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Facial recognition linked to a second wrongful arrest by Detroit police
It's the second-known such case in the US to date.
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.
Ask Engadget: Can the police make me unlock my smartphone?
The support shared among readers in the comments section is one of the things we love most about the Engadget community. Over the years, we've known you to offer sage advice on everything from Chromecasts and cameras to drones and smartphones. In fact, our community's knowledge and insights are a reason why many of you participate in the comments. We truly value the time and detail you all spend in responding to questions from your fellow tech-obsessed commenters, which is why we've decided to bring back our "Ask Engadget" column. This week's question concerns the legal side of technology. Weigh in with your advice in the comments -- and feel free to send your own questions along to ask@engadget.com! What are my rights (as a US citizen) if the police ever ask me to unlock my phone?
At-home DNA testing company gives the FBI access to its database
The FBI has struck up a partnership with one of the largest at-home DNA testing services, according to BuzzFeed News. Apparently, Family Tree DNA has allowed the agency to access its genealogy database containing the DNA profiles of over a million users. Law enforcement has been using the public's increasing fascination with DNA testing as a tool to crack cases for quite a while now. But this is reportedly the first time a private firm has willingly given authorities access to its repository.
Hitman convicted thanks to fitness watch location data
An alleged hitman has learned hard lessons about the the value of GPS data on fitness watches. A Liverpool jury has found Mark Fellows guilty of the 2015 murder of mob boss Paul Massey in part thanks to location info from the accused's Garmin Forerunner. An expert inspecting the watch's info discovered that Fellows had recorded a 35-minute trip that took him to a field just outside Massey's home ahead of the murder. He appeared to be scouting the route he would take later to perform the hit, a claim supported by cell site and CCTV evidence showing Fellows driving his car past Massey's house numerous times in the week before the slaying.
NYPD will deploy a drone at Times Square on New Year's Eve
Security at Times Square tends to be extra-tight on New Year's Eve, but it's now poised to have some robotic support. The NYPD is deploying one of its new camera-toting drones at the event for the first time, giving it an aerial surveillance tool that's decidedly closer to the action than a conventional aircraft or helicopter. The machine will not only watch for trouble in the crowd, but wield "counter-drone technology" to keep potentially hostile vehicles at bay.
Police are using fake Amazon boxes with GPS to catch thieves
'Tis the season for tons of Amazon packages arriving at your doorstep, but nothing puts a damper on the holidays like having one stolen. Police in Jersey City have been setting up fake Amazon boxes on doorsteps in order to catch thieves, according to the Associated Press. Law enforcement has installed doorbell cameras at homes where the sting operations are set up and rigged the packages with GPS tracking devices to catch the criminals.
NYPD pulls 2,990 body cameras after one catches fire
The NYPD's plan to outfit every officer with body cameras has run into trouble. The department has pulled about 2,990 Vievu LE-5 cameras across the city after one officer's camera caught fire near a Staten Island precinct. There's a "possible product defect" with the LE-5, the NYPD said in a statement, and it was removing existing models out of an "abundance of caution." Most of the force's 15,500 cameras (including LE-4 models) aren't affected.
Police told to avoid looking at recent iPhones to avoid lockouts
Police have yet to completely wrap their heads around modern iPhones like the X and XS, and that's clearer than ever thanks to a leak. Motherboard has obtained a presentation slide from forensics company Elcomsoft telling law enforcement to avoid looking at iPhones with Face ID. If they gaze at it too many times (five), the company said, they risk being locked out much like Apple's Craig Federighi was during the iPhone X launch event. They'd then have to enter a passcode that they likely can't obtain under the US Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which protects suspects from having to provide self-incriminating testimony.
Key suspect in JPMorgan hack is now in US custody
Closure might be coming for victims of the massive JPMorgan Chase hack in 2014. The country of Georgia has extradited the alleged (and until now mysterious) hacker at the core of the crime, Andrei Tyurin, to the US. The Russian citizen pleaded not guilty in a New York court to charges that included conspiracy, hacking, identity theft and wire fraud. He reportedly worked with mastermind Gery Shalon to steal personal data from JPMorgan and other banks for use in a pump-and-dump stock scheme that may have made hundreds of millions of dollars.
Apple is creating an online portal for law enforcement data requests
Apple and law enforcement have had a contentious relationship, frequently butting heads over what level of access Apple should provide officials when approached. The issue came into a rather public spotlight in 2016 when the FBI took Apple to court over its refusal to unlock an iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooter. But, in an effort to work with officials, Apple has provided training for law enforcement officers on what sorts of data are available from Apple and the legal processes for obtaining it. Now, it's expanding that program and developing an online portal through which officials can submit requests for data.
MIT crypto system shares police data without wrecking investigations
Law enforcement routinely secures orders requiring that tech companies hand over data, but the targets of those requests don't always know if they've been under the microscope -- especially if there were never charges in the first place. MIT's CSAIL may have a way to hold officers more accountable for those decisions. Its researchers are developing a cryptography-based system that could help track these requests while still protecting investigations and police. AUDIT (Accountability of Unreleased Data for Improved Transparency) would require that law enforcers submit requests to a public ledger sometime after the fact using a "cryptographic commitment." The approach would ensure that police and courts send all the right documents in a way the public can see, but would keep the agencies' actions confidential.
Orlando didn't renew its facial recognition contract with Amazon
The Orlando Police Department is one of the law enforcement groups that has been testing Amazon's facial recognition service Rekognition, using it in its headquarters and in downtown Orlando, though supposedly only with officers that agreed to test the system. However, the pilot program expired last week and the department says it has not yet decided whether it will continue to use the facial recognition technology. "Staff continues to discuss and evaluate whether to recommend continuation of the pilot at a further date. At this time that process in still ongoing and the contract with Amazon remains expired," the city of Orlando and the police department said this week in a joint statement given to Floridapolitics.com.
Amazon faces pressure to stop selling facial recognition to police
Amazon may not have much choice but to address mounting criticism over its sales of facial recognition tech to governments. The American Civil Liberties Union has delivered both a petition and a letter from 17 investors demanding that Amazon drop its Rekognition system and exit the surveillance business. While the two sides have somewhat different motivations, they share one thing in common: a concern for privacy.
Experimental drone uses AI to spot violence in crowds
Drone-based surveillance still makes many people uncomfortable, but that isn't stopping research into more effective airborne watchdogs. Scientists have developed an experimental drone system that uses AI to detect violent actions in crowds. The team trained their machine learning algorithm to recognize a handful of typical violent motions (punching, kicking, shooting and stabbing) and flag them when they appear in a drone's camera view. The technology could theoretically detect a brawl that on-the-ground officers might miss, or pinpoint the source of a gunshot.
iOS 12 tests Restricted mode that locks USB access after an hour
In recent beta releases of iOS 11, Apple added a feature that disables device's ability to connect to accessories over USB after the phone has been locked for a period of time. In May, the lockout kicked in after a week, however, Elcomsoft (which makes forensic tools that can unlock and access data from mobile devices) noted just a couple of days ago that the iOS 11.4.1 beta release shortened the time to just one hour, and early testers of the iOS 12 developer beta are seeing the same thing there.
Congress wants answers from Amazon on facial-recognition technology
Amazon's controversial face-recognition technology is being tested and used by the Orlando police department, and apparently Congress isn't happy about that. Two members of the House of Representatives, Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), have sent Jeff Bezos a letter demanding he explain exactly how the tech, called Rekognition, is being used by law enforcement.
Orlando confirms it's testing Amazon's facial recognition in public
After the ACLU discovered that Orlando's cops are using Amazon's controversial Rekognition facial detection system, police chief John Mina said they're only testing the software at their headquarters. Now, Mina has admitted at a news conference that three of the city's IRIS cameras downtown are also equipped with the software. He insisted that despite Rekognition's presence in public cameras, it can still only track the seven officers who volunteered to test the system. Mina admitted that they could use the software to track persons of interest in the future, but they're "a long way from that."
Bavarian police can use DNA to find suspects’ eye and hair color
The government of the German state of Bavaria has just passed a new law that will give police much more leeway when it comes to using DNA to track down a suspect, Science reports. Until now, law enforcement in the region have only been allowed to use DNA to match a suspect with crime scene evidence. The new law, however, will let them use DNA to find eye color, skin color, hair color, age and "biogeographical ancestry" probabilities based on genetic markers. The new DNA standards are just part of the law -- which also includes other allowances for expanding police surveillance -- and it has drawn a lot of criticism to date.
Police face recognition misidentified 2,300 as potential criminals
Ask critics of police face recognition why they're so skeptical and they'll likely cite unreliability as one factor. What if the technology flags an innocent person? Unfortunately, that caution appears to have been warranted to some degree. South Wales Police are facing a backlash after they released data showing that their face recognition trial at the 2017 Champions League final misidentified thousands as potential criminals. Out out of 2,470 initial matches, 2,297 were false positives -- about 92 percent.
