Tag: facial recognition
  • Nov 24, 2020 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Amazon’s Ring moves even closer to becoming the perfect urban police surveillance system

Back in July last year, this blog wrote about Amazon’s Ring series, whose key product is a small Internet-connected camera built into a doorbell. At that time, it was already clear that the system posed a serious threat to privacy, particularly in the urban context. Since then, there has been a massive rise in the … Continue reading “Amazon’s Ring moves even closer to becoming the perfect urban police surveillance system”

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Privacy News Online | Weekly Review: August 21, 2020

Featured: Privacy News Online – Week of August 21st, 2020 How the government legally tracks your smartphone use with the Anomaly Six SDK Some of the apps on your smartphone could be sending information back to the government. The Wall Street Journal reports that the US government is actively tracking smartphones through a software development … Continue reading “Privacy News Online | Weekly Review: August 21, 2020”

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  • Aug 13, 2020 |
  • Caleb Chen |
  • General Privacy News, Social Media,

Instagram faces $500 billion lawsuit for gathering facial biometrics data without consent

A new class action lawsuit in the state of Illinois is trying to bring Facebook to task for illegally harvesting biometrics data, specifically facial recognition data or a “face template.” The lawsuit, Whalen v. Facebook, seeks to fine Facebook up to $500 billion dollars for the illegal biometrics harvesting. The lawsuit explained: “Once Facebook captures … Continue reading “Instagram faces $500 billion lawsuit for gathering facial biometrics data without consent”

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  • Aug 12, 2020 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Court finds UK police use of facial recognition technology breaches privacy rights, data protection laws and equality laws

Automated facial recognition has emerged as one of the most problematic technologies for privacy. That’s reflected in the increasing number of posts on this blog dealing with the issues it raises. Of particular concern is police use. The UK has been in the vanguard here, as has the pushback by privacy campaigners. A year ago … Continue reading “Court finds UK police use of facial recognition technology breaches privacy rights, data protection laws and equality laws”

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  • Jun 25, 2020 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Top suppliers halt sales of facial recognition technology to the police – how much of a win is that really?

As this blog has noted, police forces around the world have been pushing for the routine deployment of real-time facial recognition technologies. It’s an attractive option for politicians. It offers the hope that more criminals will be arrested and convicted, and for a price that is constantly falling. As a result, it’s hard to win … Continue reading “Top suppliers halt sales of facial recognition technology to the police – how much of a win is that really?”

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  • Mar 13, 2020 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Police forces around the world continue to push for routine – and real-time – facial recognition capabilities

Facial recognition crops up on this blog more than most technologies. That’s in part because the underlying AI is advancing rapidly, boosting the ability of low-cost systems to match faces to those in databases. The Clearview saga is a good example of this, where an unheard-of startup has put together what is claimed to be … Continue reading “Police forces around the world continue to push for routine – and real-time – facial recognition capabilities”

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  • Feb 21, 2020 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Freedom of speech, surveillance and privacy in the time of coronavirus

The situation concerning the Covid-19 coronavirus is serious, although it is not yet clear whether it will develop into a pandemic affecting billions of people worldwide. The story so far touches on most of the central themes of this blog. For example, we know that the Chinese authorities wasted valuable time trying to suppress news … Continue reading “Freedom of speech, surveillance and privacy in the time of coronavirus”

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  • Jan 31, 2020 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

What can we learn from the Clearview “end of privacy” story?

A couple of weeks ago, a story in the New York Times put facial recognition, and the serious problems it raises, firmly into the mainstream. It concerned the start-up Clearview AI, which, as the headline breathlessly informed us, “might end privacy as we know it.” The reason for this worrying description is not any breakthrough … Continue reading “What can we learn from the Clearview “end of privacy” story?”

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  • Jan 17, 2020 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Police forces around the world continue to deploy facial recognition systems, despite no evidence of their utility

Last month, this blog wrote about governments around the world continuing to trial facial recognition systems, and the growing concerns this is provoking. There’s one area in particular where facial recognition systems are deployed: law enforcement. That’s hardly a surprise, since the legal system can only operate if it identifies alleged criminals that need to … Continue reading “Police forces around the world continue to deploy facial recognition systems, despite no evidence of their utility”

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  • Dec 27, 2019 |
  • Glyn Moody |
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

What do you get if you put DNA and facial recognition together? Today, it’s China; tomorrow, maybe everywhere else

Two themes crop up again and again on this blog: facial recognition and DNA sequencing. Both technologies on their own are powerful, and steadily becoming greater threats to privacy. So what happens when they are put together? A story in the New York Times means we don’t have to guess, because China is already doing … Continue reading “What do you get if you put DNA and facial recognition together? Today, it’s China; tomorrow, maybe everywhere else”

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