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Congress approves the TRACED Act to fight robocalls
Today, Senate approved the TRACED Act, or Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement Act. The legislation could give the government new powers to prosecute robocallers, The Washington Post says. It would also require carriers that authenticate and block spam callers to share those services with customers for free.
Vehicle recognition tech will be used to find cars involved in Amber Alerts
Amber Alerts play a vital role in child safety within the US. Launched in 1996 in honor of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was snatched and murdered in Texas, the alerts send out emergency messages to law enforcement, broadcasters and civilians with details of child abduction. The more people that see information about the child in question, their last known location or the vehicle they're suspected to be traveling in, the greater the likelihood of getting them home safe and sound. And today, the program is expanding to utilize AI and vehicle recognition technology.
Hitting the Books: How police tech reinforces America's racial segregation
Welcome to Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
Ring gave police a detailed map of area doorbell installations
Police departments partnered with Amazon's Ring security service had access to maps that revealed where Ring video doorbells were located, CNET reports. While Amazon has said police do not have access to the location of devices -- which they can request footage from -- the heat maps provided to police allowed them to zoom in on specific locations.
Tesla Cybertruck will join Dubai's eclectic police fleet
Dubai's police force is well-known for incorporating supercars and other oddities into its fleet, but its latest might be the most eccentric to date. The law enforcement agency has revealed that it'll add Tesla's Cybertruck to its stable -- it claims this will happen in 2020, but that's clearly not happening when production doesn't start until late 2021. Commander-in-Chief Maj Gen. Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri explained that this would help "enhance security presence" in tourist spots like the Burj Khalifa. Goodness knows you're less likely to speed if an electric death wedge is likely to hunt you down.
Massachusetts police have been quietly testing a robot dog
Boston Dynamics has been looking for ways to put its robots to work, but it turns out they've already seen some service. Radio station WBUR and the ACLU have learned that the Massachusetts State Police bomb squad leased Boston Dynamics' Spot robot between August and November. While the document didn't elaborate on the role the bot would serve, a spokesperson said it was used as a "mobile remote observation device" to keep watch over suspicious devices and dangerous locations.
Florida police obtain Alexa recordings in murder investigation
Police have once again obtained Alexa voice recordings as part of an investigation, although they're not necessarily expecting a treasure trove of information this time around. Law enforcement in Hallandale Beach, Florida has used a search warrant to collect Alexa recordings from two Echo Dots as part of a murder case. Investigators want to know if the smart speakers inadvertently picked up audio of a July altercation between Adam Crespo and his wife Silvia Crespo. She died of a spear wound to the chest; Adam maintained that it was the result of an accident that snapped the spear, but detectives want to know if Alexa preserved any evidence of possible foul play.
ACLU sues to reveal the FBI's uses of facial recognition
The ACLU is unsurprisingly concerned about the FBI's use of facial recognition, and it wants to force the agency to divulge its practices. It just filed a lawsuit against the FBI, the Justice Department and the DEA ordering them to turn over records showing "when, where and how" they use facial recognition tech. The civil liberties group was concerned that these systems could "fundamentally alter" society and lead to constant surveillance, and pointed to the FBI's history and public stances as reasons to be concerned.
Georgia court rules police need a warrant to get data from your car
Your connected car data might be safer from prying eyes -- Georgia's Supreme Court has ruled that police need a warrant to obtain personal data from cars. The decision overturns an earlier state Court of Appeals ruling that defended police obtaining crash data from a car in a vehicular homicide case. The state and appeals court "erred" by claiming that the data grab didn't violate defendant Victor Mobley's Fourth Amendment rights protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures, according to the Supreme Court.
Treaty would force Facebook to share encrypted chats with UK police
A cross-Atlantic political agreement could put social networks in an awkward position. Sources for The Times and Bloomberg understand that the US and UK will sign a treaty in October that would force Facebook and other social networks to hand encrypted messages to UK law enforcement. The measure would be limited to 'serious' cases like pedophilia and terrorism, but it could still leave social sites either handing over effectively unusable data (if they can't decrypt chats themselves) or weakening security through backdoors.
Facebook will train its content-removal AI with police camera footage
Facebook will use footage from police body cameras to train its automatic detection systems to spot and remove footage of mass shootings. The company announced Tuesday that it will partner with law enforcement in the US and UK to obtain footage from their firearms training programs. Data from those videos should help Facebook's systems detect real-world, first-person footage of violent events.
Billions of license plate scans are part of a private surveillance database
The US government might have reconsidered its plans for license plate recognition, but companies haven't -- and they've raised serious privacy concerns in the process. Motherboard has posted an exposé detailing the Digital Recognition Network, a privately run database that collects legions of plate recognition scans (roughly 9 billion to date) from repo drivers with camera-equipped cars. The system automatically captures both the plates and locations of every car they drive by, making it possible to track the movement of car owners across the US over months or even years. Anyone with access could find out where you live, work and socialize.
California bill may fill data gaps in the criminal justice system
Inconsistent data isn't just a headache in the criminal justice system -- it could make the difference between someone going free or serving time. California might do something about that soon, though. The state legislature has passed a bill, AB-1331, that would improve data handling for criminal justice. The measure would set clear data collection and reporting standards for both the courts and law enforcement, such as a requirement that agencies hand over criminal ID and information, incident and court numbers. It would also let courts share some data with researchers hoping to interpret justice data and hold officials to account.
Alleged JPMorgan hacker set to plead guilty
Andrei Tyurin, one of the key suspects in the huge JPMorgan Chase hack in 2014, is set to plead guilty, according to a court filing obtained by Bloomberg. The Russian reportedly struck a deal with federal prosecutors and will appear at a plea hearing next week in New York.
US investigates escort and massage sites over human trafficking
Backpage is no more, but US authorities are still determined to crack down on sites that enable human trafficking and other crimes. Wall Street Journal sources say Homeland Security, the Justice Department and others are reportedly investigating escort and massage sites Eros.com, EroticMonkey.ch and Rubmaps.ch to see if they've either participated in or knowingly facilitated trafficking, prostitution and money laundering. All three are dominating in the US in the wake of Backpage's closure, and both Eros and Rubmaps have turned up as evidence in multiple sex trafficking cases.
Recommended Reading: Behind the scenes of Netflix's 'Dark Crystal' prequel
The creators of 'The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance' just loved throwing puppets Liz Shannon Miller, The Verge Netflix's Dark Crystal prequel series debuted this week, offering fans another look at the world created by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. The Verge caught up with executive producers Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews for a behind-the-scenes interview ahead of the streaming debut. There's plenty of detail on the cast, the crew, the tech and "Olympic-level puppet-throwing."
Amazon's Ring reveals where it's partnering with law enforcement
Amazon's Ring security service now works with 405 law enforcement agencies across the US. Today, Ring released a map showing every police department it's partnered with, as well as details on when each partnership began. The hundreds of departments listed have access to Ring's Neighbors Portal, which allows them to request footage from Ring's video doorbells.
Amazon is reportedly teaching police how to get Ring footage without a warrant (updated)
Amazon's home security division Ring is not only working with law enforcement and trying to collect 911 call data. It's also reportedly coaching police on how to get people to hand over their surveillance footage without a warrant, according to Motherboard.
Amazon’s Ring wants to collect information from 911 calls
Amazon's smart doorbell division Ring is angling for access to 911 caller data, a report by Gizmodo reveals. As part of its Neighbors app, which provides information about crimes in users' local areas, Ring is seeking to access data from the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) feeds used by emergency call responders.
Amazon's Ring service may already have 200 law enforcement agency partners
Amazon's Ring security service is working 200 law enforcement agencies, according to an email obtained by Motherboard. A few days ago, the publication learned that Ring forged partnerships with law enforcement agencies. Some of those partner agencies are reportedly required to advertise Ring home security cameras in exchange for free units and for access to an anonymized portal that allows them to request security footage from users. A Ring spokesperson denied that the program was supposed to be a deep, dark secret, but the company never disclosed the number of partnerships it maintains.
