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Palantir shows off an AI that can go to war
Palantir, the surveillance company founded by billionaire mogul Peter Thiel, wants to get in on America's Forever War action.
ICE 'now operates as a domestic surveillance agency,' think tank says
A study by the Center on Privacy and Technology found that ICE uses data brokers to avoid restrictions.
Contact tracing apps are coming whether we like it or not
Can you imagine trying to get 80 percent of Americans, from the privacy and security aware to coronavirus “truthers,” to download a tracking app? It could also save a lot of money; our economy is bleeding out before our eyes.
Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something's wrong with the war on sex trafficking
Silicon Valley's biggest companies have partnered with a single organization to fight sex trafficking -- one that maintains a data collection pipeline, is partnered with Palantir, and helps law enforcement profile and track sex workers without their consent. Major websites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and others are working with a nonprofit called Thorn ("digital defenders of children") and, perhaps predictably, its methods are dubious.
Palmer Luckey chases government contracts with 'virtual wall'
When you hear talk of a border wall, you typically picture an actual, physical construction. But that's not the case for Palmer Luckey. The Oculus co-founder and his startup Anduril Industries have been working on a virtual wall -- one complete with cameras, sensors and VR -- with the aim of scoring a US defense contract and providing border security at a fraction of the cost of a physical wall. Luckey discussed plans for this technology last year, but now it's being tested, both officially and unofficially, and it's catching the eye of US officials.
Peter Thiel might be getting out of Silicon Valley
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Peter Thiel -- billionaire, investor and Gawker-killer -- might be cutting many of his ties with Silicon Valley. The paper spoke to sources it says are familiar with Thiel and his plans and they said that the shift is largely due to the Bay Area's left-leaning politics and what Thiel sees as its intolerance for conservative views. Supposedly, he's considering leaving Facebook's board and plans to move to Los Angeles. Thiel Capital and Thiel Foundation, companies that manage his investments, may also be relocated to LA.
Feds are using Palantir's tech to root out immigrants
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has yet another tool from Palantir to track and identify immigrants, according to The Intercept. Dubbed "Investigative Case Management" (ICM), it's a system that aggregates information from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation. More than that, it taps into data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives too, to provide ICE agents with everything from biometrics, family relationships and phone records on any given person -- citizen or immigrant. These tools aren't necessarily new -- some have been around for a handful of years -- it's just that now, they're being used by the ICE rather than just the Department of Homeland Security.
FBI releases redacted report of its GamerGate investigation
It's one thing to have read about (and reported on) the various threats of violence perpetrated by GamerGate, but seeing the FBI's collection of documents regarding the harassment campaign is entirely different. The Bureau recently released a 173-page document that compiles a plethora of emails and tweets received, seemingly, by targets including culture critic Anita Sarkeesian and game developer Brianna Wu. There are also internal reports, police reports and letters of request to various gaming and tech companies. I only say "seemingly" because names, email addresses and identifying information has been redacted throughout the report. But lining up the emails with dates and news stories, it's plainly obvious who the trolls were writing to.
Peter Thiel's startup helps authorities track illegal immigrants
Data-mining and analytics firm Palantir, co-founded by Gawker-bankrupting tech billionaire Peter Thiel, remains a secretive purveyor of intelligence-gathering tools. While a May report revealed the company's struggles retaining blue chip commercial clients, it still retains contracts with some government agencies. Recently-released documents uncover that the company has quietly provided assistance to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by contributing to an info analysis system that draws information from multiple law enforcement databases. This existing relationship could assist Trump in his stated plans to ramp up the US' immigration vetting process.
Palantir iOS app listens to you play video games, offers tips on the second screen
Apps like Shazam and Zeebox can listen to songs and TV shows and identify what's playing or what you're watching, but until now the tech hasn't been used much for gaming. A companion application for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor could change that. The Palantir iOS app (named after the networked seeing stones from Lord of the Rings canon) uses the aforementioned audio-sync technology to deliver exclusive content and contextual info (like walkthroughs) by listening in while you play the game. That content is curated from Wikia, which hosts vast reserves of lore, guides and minutia for games and pop culture. Shadow of Mordor doesn't have a release date just yet, but the Palantir app also works on trailers. If you want to give it a go for yourself, we've embedded the debut gameplay video after the jump.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's 'Palantir' app listens while you play
Through a joint collaboration with Wikia, Warner Bros. will offer a custom companion app for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. The app is a dedicated hub for all of Wikia's community-curated Shadow of Mordor content, including player-written guides to help with certain missions and background info on characters. While in the app's "reader" mode, users can peruse a wealth of information about the game and the lore surrounding it. More interesting, however, is a secondary sync mode within Palantir. Once initiated, sync mode constantly listens to the game audio coming off your display and automatically retrieves relevant information surrounding protagonist Talion's current going-ons. Information runs the gamut from character biographies to mission walkthroughs and more. An initial version of the app will be available later this month, with limited sync capabilities – not that it's useful unless you're watching a trailer for the game. Wikia and Warner Bros. will offer the app free of charge on iPad, though Wikia isn't opposed to offering Palantir on other platforms down the line. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, in development at Monolith Productions, launches this year on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC.
LotRO displays the true power of Saruman
As Lord of the Rings' Rise of Isengard nears, players grow ever more curious about the foe that sits in the middle of his twisted fortress and his plans. Today Turbine released six new screenshots that show Saruman up to no good, and he certainly gives the impression that he's not a wizard with which to be trifled. For an old guy in a bathrobe, that is. Two of the screens show Saruman looking into his palantir and calling down the forces of nature on his enemies, two give a better view of his incredibly detailed Orthanc tower, and the last pair shows the sort of warm welcome we'll be getting from the denizens of Isengard. Rise of Isengard is slated for a September 27th release, and it will bring a number of welcome changes to the game including itemization improvements. You can check out the new screenshots in the gallery below. %Gallery-9579%
The Road to Mordor: Pippin's top five plugins
This past week in LotRO's been a bit like riding river rapids: There's been a lot of rapid ups-and-downs, violent lurches to avoid dangerous objects, and a whole lot of noise that's drowning out the calmer waters ahead. For every piece of good news and positive word-of-mouth, there's been a lot of unfortunate bumps, such as server queues, dynamic layers, mouthy trolls and Codemaster's launch delay. However, I believe it's all going to settle down in a couple more weeks, and LotRO will emerge the better for it. So if this is your first week in Lord of the Rings Online, welcome! Find a great kinship, take time to smell the flowers, and hunt some orc for me. Today I'd like to take a look at one of the unsung heroes of the recent content patch -- the ability to create and use plugins (also called mods and addons) to enhance your user interface. While the system is still in beta and has a rough-around-the-edges feel to it, it's already shown great potential, particularly though the creativity that mod designers are pouring into it. While there are only a small number of plugins available as of right now and Turbine has yet to expand the scope of these Lua scripts beyond constrained limits, it's not too early to beef up your UI with these spiffy additions. Read on, free peoples of Middle-internet!
New Book 12 screens released by Turbine
The Book 12 content patch for the Lord of the Rings Online is on the test server and Turbine has dropped a few tantalizing hints of what's in store. They released brand new screenshots covering three of the many features being implemented in this patch: Amarthiel's redesign, new boss-dropped trophy decorations and the outfit system.If you've gone through the Book 10 epic quest line, you'll know Amarthiel well. She's the sorceress with the palanitr you had to track down with the aid of crazy Sara Oakheart. The three screenshots provided show a new and improved Amarthiel in all her megalomaniacal glory.The housing decoration options shown in four of the screenies are the new trophies that will be dropping from Middle-earth's boss mobs in Book 12. These trophies can then be displayed in the players house or, more likely, the Guild Hall. We can see so far a mannequin holding up a suit of armor, two swords mounted on a wall, an outdoor trophy in the shape of a monument and, finally a head on a pike (or the Elven babe lounging on the bed, we're not sure which one is the prize).The new cosmetic outfits that your character can put over their battle gear are also on display in six screenshots. They spotlight many different races and classes and now they no longer looking like patchwork dolls. Some of these new clothes will be crafted, other items can be vendor purchased. If you look closely at the the picture of the Elf outside the Guild Hall, you'll see one of the new quiver models on his back.When this patch goes live it will only be a matter of time before we see the first screenshot of a raid party confronting the Balrog in pretty pink dresses.%Gallery-14799%
