Privacy Matters | Privacy SOS

Lawrence is set to expand its surveillance network. Here are the details.

12/13/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Biometrics, Freedom of Speech, Immigration, Mass Surveillance

In September, Lawrence became the first city in Massachusetts to pass an ordinance requiring community control of police surveillance. The ordinance requires, among other things, that city agencies like the police get permission from the City Council before deploying new surveillance technologies....
Cambridge City Council passes surveillance oversight ordinance in unanimous vote

12/11/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Data Mining, Mass Surveillance

Last night, the Cambridge City Council unanimously voted to approve an ordinance requiring community control over police surveillance. Under the ordinance, City agencies including the police are required to seek City Council permission before buying, acquiring, or otherwise using new surveillance technologies....
Amazon doubles down on face surveillance, files patent for scary new tech

12/05/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Biometrics, Corporate Spying, Mass Surveillance, Security Theater

A new patent application filed by Amazon could enable the kind of dystopian face tracking envisioned in the movies and sci-fi books, where thousands of cameras are linked to track one person as they move through a city. The patent application, published...
South Wales police face surveillance system no more accurate than a coin toss

11/28/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Biometrics, Freedom of Speech, Mass Surveillance, Police Militarization, Security Theater

A new study examining a face surveillance program implemented by the South Wales police finds the system is wrong 50 percent of the time. The Financial Times reports: The facial recognition technology used by South Wales Police was developed by Japanese company...
Three simple things you can do with your family this weekend to firm up your digital security

11/21/2018 - Corporate Spying, Mass Surveillance, Mobile Security, Youth Rights

Headed home for the holidays? If you have any down time this weekend, here are three simple things you can do with your family to firm up your digital security. Install Privacy Badger on everyone’s web browsers. This neat browser extension, developed...
Face surveillance as a “security” measure will not stop violence

11/20/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Biometrics, Corporate Spying, Freedom of Speech, Mass Surveillance, Security Theater

On June 28, 2018, a man shot and killed five people at the Annapolis, Maryland newspaper the Capital Gazette. After law enforcement apprehended the suspect on the scene, they say, they used facial recognition technology to identify him as Jarrod Ramos. The...
Did you mean, “male lawyer”? On language translators and gender bias

11/16/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu has insisted that naming is an exertion of power. Powerful elites have long used naming and classifying not only to legitimize knowledge, but also to perpetuate and reproduce harmful and oppressive historical practices. Language can liberate, but it can...
Immigrants rights activists spotlight tech’s role in Trump’s deportation machine

11/02/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Biometrics, Corporate Spying, Data Mining, DHS, History, Immigration, Internet Freedom, Law Reform, Mass Surveillance, Security Theater

Big tech companies are the beneficiaries of hundreds of millions of dollars of government contracts, many of which involve surveillance and law enforcement operations. Over the past few years, workers at large tech firms have begun flexing their civic muscles, and ringing...
Documents shed light on how Amazon is shaping public discourse about Rekognition

11/01/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Biometrics, Corporate Spying, Data Mining, Freedom of Speech, Law Reform, Mass Surveillance, Police Militarization, Security Theater

Midday yesterday, activists affiliated with immigrants rights groups NWDC Resistance and Mijente donned Jeff Bezos masks outside Amazon’s Seattle Spheres building to protest the tech giant’s collaboration with ICE. The activists demanded Amazon stop marketing and selling its face surveillance technology, Rekognition,...
Americans overwhelmingly want face surveillance regulation, but government and Big Tech aren’t waiting for it

10/19/2018 - Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Biometrics, Corporate Spying, Data Mining, Freedom of Speech, Mass Surveillance, Police Militarization, Racism

The use of face surveillance technologies is fast becoming the norm in government and the private sector, but a new survey by the Brookings Institution shows agencies and companies deploying this technology are out of step with the desires of most Americans...