June 13, 2021

TechCrunch: TikTok just gave itself permission to collect biometric data on US users, including ‘faceprints and voiceprints’

TechCrunch: TikTok just gave itself permission to collect biometric data on US users, including ‘faceprints and voiceprints’. “A change to TikTok’s U.S. privacy policy…introduced a new section that says the social video app ‘may collect biometric identifiers and biometric information’ from its users’ content. This includes things like ‘faceprints and voiceprints,’ the policy explained. Reached for comment, TikTok could not confirm what product developments necessitated the addition of biometric data to its list of disclosures about the information it automatically collects from users, but said it would ask for consent in the case such data collection practices began.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
May 19, 2021

Facial recognition, fake identities and digital surveillance tools: Inside the post office’s covert internet operations program (Yahoo News)

Yahoo News: Facial recognition, fake identities and digital surveillance tools: Inside the post office’s covert internet operations program. “The post office’s law enforcement arm has faced intense congressional scrutiny in recent weeks over its Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP), which tracks social media posts of Americans and shares that information with other law enforcement agencies. Yet the program is much broader in scope than previously known and includes analysts who assume fake identities online, use sophisticated intelligence tools and employ facial recognition software, according to interviews and documents reviewed by Yahoo News.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
May 18, 2021

CNET: Amazon sales of facial recognition software to police on pause indefinitely

CNET: Amazon sales of facial recognition software to police on pause indefinitely. “Amazon isn’t ready to begin sales of its facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies when a year-long moratorium expires in June. The company didn’t announce a new deadline, and the suspension of sales of the Rekognition software will stay in place until further notice, as reported earlier by Reuters.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
April 29, 2021

CNN: A false facial recognition match sent this innocent Black man to jail

CNN: A false facial recognition match sent this innocent Black man to jail. “While facial recognition technology has become increasingly accurate, research has shown it is drastically more prone to error when trying to match the faces of darker skinned people. And because no federal guidelines exist to limit or standardize the use of facial recognition by law enforcement, states — and, more often, municipalities — are left to decide for themselves what, if anything, to do to control its use.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
April 7, 2021

Washington Post: How America’s surveillance networks helped the FBI catch the Capitol mob

Washington Post: How America’s surveillance networks helped the FBI catch the Capitol mob. “Debra Maimone pulled down her American flag mask for a moment on Jan. 6 and gazed at the unruly mob of supporters of President Donald Trump overrunning the U.S. Capitol. ‘Put your mask on,’ warned her fiance, as the couple stood beneath an unblinking array of surveillance cameras. ‘I don’t want them to see you.’ It was too late.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
April 6, 2021

BuzzFeed News: Surveillance Nation

BuzzFeed News: Surveillance Nation. “A controversial facial recognition tool designed for policing has been quietly deployed across the country with little to no public oversight. According to reporting and data reviewed by BuzzFeed News, more than 7,000 individuals from nearly 2,000 public agencies nationwide have used Clearview AI to search through millions of Americans’ faces, looking for people, including Black Lives Matter protesters, Capitol insurrectionists, petty criminals, and their own friends and family members. BuzzFeed News has developed a searchable table of 1,803 publicly funded agencies whose employees are listed in the data as having used or tested the controversial policing tool before February 2020.”

New Resources 0
March 30, 2021

ABC News: Virginia lawmakers ban police use of facial recognition

ABC News: Virginia lawmakers ban police use of facial recognition. “Last month, Virginia lawmakers quietly passed one of the most restrictive bans in the country on the use of facial recognition technology. The legislation, which won unusually broad bipartisan support, prohibits all local law enforcement agencies and campus police departments from purchasing or using facial recognition technology unless it is expressly authorized by the state legislature.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
March 26, 2021

Huffington Post: The Hidden Hand Of Facial Recognition In The Capitol Insurrection Manhunt

Huffington Post: The Hidden Hand Of Facial Recognition In The Capitol Insurrection Manhunt. “Facial recognition tools use one or more pictures of an individual to pull their biometric facial characteristics, and run them against an often gargantuan database of photos to find possible matches. In criminal justice matters, this can help create a narrowed pool of suspects. This software is not always accurate, though ― and its use bears serious implications for privacy, freedom of expression and other civil liberties.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
March 25, 2021

Protocol: Beijing sours on facial recognition, unless it’s the one doing it

Protocol: Beijing sours on facial recognition, unless it’s the one doing it . “Hundreds of thousands of surveillance cameras throughout China have been hoovering up facial recognition data without notifying the people attached to the faces. Now, the companies behind the tech are finally under the microscope after a blistering recent exposé — one carried by a major mouthpiece for Beijing, the same government known for its own untrammeled intrusions into private life.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
March 23, 2021

Motherboard: Amazon Delivery Drivers Forced to Sign ‘Biometric Consent’ Form or Lose Job

Motherboard: Amazon Delivery Drivers Forced to Sign ‘Biometric Consent’ Form or Lose Job. “Amazon delivery drivers nationwide have to sign a ‘biometric consent’ form this week that grants the tech behemoth permission to use AI-powered cameras to access drivers’ location, movement, and biometric data. If the company’s delivery drivers, who number around 75,000 in the United States, refuse to sign these forms, they lose their jobs. The form requires drivers to agree to facial recognition and other biometric data collection within the trucks they drive.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
March 2, 2021

Mashable: TikTok agrees to $92 million settlement in class action privacy lawsuit

Mashable: TikTok agrees to $92 million settlement in class action privacy lawsuit. “TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has agreed to pay a $92 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging it violated Illinois’ biometric privacy laws. The company still disputes the truth of the accusations against them, of course, but right now it just wants to move on from the whole thing.”

Security & Legal Issues 0

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