Technology companies have a privacy problem. They’re terribly good at invading ours and terribly negligent at protecting their own. And with the push by technologists to map, identify and index our physical as well as virtual presence with biometrics like face and fingerprint scanning, the increasing digital surveillance of our physical world is causing some […]
View More As facial recognition technology becomes pervasive, Microsoft (yes, Microsoft) issues a call for regulationCategory: Facial Recognition
What we know about Maryland’s controversial facial recognition database
When police had difficulty identifying the man whom they believed opened fire on a newsroom in Maryland, killing five people, they turned to one of the most controversial yet potent tools in the state’s law enforcement arsenal. As The New York Times reports, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare’s department failed to ID its suspect […]
View More What we know about Maryland’s controversial facial recognition databaseMicrosoft says its facial recognition technology is less biased
Microsoft claims its facial recognition technology just got a little less awful.
Earlier this year, a study by MIT researchers found that tools from IBM, Microsoft, and Chinese company Megvii could correctly identify light-skinned men with 99-p…
Microsoft’s facial recognition just got better at identifying people with dark skin
Microsoft’s facial recognition tools just made some significant technological strides, though the timing probably couldn’t be worse. On Tuesday, the company revealed in a blog post that its Face API, part of Azure Cognitive Services, can now identify men and women with darker skin far more successfully than previous iterations of the technology. The updates […]
View More Microsoft’s facial recognition just got better at identifying people with dark skinWe fooled the OnePlus 6’s face unlock with a printed photo
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One of the OnePlus 6’s (and 5T’s) best features is face unlock. It’s arguably the fastest on any phone, but the caveat is that it’s way less secure than, say, the iPhone X’s Face ID.
Just how insecure is the OnePlus 6’s face unlock? A video shared by Twitter user @rikvduijn suggests the phone’s facial security feature can easily be bypassed with a printed photo.
But is it really as easy as that? Yes and no. As always, the answer is a little more complicated.
SEE ALSO: OnePlus 6 review: Flagship killer
I tried a couple of tests to see if we could replicate what @rikvduijn discovered.
In the first test, we printed out two selfie photos — one color and one black and white — taken with my iPhone X’s 7-megapixel front-facing camera. Read more…
More about Android, Security, Oneplus, Facial Recognition, and Biometrics
Amazon is under fire for selling facial recognition tools to cops
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Amazon has some explaining to do.
The online retail giant has been caught providing facial recognition technology to law enforcement in Oregon and Orlando, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through a Freedom of Information Act Request.
Emails obtained through the request show how Amazon has been advertising and selling its facial recognition product, Rekognition, for only a few dollars a month to law enforcement agencies — in the hopes that they would encourage other agencies to sign up. The emails also show Amazon has marketed consulting services to law enforcement as well. Read more…
More about Amazon, Surveillance, Facial Recognition, Aclu, and Surveillance State
View More Amazon is under fire for selling facial recognition tools to copsEyes to the front camera: Chinese facial recognition tech targets inattentive students
Surely at one point or another you’ve been caught daydreaming at school, but in future it might not be a teacher catching you first.
In China, the Hangzhou No. 11 Middle School is trialling a smart classroom behaviour management system which uses cam…
Gear for getting better at your side gig
This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. In this day and age, either you have a side gig or you know someone who does. The type of work that’s done outside of your 9 to […]
View More Gear for getting better at your side gigLive Nation to roll out facial recognition at events, and we’re not cheering
One day after the President of the United States proclaimed the new holiday of state “Loyalty Day,” a conglomerate has made an announcement about its ability to track the faces and movements of its millions of IRL customers.
SEE ALSO: Chinese police …
Facebook’s facial recognition feature could help find missing persons
Facebook’s new facial recognition features makes some people uneasy, but the tool could help find missing people.
Australian organisation Missing Persons Action Network (MPAN) has launched a campaign called Invisible Friends, asking people to add the…
Facebook’s dark ads problem is systemic
Facebook’s admission to the UK parliament this week that it had unearthed unquantified thousands of dark fake ads after investigating fakes bearing the face and name of well-known consumer advice personality, Martin Lewis, underscores the massive challenge for its platform on this front. Lewis is suing the company for defamation over its failure to stop bogus […]
View More Facebook’s dark ads problem is systemicFacebook face recognition error looks awkward ahead of GDPR
A Facebook face recognition notification slip-up hints at how risky the company’s approach to compliance with a tough new European data protection standard could turn out to be. On Friday a Metro journalist in the UK reported receiving a notification about the company’s face recognition technology — which told him “the setting is on”. The […]
View More Facebook face recognition error looks awkward ahead of GDPR