Pliant Energy Systems has spent the last two years developing a drone named Velox. The robot, which was initially meant to be a generator that could harness the flow of water, is now more of a sleek-looking surveillance drone with potential to one day…
View More How a Brooklyn renewable energy company ended up making a surveillance drone — Future BlinkCategory: surveillance
Bipartisan bill proposes oversight for commercial facial recognition
On Thursday, Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz and Missouri Senator Roy Blunt introduced a bill designed to offer legislative oversight for commercial applications of facial recognition technology. Known as the Commercial Facial Recognition Privacy Act, the bill would obligate companies to inform consumers about any use of facial recognition and proposes limiting companies from freely sharing […]
View More Bipartisan bill proposes oversight for commercial facial recognitionICE has a huge license plate database targeting immigrants, documents reveal
Newly released documents reveal Immigration and Customs Enforcement is tracking and targeting immigrants through a massive license plate reader database supplied with data from local police departments — in some cases violating sanctuary laws. The documents, obtained by a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and released Tuesday, reveal the […]
View More ICE has a huge license plate database targeting immigrants, documents revealNew flaws in 4G, 5G allow attackers to intercept calls and track phone locations
A group of academics have found three new security flaws in 4G and 5G, which they say can be used to intercept phone calls and track the locations of cell phone users. The findings are said to be the first time vulnerabilities have affected both 4G and the incoming 5G standard, which promises faster speeds […]
View More New flaws in 4G, 5G allow attackers to intercept calls and track phone locationsWhen surveillance meets incompetence
Last week brought an extraordinary demonstration of the dangers of operating a surveillance state — especially a shabby one, as China’s apparently is. An unsecured database exposed millions of records of Chinese Muslims being tracked via facial recognition — an ugly trifecta of prejudice, bureaucracy, and incompetence.
View More When surveillance meets incompetenceEurope’s highest human rights court to hear challenge to UK’s bulk surveillance regime
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has agreed to hear a legal challenge to the use of bulk data collection surveillance powers by UK intelligence agencies. Last September a lower chamber of the ECHR ruled that UK surveillance practices violated human rights law but did not find bulk collection itself […]
View More Europe’s highest human rights court to hear challenge to UK’s bulk surveillance regimeThe facts about Facebook
This is a critical reading of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s article in the WSJ on Thursday, also entitled The Facts About Facebook. Yes Mark, you’re right; Facebook turns 15 next month. What a long time you’ve been in the social media business! We’re curious as to whether you’ve also been keeping count of how many times […]
View More The facts about FacebookPolice license plate readers are still exposed on the internet
Smile! You’re on camera. At least, your license plate is. You might have heard of automatic license plate recognition — known as ALPR (or ANPR in the U.K. for number plates). These cameras are dotted across the U.S., and are controlled mostly by police departments and government agencies to track license plates — and people — […]
View More Police license plate readers are still exposed on the internetWhy do hotels collect passport data anyway?
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Benjamin Braddock begins his affair with Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate by nervously checking into a hotel under the name Mr. Gladstone. After all, in our cultural imagination, booking a room in a hotel is a refuge for anonymity, and often, the vice that comes along with it. But that’s certainly not the case today — if it ever was, beyond the silver screen.
On Friday, Marriott provided an update on the 4-years-long data breach of its Starwood database announced in November. In the breach, hackers were able to access the *unencrypted* passport numbers of more than 5 million hotel guests.
More about Travel, Surveillance, Marriott, Data Breach, and Tech
View More Why do hotels collect passport data anyway?A Chinese Airbnb competitor is rolling out facial recognition locks
Sharing someone else’s home is about to get even creepier.
The Chinese Airbnb competitor Xiaozhu is rolling out locks that open with facial recognition, according to the South China Morning Post. The locks are reportedly meant to address security con…
In revamped transparency report, Apple reveals uptick in demands for user data
Apple’s transparency report just got a lot more — well, transparent. For years, the technology giant released a twice-a-year report on the number of government demands it received. It wasn’t much to look at in the beginning; a seven-page document with only two tables of data. Once in a while, Apple would tack on a […]
View More In revamped transparency report, Apple reveals uptick in demands for user data3D-printed heads let hackers – and cops – unlock your phone
There’s a lot you can make with a 3D printer: from prosthetics, corneas, and firearms — even an Olympic-standard luge. You can even 3D print a life-size replica of a human head — and not just for Hollywood. Forbes reporter Thomas Brewster commissioned a 3D printed model of his own head to test the face […]
View More 3D-printed heads let hackers – and cops – unlock your phone