sinij shares a report from CBC.ca: American technology firm Clearview AI violated Canadian privacy laws by collecting photos of Canadians without their knowledge or consent, an investigation by four of Canada’s privacy commissioners has found. The report found that Clearview’s technology created a significant risk to individuals by allowing law enforcement and companies to match photos against its database of more…
Tag: Mass Surveillance
The Ethical Source Movement Launches a New Kind of Open-Source Organization
ZDNet takes a look at a new nonprofit group called the Organization for Ethical Source (OES): The OES is devoted to the idea that the free software and open-source concept of “Freedom Zero” are outdated. Freedom Zero is “the freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.” It’s fundamental to how open-source software is made and used… They…
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…
China Accused of Spying On Americans Via Caribbean Phone Networks
“A mobile security expert has accused China of exploiting cellphone networks in the Caribbean to conduct ‘mass surveillance’ on Americans,” reports Newsweek: Gary Miller, a former vice president of network security at California-based analytics company Mobileum, told The Guardian he had amassed evidence of espionage conducted via “decades-old vulnerabilities” in the global telecommunications system. While not explicitly mentioned in the report,…
Is Streaming Music Worse For the Environment?
“The environmental cost of music is now greater than at any time during recorded music’s previous eras,” argues Kyle Devine, in his recent book, “Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music.” The New Yorker’s music critic writes: He supports that claim with a chart of his own devising, using data culled from various sources, which suggests that, in 2016, streaming and downloading…
China To Launch Initiative To Set Global Data-Security Rules
China is launching an initiative to set global standards on data security, countering U.S. efforts to persuade countries to ringfence their networks from Chinese technology, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Reuters: Under its “Global Initiative on Data Security,” China would call on all countries to handle data security in a “comprehensive, objective and evidence-based manner,” the Journal said, citing…
IBM Gets Out of Facial Recognition Business, Calls On Congress To Advanced Policies Tackling Racial Injustice
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna called on Congress Monday to enact reforms to advance racial justice and combat systemic racism while announcing the company was getting out of the facial recognition business. CNBC reports: “IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human…
China is using mass surveillance tech to fight new coronavirus spread
QR codes, tracking apps and drones at toll booths are just some of the tech tools China is deploying to monitor the spread of the new coronavirus Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24532703-600-china-is-using-mass-surveillance-tech-to-fight-new-coronavirus-spread/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Bruce Schneier: Banning Facial Recognition Isn’t Enough
Bruce Schneier, writing at New York Times: Communities across the United States are starting to ban facial recognition technologies. In May of last year, San Francisco banned facial recognition; the neighboring city of Oakland soon followed, as did Somerville and Brookline in Massachusetts (a statewide ban may follow). In December, San Diego suspended a facial recognition program in advance of a…
The U.S. Considers Ban on Exporting Surveillance Technology To China
The South China Morning Post reports that the U.S. may be taking a stand against China. This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed a new bill that would “tighten export controls on China-bound U.S. technology that could be used to ‘suppress individual privacy, freedom of movement and other basic human rights’ [and] ordering the U.S. president, within four months of…