Tuesday, October 04, 2022

And so it begins. (One riot, one robot?)

https://www.scmp.com/video/world/3194735/israel-installs-ai-powered-gun-west-bank-checkpoint-riot-control

Israel installs AI-powered gun at West Bank checkpoint as riot control

The Israeli military has installed an artificial intelligence-powered weapon at a busy checkpoint in the West Bank, over a gate Palestinians use to cross to the Old City of Hebron. Israel’s military said the weapon system is designed to fire non-lethal projectiles to “disperse riots”.





Does TikTok think I am a potential user? No! But I will be exposed to ads.

https://www.bespacific.com/how-tiktok-tracks-you-across-the-web-even-if-you-dont-use-the-app/

How TikTok Tracks You Across the Web, Even If You Don’t Use the App

Consumer Reports: “Almost every website you visit collects information about what you’re doing and sends it off into the tech industry’s data analyzing machinery, where it is used for online advertising. For years, Google and Facebook (now known as Meta) have dominated that advertising business, and conducted a lot of the data gathering. But lately, a new contender has entered the scene: TikTok. A Consumer Reports investigation finds that TikTok, one of the country’s most popular apps, is partnering with a growing number of other companies to hoover up data about people as they travel across the internet. That includes people who don’t have TikTok accounts. These companies embed tiny TikTok trackers called “pixels” in their websites. Then TikTok uses the information gathered by all those pixels to help the companies target ads at potential customers, and to measure how well their ads work. To look into TikTok’s use of online tracking, CR asked the security firm Disconnect to scan about 20,000 websites for the company’s pixels. In our list, we included the 1,000 most popular websites overall, as well as some of the biggest sites with domains ending in “.org,” “.edu,” and “.gov.” We wanted to look at those sites because they often deal with sensitive subjects. We found hundreds of organizations sharing data with TikTok….Even Planned Parenthood uses the trackers, automatically notifying TikTok about every person who goes to its website, though it doesn’t share information from the pages where you can book an appointment. (None of those groups responded to requests for comment.)…The number of TikTok trackers we saw was just a fraction of those we observed from Google and Meta. However, TikTok’s advertising business is exploding, and experts say the data collection will probably grow along with it…”





I suspect this is Much Ado About Nothing. Anything beyond cosmetic changes is likely to conflict with GDPR. Anything that goes beyond GDPR increases complexity.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/03/uk-data-reform-bill-replace-gdpr/

UK pauses data reform bill to rethink how to replace GDPR

… The fresh-in-post secretary of state for digital, Michelle Donelan, gave over the first chunk of her Conservative Party conference speech Monday to a headline-grabbing (but under-explained) announcement that it would be “replacing” the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — a law the UK had (in her words) “inherited” from the European Union.

In its place the government would install what she framed as “our own business- and consumer-friendly British data protection system”.

This rebooted reform approach entails the government taking aim at bureaucratic EU “red tape” that Donelan claimed is responsible for current UK rules being a disproportionate burden for small businesses as a result of a “one-size-fits-all” approach in the GDPR. (So much like the claims the government previously made for the now paused data reform package.)

She also suggested that “simplification” of the UK’s data protection regime would help unlock economic growth by boosting businesses’ profits.





Every organization should have one.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/the-ciso-of-tomorrow-is-stepping-into-the-business-spotlight/

The CISO of Tomorrow Is Stepping Into the Business Spotlight

The days of managing from the shadows are long gone for the CISO. As technology needs, reach, and partnerships of businesses evolve rapidly, the CISO can no longer remain unseen. Today’s CISO is more than an advisor to the C-suite with 88% of boards of directors viewing cybersecurity as a business risk. The role for the CISO has expanded to encompass advising the entire business and employees on how they can help ensure data security starting now.

… The contemporary CISO must understand how to educate the team on what makes a sound technical security decision, and why. That requires interpersonal skills, and an understanding of the particular culture and structure of the business: What information does the CISO need to communicate to which stakeholders under what circumstances? What motivates those stakeholders in their own roles? And how can you assure stakeholders you want them to succeed versus introducing obstacles? The business’s goals may at times seem to conflict with the strongest security practices, so the bottom-line value in dollars of implementing stronger security must be clear to all.





My AI is not impressed.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/

Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights

… To advance President Biden’s vision, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has identified five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence.

Safe and Effective Systems

Algorithmic Discrimination Protections

Data Privacy

Notice and Explanation

Human Alternatives, Consideration, and Fallback





Is this really the goal AI has been striving for?

https://www.reuters.com/technology/want-fries-with-that-robot-makes-french-fries-faster-better-than-humans-do-2022-10-04/

Want fries with that? Robot makes French fries faster, better than humans do

… “When an order comes in through the restaurant system, it automatically spits out the instructions to Flippy," Miso Chief Executive Mike Bell said in an interview.

" ... It does it faster or more accurately, more reliably and happier than most humans do it,” Bell added.





Perspective. This was easy back in the mainframe days, but isn’t that much more difficult today. The trick is ensuring that managers take the time to review what their employees are accessing.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/nsa_worker_fbi_espionage/

FBI: We tracked who was printing secret documents to unmask ex-NSA suspect



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