facial recognition
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Members of Congress push to ban federal use of face recognition
It follows a case in which a man was wrongfully arrested after an incorrect biometric match.
Boston bans police and city use of facial recognition software
Following the wrongful arrest of Robert Williams, Boston has become the second-largest city in the US to ban the use of facial recognition software.
False facial recognition match leads to a wrongful arrest in Detroit
A Michigan man was arrested due to a false match in a facial recognition system, and the ACLU is filing a complaint in response.
Podcast: PlayStation 5 details and hesitation over facial recognition
Devindra and Cherlynn are joined by Nathan Ingraham to discuss the PlayStation 5's future and potential price, as well as games like "The Last Of Us II."
NY City Council passes NYPD surveillance oversight bill
In a 44-6 vote on Thursday, the NYC City Council voted in favor of passing the POST Act, which will empower civilian oversight of the NYPD's sprawling surveillance state.
Microsoft reportedly tried to sell facial recognition tech to the DEA
Microsoft pitched its facial recognition technology to the DEA despite its concerns about selling to local police.
Microsoft won't sell facial recognition to police without federal regulation
Microsoft is joining Amazon in halting police access to facial recognition until there's regulation in place.
Amazon places 'moratorium' on police use of its facial recognition tech
Amazon will put a 'moratorium' on use of its Rekognition facial recognition tech to give Congress time to implement new ethics laws.
IBM stops work on facial recognition over human rights concerns
IBM is exiting its facial recognition business over concerns of possible human rights violations and racial biases.
ACLU sues Clearview AI over alleged privacy violations
The ACLU has sued Clearview AI for allegedly violating Illinois privacy law through its face recognition-based surveillance technology.
Banjo CEO resigns to preserve the company's AI surveillance deals
Banjo's CEO has resigned to prevent his racist past from affecting the AI surveillance company's deals with Utah and others.
Utah pauses Banjo's AI surveillance after learning of owner's racist past
Utah authorities have put use of Banjo's surveillance tech on hold while they investigate for bias due to the owner's racist past.
Server screw-up exposes Clearview’s facial recognition AI software
learview AI is widely seen as a privacy nightmare by the public and even privacy-challenged tech giants like Google. Now, the company has shown that it can’t even take care of its own data, according to a report from TechCrunch. It managed to expose its source code to anyone with an internet connection due to a server misconfiguration, as spotted by a security researcher at the Dubai-based firm SpiderSilk.
AI transforms 'The Great British Bakeoff' into a horror show
Artificial intelligence (AI) can do astonishing things when given specific jobs, but it's terrible at understanding context -- something we've seen before in this series. Thanks to a new experiment inspired by The Great British Bakeoff (GBBO), we can again witness the tragedy of AI stepping outside its lane. Researcher Janelle Shane trained NVIDIA's StyleGan 2 system on images of the show's bakers, pastries and tents, along with "random squirrels," and the results were decidedly not charming and sweet.
Microsoft pulls its smaller investments in facial recognition tech
Microsoft has been vocal about setting limits on facial recognition, and it's now backing that up with its financial support -- or lack thereof. The company is ending minority investments in facial recognition startups and is pulling its stake in AnyVision, an Israeli startup whose recognition tech drew controversy when word emerged of its use at West Bank checkpoints. These investments don't allow for the "level of oversight or control" Microsoft likes over facial recognition, according to a joint statement from Microsoft's M12 venture capital fund and AnyVision. The Windows maker will instead focus on larger investments where it has more of a say.
Washington state approves stronger facial recognition regulations
Washington officials have approved a set of stronger facial recognition regulations for the state. Members of the state's House of Representatives and the Senate have reached a final compromise on the rules designed to regulate the use of facial recognition. Since Washington often leads the way in tech-related laws -- it was the first state to pass its own net neutrality law -- this sounds like an auspicious development for privacy advocates across the nation.
ACLU sues Homeland Security over airport facial recognition records
There's no question that AI surveillance is on the rise, but there are a lot of questions about just how extensively law enforcement agencies, like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are using it. In an attempt to increase transparency, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing DHS -- along with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The ACLU is requesting records on the use of face surveillance at airports and borders, as well as the agencies' plans for future use.
Banjo AI surveillance is already monitoring traffic cams across Utah
A small company called Banjo is bringing pervasive AI surveillance to law enforcement throughout Utah, Motherboard reports. In July, Banjo signed a five-year, $20.7 million contract with Utah. The agreement gives the company real-time access to state traffic cameras, CCTV and public safety cameras, 911 emergency systems, location data for state-owned vehicles and more. In exchange, Banjo promises to alert law enforcement to "anomalies," aka crimes, but the arrangement raises all kinds of red flags.
Russian court says facial recognition tech does not violate privacy
While some countries are taking a stand against the use of facial recognition on the grounds of privacy invasion, Russia is taking the opposite view. A court in Moscow has ruled that the city's use of facial recognition does not violate the privacy of citizens.
Apple blocks Clearview AI's iPhone app
Won't someone just let Clearview AI invade our privacy in peace? After having its full client list stolen and leaked on the internet, the controversial facial recognition startup is now in hot water with Apple. The iPhone maker has blocked Clearview's iPhone app over violating the rules of its enterprise software program, TechCrunch reports. Clearview was relying on an enterprise certificate to let users install its software outside of the App Store, but that goes against Apple's rules, which limits certificate access to people within a company. If this situation sounds familiar, it's because Apple also blocked certificates from Facebook and Google for unauthorized app distribution. In those cases, though, Apple's move also killed internal apps that both companies relied on. With Clearview's situation, its core app, which is used by customers for its advanced facial recognition tool, is now inaccessible to iPhone users. Just like how Gizmodo discovered Clearview's Android app, TechCrunch says it discovered the iOS version on a public Amazon S3 storage share. While neither site was actually able to log into the apps -- they still require an active username and password for Clearview's service -- the fact that they were so easily accessible doesn't instill much confidence. Then again, we already had our doubts after Clearview's massive client list breach. The company's CEO, Hoan Ton-That, told TechCrunch: "We are in contact with Apple and working on complying with their terms and conditions."
