Report: Smart-city IoT isn’t smart enough yet — from networkworld.com by Jon Gold
A report from Forrester Research details vulnerabilities affecting smart-city internet of things (IoT) infrastructure and offers some methods of mitigation.
On 07/25/2019,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, society, the downsides of how people use tech, trends, United States,
by Daniel Christian
You’re already being watched by facial recognition tech. This map shows where — from fastcompany.com by Katharine Schwab
Digital rights nonprofit Fight for the Future has mapped out the physical footprint of the controversial technology, which is in use in cities across the country.
On 07/08/2019,
in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, ethics, hearts -- matters of the heart, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, privacy, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
I opted out of facial recognition at the airport — it wasn’t easy — from wired.com by Allie Funk
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
As a privacy-conscious person, I was uncomfortable boarding this way. I also knew I could opt out. Presumably, most of my fellow fliers did not: I didn’t hear a single announcement alerting passengers how to avoid the face scanners.
…
As I watched traveler after traveler stand in front of a facial scanner before boarding our flight, I had an eerie vision of a new privacy-invasive status quo. With our faces becoming yet another form of data to be collected, stored, and used, it seems we’re sleepwalking toward a hyper-surveilled environment, mollified by assurances that the process is undertaken in the name of security and convenience. I began to wonder: Will we only wake up once we no longer have the choice to opt out?
Until we have evidence that facial recognition is accurate and reliable—as opposed to simply convenient—travelers should avoid the technology where they can.
To figure out how to do so, I had to leave the boarding line, speak with a Delta representative at their information desk, get back in line, then request a passport scan when it was my turn to board.
From DSC:
Readers of this blog will know that I am generally a pro-technology person. That said, there are times when I don’t trust humankind to use the power of some of these emerging technologies appropriately and ethically. Along these lines, I don’t like where facial recognition could be heading…and citizens don’t seem to have effective ways to quickly weigh in on this emerging technology. I find this to be a very troubling situation. How about you?
On 06/26/2019,
in Amazon, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Are you kidding me!? Geo-fencing technology or not, I don’t trust this for one second.
Amazon patents ‘surveillance as a service’ tech for its delivery drones — from theverge.com by Jon Porter
Including technology that cuts out footage of your neighbor’s house
Excerpt:
The patent gives a few hints how the surveillance service could work. It says customers would be allowed to pay for visits on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis, and that drones could be equipped with night vision cameras and microphones to expand their sensing capabilities.
On 06/19/2019,
in Amazon, Daniel S. Christian, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, society, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
How surveillance cameras could be weaponized with A.I. — from nytimes.com by Niraj Chokshi
Advances in artificial intelligence could supercharge surveillance cameras, allowing footage to be constantly monitored and instantly analyzed, the A.C.L.U. warned in a new report.
Excerpt:
In the report, the organization imagined a handful of dystopian uses for the technology. In one, a politician requests footage of his enemies kissing in public, along with the identities of all involved. In another, a life insurance company offers rates based on how fast people run while exercising. And in another, a sheriff receives a daily list of people who appeared to be intoxicated in public, based on changes to their gait, speech or other patterns.
Analysts have valued the market for video analytics at as much as $3 billion, with the expectation that it will grow exponentially in the years to come. The important players include smaller businesses as well as household names such as Amazon, Cisco, Honeywell, IBM and Microsoft.
From DSC:
We can no longer let a handful of companies tell the rest of us how our society will be formed/shaped/act.
For example, Amazon should NOT be able to just send its robots/drones to deliver packages — that type of decision is NOT up to them. I have a suspicion that Amazon cares more about earning larger profits and pleasing Wall Street rather than being concerned with our society at large. If Amazon is able to introduce their robots all over the place, what’s to keep any and every company from introducing their own army of robots or drones? If we allow this to occur, it won’t be long before our streets, sidewalks, and air spaces are filled with noise and clutter.
So…a question for representatives, senators, legislators, mayors, judges, lawyers, etc.:
- What should we be building in order to better allow citizens to weigh in on emerging technologies and whether any given emerging technology — or a specific product/service — should be rolled out…or not?
On 06/12/2019,
in digital audio, digital video, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools,
by Daniel Christian
Stanford engineers make editing video as easy as editing text — from news.stanford.edu by Andrew Myers
A new algorithm allows video editors to modify talking head videos as if they were editing text – copying, pasting, or adding and deleting words.
Excerpts:
In television and film, actors often flub small bits of otherwise flawless performances. Other times they leave out a critical word. For editors, the only solution so far is to accept the flaws or fix them with expensive reshoots.
Imagine, however, if that editor could modify video using a text transcript. Much like word processing, the editor could easily add new words, delete unwanted ones or completely rearrange the pieces by dragging and dropping them as needed to assemble a finished video that looks almost flawless to the untrained eye.
…
The work could be a boon for video editors and producers but does raise concerns as people increasingly question the validity of images and videos online, the authors said. However, they propose some guidelines for using these tools that would alert viewers and performers that the video has been manipulated.
Addendum on 6/13/19:
- Top AI researchers race to detect ‘deepfake’ videos: ‘We are outgunned’ — from mercurynews.com by Drew Harwell | The Washington Post
Top artificial-intelligence researchers across the country are racing to defuse an extraordinary political weapon: computer-generated fake videos that could undermine candidates and mislead voters during the 2020 presidential campaign.
An image created from a fake video of former president Barack Obama displays elements of facial mapping used in new technology that allows users to create convincing fabricated footage of real people, known as “deepfakes.” (AP)
On 05/16/2019,
in 21st century, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, ethics, future, hearts -- matters of the heart, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, Microsoft, morals/values, platforms, society, the downsides of how people use tech, United States,
by Daniel Christian
San Francisco becomes first city to bar police from using facial recognition— from cnet.com by Laura Hautala
It won’t be the last city to consider a similar law.
Excerpt:
The city of San Francisco approved an ordinance on Tuesday [5/14/19] barring the police department and other city agencies from using facial recognition technology on residents. It’s the first such ban of the technology in the country.
The ordinance, which passed by a vote of 8 to 1, also creates a process for the police department to disclose what surveillance technology they use, such as license plate readers and cell-site simulators that can track residents’ movements over time. But it singles out facial recognition as too harmful to residents’ civil liberties to even consider using.
“Facial surveillance technology is a huge legal and civil liberties risk now due to its significant error rate, and it will be worse when it becomes perfectly accurate mass surveillance tracking us as we move about our daily lives,” said Brian Hofer, the executive director of privacy advocacy group Secure Justice.
For example, Microsoft asked the federal government in July to regulate facial recognition technology before it gets more widespread, and said it declined to sell the technology to law enforcement. As it is, the technology is on track to become pervasive in airports and shopping centers and other tech companies like Amazon are selling the technology to police departments.
Also see:
- San Francisco is first US city to ban facial recognition— from bbc.com by Dave Lee
- Saving face: San Francisco’s ban on recognition technology — from economist.com