is apparently close and there appears to be a buyer for the game." Fans of the beleaguered and quickly shuttered All Points Bulletin may have something to celebrate soon, as the above message recently popped up in the game's patch notes. While the website has been taken down, the patcher is still delivering news. Earlier this month, the message went out that there still may be hope for APB, as the October 7th patch notes reported: "The negotiations continue! Still many groups in the fray, still hope that APB will rise again." While the patcher address appears to be a little sketchy, APB's Ben Bateman, one of the former community managers for the title, has retweeted the address of the patch notes in order to spread the word. There is no indication which company may be angling to take over -- and perhaps re-open -- the enforcers-vs-criminals MMO, although last we heard, Epic Games was a contender. We'll bring you more on this as it develops. UPDATE: Ben Bateman works for Codemasters, according to his LinkedIn. Did Codemasters buy APB? Commence speculation! [Thanks to Notturno for noticing the tweet and Mike for the LinkedIn profile!]
The Lawbringer: Gold sellers are criminals!
Welcome to The Lawbringer, WoW.com's weekly tour of the intersection between law and the World of Warcraft. I'm a third-year law student acting as your crossing guard, trying desperately to avoid getting run over myself. All our discussions about contract law and the EULA have been dealing with civil law (civil law as in the opposite of criminal law, not the opposite of common law). As has been pointed out before, selling gold is a violation of the Terms of Use and End User License Agreement. What can American courts do to someone who breaches a contract? For that answer, we have to look at the history of merry olde England. Fire up the DeLorean, Marty! Medieval England (the time period from which law is still recovering) had a bifurcated justice system. If someone had violated a contract, the aggrieved party could sue in a court of law for damages. These damages could be the amount of money necessary to put the victim in the position in which they were before the contract was made. (Example: I promise to mow your lawn, and you pay me $20 ahead of time. I don't mow your lawn; you can sue me for the $20.) Depending on the case, the victim might receive the amount of money necessary to put him in the position in which he would have been had the contract been followed. (Example: same scenario, except not only do I have to pay you back the $20, I have to pay $20 to get someone else to mow the yard.) This is just fine when a problem can be resolved with money.
Leading a life of crime in Earthrise
Today's post-holiday Question of the Week for Earthrise concerns the game mechanics of being (and killing) criminals in the post-apocalyptic MMO. Players who opt to become felons will build up "Criminal Karma", what seems to be a sort of quantified notoriety. From what the developers are saying, it seems that going outlaw won't be a trivial choice, given such characters will be kill-on-sight in the more secure regions of Enterra island. Also, it may be difficult to wipe the slate clean if a character has a shady past. According to Moll, the Earthrise Community Manager: "Criminals cannot clear their records, nor do they generate additional Karma by killing other criminals in safe zones." She adds that criminals who hunt down other criminals won't do so to repair their faction standings, rather there may be a good chance of obtaining loot by taking out a fellow wrongdoer. However, beyond such scenarios where 'evil fights evil', Earthrise's law-abiding citizens will have incentives for killing the criminals of Enterra; successfully knocking off criminal players will garner them extra Contribution rewards (faction standing).
iPhone app helps Tasmanian cops nab crooks
Tasmanian cops are using some pretty sophisticated technology to catch criminals down there -- they have hardware in their cars now that will not only catch pictures of criminals, but upload them to a database, track down any outstanding warrants or other red flags, and update GPS information and location data of where the checks are made. Oh, and there's apparently an app for that. When the cops realized that they could do all of those same functions with department-issued iPhones, they built an app that replicates the functionality seen in the cop cars. So even while the police are walking a beat, they can pull out an iPhone and check up on any drivers they happen to see. Very interesting. Unfortunately, there's not much information available about how long it took them to build the app, or just who put it all together -- the article from Australia's The Mercury seems mostly intended as a warning to criminals everywhere that even though a cop may not recognize you, an iPhone will. But this is just another reminder that we're all walking around with a little handheld device that has the ability to replace most of the technology we were using just a few years ago. When we hear about a cop making an arrest while on a phone call, we'll let you know. [via Obama Pacman]
New All Points Bulletin video profiles the vigilante Enforcers
All Points Bulletin developer Realtime Worlds recently introduced fans of the urban crime game to some of the underworld organizations of San Paro. After focusing on the bad guys first, Realtime Worlds has released a follow-up video about the Enforcer vigilantes who hunt those criminals. Whether that makes Enforcers 'bad guys' too might depend on how morally flexible you are, but APB Lead Creative Designer Stephen Hewitt (aka 'Kitkat'), introduces viewers to the enemies of San Paro's criminals: The Praetorians are something of a well-funded private corporate strike force, while the Prentiss Tigers are only jocks trying to keep their city safe. Hewitt also gives more info on the backstory of All Points Bulletin from the Enforcer perspective. Stick with us after the jump for a video embed of All Points Bulletin's The Organizations of San Paro part 2, a closer look at the game's NPC factions.
