As autonomous weapons systems, sometimes called killer robots, move closer towards becoming a logistically feasible option for governments around the world, they are also generating increasing controversy. More than 2,400 researchers from 170 different organizations called this week for a worldwide ban on autonomous weapons. "Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to play an increasing role … Continue reading As experts urge caution, military pushes aggressive A.I. agenda
Tag: surveillance
Face recognition technology, something that seemed like science fiction just a few years ago, is becoming an increasingly key component of America's mass surveillance network. Even as plans for high-tech mass-scale facial recognition systems in places like China raise privacy concerns, the U.S. government was reportedly looking to develop face recognition tech capable … Continue reading Army develops face recognition that sees in the dark
Last week, tech company NVidia announced a new partnership with AI developer AnyVision to develop automatic face recognition technology for closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras in so-called "smart cities." "AnyVision claims the technology enables cameras that can continuously scan for faces 24/7, automatically identifying and tracking individuals within a large crowd with 99% accuracy," writes … Continue reading The dystopian auto-face recognition plan for ‘smart cities’
Developing more complex and invasive methods of mass surveillance seems to be a constant goal of governments around the world as they pursue ever-increasing control over their citizens' lives. While much has been revealed about Western governments' communications monitoring programs in recent years, however, new developments in China and India offer insights into the potential … Continue reading Flawed biometric schemes in Asia highlight mass surveillance risks
In places like Pakistan, people have grudgingly learned to live with the psychological impact of omnipresent drones. They may hate and fear the incessant buzzing of the unmanned aerial vehicles overhead -- and hate the United States all the more for having to hear it -- but on a daily basis there's not much one … Continue reading Military drones could replace police helicopters within a decade
While mass monitoring of internet and phone communications, along with image- or video-based technologies such as automated license plate readers and facial recognition, have received increasing media coverage in recent years, one area of surveillance -- iris recognition -- has gotten less attention. But that is starting to change. Earlier this month The Intercept, which … Continue reading Iris scanning on the rise
The last few years have seen the rapid rise of body-worn cameras used by police departments around the United States, fueled by tens of millions of dollars in Justice Department funding. While originally justified on the basis of increasing police accountability and transparency, however, body cameras' usefulness is in question as they begin to incorporate … Continue reading Police body cameras increasingly incorporate facial recognition
Officials from the so-called "Five Eyes" group of English-speaking countries, which closely cooperate on surveillance and intelligence matters, are pushing to work even more closely not only with each other, but with major private sector players in the tech industry. Following a conference late last month in Ottawa, official representatives of the countries involved -- … Continue reading Five Eyes look to ‘engage’ with tech companies
The U.S. spy world's high tech research agency, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity or IARPA, has launched a new face-recognition challenge, as Atlantic Media's government tech news site NextGov reports this week. Unlike the procession of so-called "artificial intelligence" algorithms that have emerged in recent years for the purpose of identifying faces in photos … Continue reading Govt. wants face recognition for ‘non-cooperative’ subjects ‘in the wild’
James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence who resigned at the end of President Obama's administration -- and who once controversially denied that the U.S. intelligence bureaucracy collects data on its own citizens just months before leaks from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden showed that to be untrue -- is seemingly willing … Continue reading Former spy chief comments on ‘broken’ clearance system, ‘too much Big Brother’
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