The Verge: Civil rights groups move to block expansion of facial recognition in airports. “A coalition of civil rights groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union have filed an objection to the proposed expansion of Customs and Border Protections facial recognition at land and sea ports. The National Immigration Law Center, Fight for the […]
CNBC: China’s Huawei tested A.I. software that could identify Uighur Muslims and alert police, report says. “Huawei, together with one of China’s biggest artificial intelligence (AI) firms Megvii, tested a facial recognition system that could be used to detect members of a minority Muslim group and send alerts to authorities, a new report claims.”
CNET: Facial recognition’s fate could be decided in 2021. “The dumpster fire that was 2020 has also set the stage for what could be the biggest development in facial recognition and how it gets regulated. In the past year, lawmakers, privacy advocates, lawsuits and local legislative measures have all rallied against the technology as a […]
Gizmodo: Massachusetts Lawmakers Voted To Ban Police From Using Facial Recognition Tech. “Massachusetts lawmakers voted on Monday to pass a police reform bill that would outlaw the use of facial recognition technology by police departments and other public agencies in the state. The bill now heads to Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker for his signature.”
CNET: Facial recognition is getting better at making matches around face masks. “Scientists agree that face masks are here to stay, and research finds that facial recognition technology is starting to catch up. Since the start of the pandemic, facial recognition providers have been working to get around the coverings, and they’ve gotten marginally better, […]
Biometric Update: Report says lack of diversity in face biometrics datasets extends to expression, emotion . “An academic study on ‘Facial Expressions as a Vulnerability in Face Recognition’ from four researchers associated with MIT, Barcelona’s Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, suggests that databases with greater balance of facial expressions should […]
TNW: This AI tool generates your creepy lookalikes to trick facial recognition. “If you’re worried about facial recognition firms or stalkers mining your online photos, a new tool called Anonymizer could help you escape their clutches. The app was created by Generated Media, a startup that provides AI-generated pictures to customers ranging from video game […]
ABC 7 Chicago: Illinois Facebook users can file claims as part of class action lawsuit settlement for up to $400. “Facebook users in Illinois can now apply to collect from a settlement stemming from a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed over Facebook’s collection and storing of biometric data of Illinois users without proper […]
Los Angeles Times: Despite past denials, LAPD has used facial recognition software 30,000 times in last decade, records show. “The Los Angeles Police Department has used facial recognition software nearly 30,000 times since 2009, with hundreds of officers running images of suspects from surveillance cameras and other sources against a massive database of mug shots […]
9to5Google: WhatsApp beta preps fingerprint authentication for web companion app. “The latest WhatsApp beta update for Android shows signs the messaging application is tightening security when using the companion web app with fingerprint authentication. Code digger WABetaInfo found evidence of this enhanced security for the companion app in the 2.20200.10 build of the latest WhatsApp […]
CNN: Portland passes broadest facial recognition ban in the US. “The city of Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday banned the use of facial-recognition technology by city departments — including local police — as well as public-facing businesses such as stores, restaurants and hotels.”
Techdirt: Clearview Hires Prominent First Amendment Lawyer To Argue For Its Right To Sell Scraped Data To Cops. “Clearview — the facial recognition company selling law enforcement agencies (and others) access to billions of photos and personal info scraped from the web — is facing lawsuits over its business model, which appears to violate some […]
Techdirt: Las Vegas Police Are Running Lots Of Low Quality Images Through Their Facial Recognition System. “Even when facial recognition software works well, it still performs pretty poorly. When algorithms aren’t generating false positives, they’re acting on the biases programmed into them, making it far more likely for minorities to be misidentified by the software. […]
OneZero: The Era of DNA Database Hacks Is Here. “On the morning of July 19, hackers accessed the online DNA database GEDmatch and temporarily allowed police to search the profiles of more than 1 million users that were previously not accessible to law enforcement. GEDmatch is a genealogy tool that allows users to upload their […]
CPO Magazine: Illinois Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Facial Recognition Databases Violate Biometric Privacy Law, Could Cost Tech Giants $5,000 Per Incident. “The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) made national news recently when it drove Clearview AI out of the state, due to a pending lawsuit over the company’s scraping of social media pictures and […]