Picture the scene: you’re trying to cross a busy road in the city of Xiangyang. You should wait for the lights to change, but you are in a hurry, so you make a dash for it, weaving through the traffic. A few days later, you might see your photo, name and government ID number on… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Civil Liberties
Microsoft launches $25M program to use AI for disabilities
Microsoft is launching a $25 million initiative to use artificial intelligence to build better technology for people with disabilities. CEO Satya Nadella announced the new “AI for Accessibility” effort as he kicked off Microsoft’s annual conference for software developers. The Build conference in Seattle is meant to foster enthusiasm for the company’s latest ventures in… Read more »
Amazon reportedly employs thousands of people to listen to your Alexa conversations
Not only is Alexa listening when you speak to an Echo smart speaker, an Amazon employee is potentially listening, too.Amazon (AMZN) employs a global team that transcribes the voice commands captured after the wake word is detected and feeds them back into the software to help improve Alexa’s grasp of human speech so it can respond more efficiently in the… Read more »
ID Badges Designed To Track Employees’ Day At Work
Source: CBS News Date: April 12th, 2019 Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbtifqF5YTk Discussion What are some of the privacy issues over wearing a Humanyze tracking badge? How might this be a good thing for the employee?
Microsoft search engine Bing was blocked in China
Microsoft confirmed Thursday that Bing was unavailable in China, raising concerns that it could be the latest in a growing list of global internet platforms to be shut out of China’s huge market. Hours later, however, some users were once again able to access the service. “We can confirm that Bing was inaccessible in China,… Read more »
The Brutal Fight to Mine Your Data and Sell It to Your Boss
HiQ is a “people analytics” firm that creates software tools for corporate human resources departments. Its Skill Mapper graphically represents the credentials and abilities of a workforce; its Keeper service identifies when employees are at risk of leaving for another job. Both draw the overwhelming majority of their data from a single trove: the material that is… Read more »
How WhatsApp is being abused in Brazil’s elections
Political campaigners in Brazil have used software that scrapes Facebook for citizens’ phone numbers, and then automatically sends them WhatsApp messages and adds them to WhatsApp groups. Almost three weeks ago, 147 million voters in the country went to the polls for legislative elections and the first round of the presidential elections. This Sunday, they… Read more »
Why Russian trolls may be more excited that the NFL is back than you are
Millions of Americans are looking forward to the return of Sunday NFL football this weekend. And somewhere in St. Petersburg, a group of Russian trolls likely is too. The same Kremlin-linked group that posed as Americans on social media during the 2016 US presidential election has repeatedly exploited the controversy surrounding the NFL and players… Read more »
Civil Rights Group Criticizes Amazon Over Facial Recognition
Amazon.com Inc. drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday over a facial-recognition system offered to law-enforcement agencies that the advocacy group says can be used to violate civil rights. In marketing materials obtained by the group, Amazon Web Services said its Rekognition system uses artificial intelligence to quickly identify people in photos and videos,… Read more »
Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to fix Facebook. His employees keep getting in the way.
A Facebook executive disclosed that the company wasn’t yet sure how to put in place Zuckerberg’s latest major directive: shifting the company’s metrics so that “meaningful interactions” are valued over likes and clicks, a response to the misinformation and reports about the harms of social media that drew attention last year. Source: Washington Post Date: March 1st,… Read more »
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