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Tech NewsColombia Is Testing Drones to Drop Herbicide on Crops Used for Cocaine
Under newly elected President Iván Duque, Colombia is testing remote-controlled drones designed to track and destroy coca, the crop used in cocaine production. The government has reportedly tested ten drones so far. The drones carry payloads of glyphosate, a powerful herbicide. During early tests they’ve destroyed “hundreds of acres of coca,” the Wall Street Journal … Continued
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Tech NewsMajor UK Airport Turns to Whiteboards and Markers After Flight Info Screens Crash
Passengers waiting to fly out of London’s Gatwick airport Monday morning were left squinting and craning their necks to read whiteboards crammed with critical flight information. Via its Twitter account, an airport spokesperson apologized to travelers, explaining that “damage to a Vodafone fibre optic cable” took down the airport’s flight info screens, forcing them to … Continued
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Tech News
California Officials Admit to Using License Plate Readers to Monitor Welfare Recipients
Since 2016, Sacramento County officials have been accessing license plate reader data to track welfare recipients suspected of fraud, the Sacramento Bee reported over the weekend. Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance Director Ann Edwards confirmed to the paper that welfare fraud investigators working under the DHA have used the data for two years on … Continued
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Tech News
Elon Musk Responds to Azealia Banks’ Claims of Ghosting, Tweeting, and LSD: I Don’t Know Her
In 2018, you go unhinged or you go home. Azealia Banks, the prodigious MC who remains a Twitter villain even after being banned from the service and an underground rapper even after being dropped from multiple record labels, let loose on Instagram after an allegedly disastrous weekend at Elon Musk’s home to see Grimes, Musk’s … Continued
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Tech News
Hackers Can Turn Body Cameras Into Malware Spewing Machines, Security Expert Says
Once lauded as tools to enhance police accountability, body cameras have been facing increasing scrutiny from privacy advocates, and now one researcher has identified them as cybersecurity time bombs. Speaking to Wired ahead of a Def Con presentation, Josh Mitchell, a consultant at the security firm Nuix, demonstrated that many body cameras are vulnerable to … Continued
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Tech News
The TSA’s Shady ‘Quiet Skies’ Program Has Tracked Thousands of Passengers, Yet Produced No Leads
The TSA admitted to surveilling about 5,000 citizens this year as part of its secretive “Quiet Skies” program, which places travelers on TSA watch lists even if they aren’t suspected of a crime, the Boston Globe reports. In a meeting with members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee last week, the TSA reportedly … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
Axon CEO Says Face Recognition Isn’t Accurate Enough for Body Cams Yet
Face recognition is coming to schools, stadiums, and airports, but surprisingly not to body cameras—yet. On an earnings call Tuesday, Rick Smith, CEO of Axon, one of the largest body camera manufacturers in the U.S., said the reason was simple: In addition to privacy and policy concerns, face recognition isn’t accurate enough. The “accuracy thresholds,” … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Algorithm That Could Save Vulnerable New Yorkers From Being Forced Out of Their Homes
Early one morning in April 2013, a stranger knocked on Virginia Hanlon’s door, identifying himself as a building contractor. That was the first lie. Hanlon, an elderly woman who split her time between her apartment in New York and her deceased mother’s home in New Jersey was wary—she had never seen this man before. She … Continued
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Tech NewsNew Bill Would Force TSA to Adopt ‘Gender-Neutral’ Screenings
U.S. Representative Kathleen Rice, a New York Democrat, has introduced a new bill that compels the Transportation Security Administration to adopt gender-neutral technologies and screening techniques. The “Screening With Dignity Act” mandates new training protocols, new privacy protections, and, chiefly, a cost analysis of recalibrating full-body screening technology to be more inclusive of transgender and … Continued
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Tech News
Bangladesh Blocks Mobile Internet Amid Police Crackdown on Student Protests
The Bangladeshi government has reportedly suspended 3G and 4G mobile internet services since last Saturday after more than a week of violent clashes between police and student protesters over road safety. Hundreds of students have walked out of class in Dhaka, the capital, to protest the transportation sector following the deaths of two students killed … Continued
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Tech NewsGet Ready for Indoor Surveillance Drones
Surveillance drones are headed indoors. Two technology companies say they are partnering to develop a fully automated drone security service designed to work inside. From takeoff to landing, the drone system, a joint venture between U.S. and Germany-based Skysense and Avansig, a Spanish technology company, will work automatically to detect “potential security threats or breaches,” … Continued
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Tech NewsCommerce
Amazon Accidentally Makes Rock-Solid Case for Not Giving Its Face Recognition Tech to Police
Days after the ACLU released a damning report on Amazon’s face recognition product Rekognition, Amazon’s general manager of AI, Dr. Matt Wood, countered its findings in a blog post. The ACLU used Rekognition to scan the faces of all 535 members of Congress, finding the software mistook 28 of them for suspected criminals. Dr. Wood … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
Canadian Malls Secretly Tracked Shoppers’ Age, Gender Using Facial Recognition Technology
Shoppers at the Chinook Centre, a mall in Calgary, Canada, have been unwittingly scanned by face recognition software. Canadian outlet CBC reports that the mall’s parent company, Cadillac Fairview, has admitted to using the software without shopper consent, but the company claims they only collect limited data. The software has been in use since June. … Continued
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Tech News
Inmates ‘Hack’ Prison-Issued Tablets, Swiping $225,000 in In-App Bucks for Music and Games
Hundreds of inmates in Idaho prison facilities reportedly exploited a “hack” that allowed them to illegitimately add nearly a quarter-million-dollars worth of credits from prison-issued tablets into their accounts. JPay tablets, explains the Associated Press, have email functionality, games, and a music player. Inmates can use the JPay system to purchase music and games using … Continued
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Tech News
Amazon’s Face Recognition Misidentifies 28 Members of Congress as Suspected Criminals
Amazon’s controversial face recognition software, called Rekognition, misidentified more than two dozen members of Congress as people arrested for crimes. The false identifications were made when the ACLU of Northern California tasked Rekognition with matching photos of all 535 members of Congress against 25,000 publicly available mugshot photos. The test cost the ACLU just $12.33 … Continued
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Tech NewsCan We Make Non-Racist Face Recognition?
As companies race to employ facial recognition everywhere from major league ballparks to your local school and summer camp, we face tough questions about the technology’s potential to intensify racial bias; Commercial face recognition software has repeatedly been shown to be less accurate on people with darker skin, and civil rights advocates worry about the … Continued
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Tech News
Facebook Swears to End Housing Discrimination on Its Ad Platform for Real This Time
Facebook has signed an agreement with Washington state to retool its advertising platform after a Pro Publica investigation found it could be used to abet housing discrimination. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson led a year-long investigation into Facebook’s targeted advertising feature, which lets advertisers include or exclude users from seeing certain ads. “Facebook’s advertising platform … Continued
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Tech News
Dozens Sentenced for Call Center Scam Where Victims Bought iTunes Gift Cards Under Threat of Arrest
Dozens of defendants were sentenced to prison on a wealth of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy charges relating to a complex call center scheme operating from India, the Department of Justice announced on Monday. A ring of scammers operating both in India and the U.S. coerced victims, the DoJ says, into transferring money to them … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial Media
WhatsApp Tries to Crack Down on Viral Hoaxes After 20 Lynchings in India
Facebook is restricting WhatsApp users’ ability to forward messages: Each message can now only be sent to a maximum of 20 chats, down from 250, per user. In India, the cap is even lower: only 5 chats. The cap on forwarding comes after at least 20 mob killings, linked to viral child abduction hoaxes spread … Continued
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Tech NewsChinese Police Are Using Data From Sewer Water to Track, Arrest Illegal Drug Manufacturers
The surveillance state is now entering sewers. Chinese police are reportedly testing waste water for the presence of illegal substances, using the data to find illegal drug manufacturers in the country. As drugs pass through people’s bodies, they may be leaving a trail for police to follow. Li Xiqing, an environmental chemist at Peking University … Continued
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