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Burned alive for using a smartphone
This article was produced in partnership with Point, a YouTube channel for investigative journalism. Mosul, Iraq -- Before the camera rolls, 34-year-old Fatima pulls her head scarf over her face and ushers her young daughter out of frame. It can be hard to get people on camera in this city. They're happy to talk off the record, but as soon as a recorder comes out, they become skittish -- and with good reason. They're terrified that ISIS will eventually return and that they'll be first on the chopping block for talking to journalists about the brutality of the occupation.
Will we be able to control the killer robots of tomorrow?
From ship-hunting Tomahawk missiles and sub-spying drone ships to semi-autonomous UAV swarms and situationally-aware reconnaissance robots, the Pentagon has long sought to protect its human forces with the use of robotic weapons. But as these systems gain ever-greater degrees of intelligence and independence, their increasing autonomy has some critics worried that humans are ceding too much power to devices whose decision-making processes we don't fully understand (and which we may not be entirely able to control).
DJI grounded its drones in Iraq and Syria to lock out extremists
The most recognizable name in drones has reportedly stepped in to help the United States in its ongoing war on terror. As The Register reports today, Shenzhen-based DJI -- makers of the ever-popular Phantom and Inspire series quadcopters -- quietly created software-based no-fly zones over large parts of Iraq and Syria where ISIS fighters have been known to strap improvised bombs to commercial drones.
ISIS has converted commercial drones into bombers
As Iraqi Security Forces attempt to drive ISIS out of Mosul, a large city in Northern Iraq that the terrorist organization has occupied since 2014, it's facing an arsenal of improvised, experimental weapons. One of ISIS' newest hand-made weapons is the armed drone: a commercial quadcopter equipped with the ability to drop grenade-size explosives.
