A report by four Canadian privacy commissioners has found Clearview AI’s technology created a significant risk to individuals by allowing law enforcement and companies to match photos against its database of more than three billion images, including Canadians and children. Clearview AI’s software collects images from the internet and allows users to search for matches. … Read more »
Posts Categorized: Electronic Surveillance
Amazon’s Panorama box lets firms check if staff follow coronavirus rules
Amazon plans to sell companies a way to detect when staff are not wearing face masks or socially distancing. Beyond the pandemic, the system could also be used to track compliance of other workplace rules or to monitor the public – for example, to check the number of customers queuing in a store. It involves… Read more »
Coronavirus: How China’s using surveillance to tackle outbreak
The coronavirus pandemic may have emerged in China, but the country now has fewer cases than the US, Italy and Spain. The Chinese government has used tools such as phone tracking to control the outbreak. Other countries are starting to look at similar technological solutions. But how does China’s controversial surveillance system work and can… Read more »
How worried should we be about ‘Big Brother’ technology?
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 »
Holy tech! Churches try new ways to connect
Geraint Harries, a technology specialist, for St John the Evangelist in Lancashire, admits that when his parish first started using social media, it didn’t get it quite right. “At first we didn’t really know what social media meant for the church and fell into the trap of simply chasing the number of likes and followers… 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 »
Honour of Kings uses facial recognition to check ages
One of China’s most popular video games is testing the use of facial recognition to check users’ ages. Honour of Kings’ publisher Tencent announced the move at the weekend. It said the trial would initially be limited to “thousands” of new players based in Beijing and Shenzhen. The title has been criticised in local media over claims… Read more »
A Three-Digit Score Could Dictate Your Place in Society
In 2015 Ant Financial was one of eight tech companies granted approval from the People’s Bank of China to develop their own private credit scoring platforms. Zhima Credit appeared in the Alipay app shortly after that. The service tracks your behavior on the app to arrive at a score between 350 and 950, and offers… Read more »
Smartphone fingerprint sensors may not be as secure as you think
New research suggests that smartphones can be easily fooled by fake fingerprints that have been digitally composed. Source: New York Times Date: April 25th, 2017 Link: https://www.thestar.com/business/tech_news/2017/04/11/smartphone-fingerprint-sensors-may-not-be-as-secure-as-you-think.html Discussion 1) Biometrics has been touted as a very secure way to ensure the security of technology. What could we do better now that we know fingerprints are so easily falsifiable?… Read more »
Investigative reporter for CBS News continues to fight government electronic surveillance
As an investigative reporter for CBS News, Ms. Attkisson was responsible for investigating and reporting on national news stories. Between 2011 and 2013, she investigated and prepared various high-profile news reports, including ones related to the “Fast and Furious” “gunwalking” operation and the attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya… In 2011——at the… Read more »
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