The New York Times reports on what the city’s police department calls Digidog, “a 70-pound robotic dog with a loping gait, cameras and lights affixed to its frame, and a two-way communication system that allows the officer maneuvering it remotely to see and hear what is happening.”
Police said the robot can see in the dark and assess how safe it is…
Tag: civil liberties
Edward Snowden Urges Donations to the EFF
In October, Edward Snowden was granted permanent residency in Russia. A new web page by the EFF applauds his past activities as a U.S. whistleblower. “His revelations about secret surveillance programs opened the world’s eyes to a new level of government misconduct, and reinvigorated EFF’s continuing work in the courts and with lawmakers to end unlawful mass spying.” And then they…
Facebook’s Criticism of Apple’s Tracking Change Called ‘Laughable’ by EFF
The MacRumors site writes:
Facebook’s recent criticism directed at Apple over an upcoming tracking-related privacy measure is “laughable,” according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit organization that defends civil liberties in the digital world. Facebook has claimed that Apple’s new opt-in tracking policy will hurt small businesses who benefit from personalized advertising, but the EFF believes that Facebook’s campaign against…
ACLU Sues DHS Over Purchase of Cellphone Location Data Used To Track Immigrants
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing federal authorities over their alleged use of cellphone location data — particularly in immigration enforcement. From a report: The nonprofit organization today filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to force the agencies to release records about purchasing cellphone location data…
FCC To Move on Trump Plan To Weaken Social Media Legal Shield
U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency will consider President Donald Trump’s request to weaken legal protections for social media companies such as Twitter. From a report: The FCC will begin a rulemaking to “clarify” the meaning of a law that gives broad legal immunity to social media companies for their handling of users’ posts, Pai said in…
Controversial Data Firm Palantir Fetches Market Value of Nearly $22 Billion In Its Debut On the NYSE
US tech firm Palantir, known for supplying controversial data-sifting software to government agencies, has fetched a market value of nearly $22 billion in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The BBC reports: The firm, which launched in 2003 with backing from right-wing libertarian tech investor Peter Thiel and America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), builds programs that integrate massive data…
Should the U.S. Pardon Edward Snowden?
Long-time Slashdot readers 93 Escort Wagon and schwit1 both shared the news that U.S. President Trump is “considering” a pardon for Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who “leaked a trove of secret files in 2013 to news organizations that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations” carried out by the agency, according to Reuters: U.S. authorities for years…
While Some Top Creators Abandon TikTok, the ACLU Opposes a Ban
Late Friday night, the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted its objections to banning TikTok in the United States. “Banning an app like TikTok, which millions of Americans use to communicate with each other, is a danger to free expression and technologically impractical.” More details from TechCrunch: “With any Internet platform, we should be concerned about the risk that sensitive private data…
New York Bans Use of Facial Recognition In Schools Statewide
The New York legislature today passed a moratorium banning the use of facial recognition and other forms of biometric identification in schools until 2022. VentureBeat reports: The bill, which has yet to be signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, appears to be the first in the nation to explicitly regulate the use of the technologies in schools and comes in response to…
Surveillance Software Scanning File-Sharing Networks Led To 12,000 Arrests
Mr. Cooper was a retired high school history teacher using what NBC News calls those peer-to-peer networks where “the lack of corporate oversight creates the illusion of safety for people sharing illegal images.” Police were led to Cooper’s door by a forensic tool called Child Protection System, which scans file-sharing networks and chatrooms to find computers that are downloading photos and…