Do you really believe that this is their first time? Since when has the FBI had the computer power to do this? What if they cause harm?

https://gizmodo.com/the-fbi-just-snuck-into-computers-all-over-the-country-1846679332

The FBI Just Snuck Into Computers All Over the Country to Stop a Hacking Campaign

In what may be [but isn’t. Careful language reveals all! Bob] a first-of-its-kind operation, the FBI recently accessed private servers across the United States, ostensibly to delete malware that had previously been installed by foreign hackers.

The FBI targeted this unique digital clean-up at servers running the vulnerability-ridden email product Microsoft Exchange. The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday that the purpose of the bureau’s operation was to digitally erase traces of web shells that, had they remained, “could have been used to maintain and escalate persistent, unauthorized access to U.S. networks.”

… The operation seems to have been strictly targeted at this one particular campaign, as the feds did not “search for or remove any additional malware or hacking tools that hacking groups may have placed on victim networks by exploiting the web shells,” the release says.

This may be the first time that the FBI has conducted an operation like this, TechCrunch reports. For years, the bureau has sought greater powers and authority when it comes to conducting digital investigations inside the U.S., though critics and civil liberties defenders have consistently fought against such encroachments into private servers.

(Related)

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/04/the-fbi-is-now-securing-networks-without-their-owners-permission.html

The FBI Is Now Securing Networks Without Their Owners’ Permission

In January, we learned about a Chinese espionage campaign that exploited four zero-days in Microsoft Exchange. One of the characteristics of the campaign, in the later days when the Chinese probably realized that the vulnerabilities would soon be fixed, was to install a web shell in compromised networks that would give them subsequent remote access. Even if the vulnerabilities were patched, the shell would remain until the network operators removed it.

Now, months later, many of those shells are still in place. And they’re being used by criminal hackers as well.

On Tuesday, the FBI announced that it successfully received a court order to remove “hundreds” of these web shells from networks in the US.

This is nothing short of extraordinary, and I can think of no real-world parallel. It’s kind of like if a criminal organization infiltrated a door-lock company and surreptitiously added a master passkey feature, and then customers bought and installed those locks. And then if the FBI got a court order to fix all the locks to remove the master passkey capability. And it’s kind of not like that. In any case, it’s not what we normally think of when we think of a warrant. The links above have details, but I would like a legal scholar to weigh in on the implications of this.

Not exactly stopping the barbarians at the gate. More like, “We won’t let your tailor make us a suit!”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-sanction-russia-alleged-election-interference-solarwinds-hack-n1264142

U.S. sanctions Russia for 2020 election interference, SolarWinds hack

The United States is hitting Russia with fresh sanctions for interference in the 2020 presidential election, a sweeping cyberattack against American government and corporate networks and other activities.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Thursday morning to strengthen his administration's response to Russia, the White House said. Under the order, the Treasury Department has blacklisted six Russian technology companies that provide support to the cyber program run by Russia's intelligence services.

Would you rather have this data in the hands of unknown persons?

https://www.bespacific.com/opinion-data-brokers-are-a-threat-to-democracy/

Wired – “Unless the federal government steps up, the unchecked middlemen of surveillance capitalism will continue to harm our civil rights and national security… Enter the data brokerage industry, the multibillion dollar economy of selling consumers’ and citizens’ intimate details. Much of the privacy discourse has rightly pointed fingers at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok, which collect users’ information directly. But a far broader ecosystem of buying up, licensing, selling, and sharing data exists around those platforms. Data brokerage firms are middlemen of surveillance capitalism—purchasing, aggregating, and repackaging data from a variety of other companies, all with the aim of selling or further distributing it. Data brokerage is a threat to democracy. Without robust national privacy safeguards, entire databases of citizen information are ready for purchase, whether to predatory loan companies, law enforcement agencies, or even malicious foreign actors. Federal privacy bills that don’t give sufficient attention to data brokerage will therefore fail to tackle an enormous portion of the data surveillance economy, and will leave civil rights, national security, and public-private boundaries vulnerable in the process. Large data brokers—like Acxiom, CoreLogic, and Epsilon—tout the detail of their data on millions or even billions of people. CoreLogic, for instance, advertises its real estate and property information on 99.9 percent of the US population. Acxiom promotes 11,000-plus “data attributes,” from auto loan information to travel preferences, on 2.5 billion people (all to help brands connect with people “ethically,” it adds). This level of data collection and aggregation enables remarkably specific profiling…”

After GDPR?

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56745730

Europe seeks to limit use of AI in society

The use of facial recognition for surveillance, or algorithms that manipulate human behaviour, will be banned under proposed EU regulations on artificial intelligence.

The wide-ranging proposals, which were leaked ahead of their official publication, also promised tough new rules for what they deem high-risk AI.

That includes algorithms used by the police and in recruitment.

Experts said the rules were vague and contained loopholes.

The use of AI in the military is exempt, as are systems used by authorities in order to safeguard public security.

The suggested list of banned AI systems includes:

• those designed or used in a manner that manipulates human behaviour, opinions or decisions ...causing a person to behave, form an opinion or take a decision to their detriment [Behavioral advertising? Bob]

• AI systems used for indiscriminate surveillance applied in a generalised manner

• AI systems used for social scoring

• those that exploit information or predictions and a person or group of persons in order to target their vulnerabilities

An HBR podcast.

https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/04/mapping-ais-societal-impact

Mapping AI’s Societal Impact

AI is not just code and algorithms. It’s an industry built on a global network of resource extraction, human labor, and data collection. Kate Crawford, senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research and research professor of communication and science and technology studies at USC Annenberg, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the far-reaching impacts of AI and to consider the urgent case for proper governance and regulation of the industry.

They also discuss:

• Why we need to observe hardware supply chains to understand AI’s impact.

• Why the AI industry, like aviation and pharma, should be subject to strict regulation.

• Why tech leaders should take a much greater responsibility for the social and environmental effects of technical systems.

Sentient, but not human. “Where will you find a jury of my peers,” my AI asks?

https://hai.stanford.edu/news/when-artificial-agents-lie-defame-and-defraud-who-blame

When Artificial Agents Lie, Defame, and Defraud, Who Is to Blame?

The movie Robot and Frank imagines a near future in which robots can be purchased to act as in-home caregivers and companions. Frank’s son buys him a robot, and Frank quickly realizes he can enlist its help in committing cat burglaries. The robot begins to show creativity and initiative in these criminal acts, and Frank is suffering from dementia. Who is ultimately responsible for these violations of the law?

Experts in robotics and artificial intelligence will have to suspend belief in order to enjoy Robot and Frank – the robot has capabilities that will continue to be purely science fiction for some time. But continuing advances in the field of artificial intelligence make it worth considering a provocative question that may become more practically relevant in the future: How would we, as individuals and as a society, react to an artificial agent that participated in the commission of some civil or criminal offense? The artificial agents of today would not make good cat burglars, but they have the gift of gab, and so it is only a matter of time before they are accused of committing offenses involving language in some way: libel, slander, defamation, bribery, coercion, and so forth.

Tools for my students.

https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2021/04/bibcitations-new-chrome-extension-makes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+freetech4teachers/cGEY+(Free+Technology+for+Teachers)

Bibcitation's New Chrome Extension Makes It Easy to Create Citations

A few weeks ago I published an overview of seven free tools that help students create bibliographies. Bibcitation was one of the tools in that list. This week Bibcitation introduced a new Chrome extension that makes it easier than ever for students to cite webpages and build bibliographies.

Bibcitation's Chrome extension will generate a citation for any webpage that a student needs to include in his or her bibliography. To do that students simply have to click on the Bibcitation extension while viewing a webpage and select the citation style that they want to use. Students can then copy the text for the citation with just one click and paste it wherever they need to use it. Students can also click the "Add to Bibcitation.com" button within the extension to send the citation directly to the bibliographies they're working on.

… Bibcitation doesn't require students to register in order to use it. Completed Bibliographies can be downloaded as a document, as a BibTex file, or as HTML.

So that’s how they did it!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/04/14/azimuth-san-bernardino-apple-iphone-fbi/

The FBI wanted to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. It turned to a little-known Australian firm.

Azimuth unlocked the iPhone at the center of an epic legal battle between the FBI and Apple. Now, Apple is suing the company co-founded by one of the hackers behind the unlock.

Is it more important for governments to read our correspondence than it is for us to protect it?

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/uk-seeks-to-discourage-facebook-rollout-of-end-to-end-encryption-citing-risks-to-the-safety-of-children/

UK Seeks To Discourage Facebook Rollout of End-to-End Encryption, Citing Risks to the Safety of Children

Since 2019, Facebook has been talking about adding end-to-end encryption to all its messaging services. It appears that the government of the United Kingdom would prefer that these plans go no further. The Home Office, the agency responsible for most of the police work done in England and Wales, is slated to deliver a keynote speech on April 19 that will call on the government to increase regulation of the technology. The speech will be accompanied by a report that takes social media and tech companies to task for not doing enough to protect children.

What would make it less creepy?

https://gothamist.com/news/nypd-deploys-alarming-robot-dog-manhattan-public-housing-complex

NYPD Deploys "Creepy" New Robot Dog In Manhattan Public Housing Complex

The NYPD's robot dog is once again stirring privacy concerns and cyberpunk prophesies of some New Yorkers, after the four-legged machine was spotted inside of a Manhattan public housing complex on Monday.

A video shared on Twitter shows the robot trotting out of a building on East 28th Street in front of two NYPD officers, then slowly descending the stairs as bystanders look on in shock. "I've never seen nothing like this before in my life," one woman can be heard saying.

… Since October, the NYPD has dispatched the robot to a handful of crime scenes and hostage situations, raising fears of unwanted surveillance and questions about the department's use of public dollars. The mobile dog, which comes equipped with automated sensors, lights, and cameras capable of collecting "limitless data," is sold at a starting price of $74,000.

At the least, it’s bad policing.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/04/14/1022676/robert-williams-facial-recognition-lawsuit-aclu-detroit-police/

The new lawsuit that shows facial recognition is officially a civil rights issue

On January 9, 2020, Detroit police drove to the suburb of Farmington Hill and arrested Robert Williams in his driveway while his wife and young daughters looked on. Williams, a Black man, was accused of stealing watches from a luxury store. He was held overnight in jail.

… On Tuesday, the ACLU and the University of Michigan Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative filed a lawsuit on behalf of Williams, alleging that the arrest violated his Fourth Amendment rights and was in defiance of Michigan’s civil rights law.

The suit requests compensation, greater transparency about the use of facial recognition, and an end to the Detroit Police Department’s use of facial recognition technology, whether direct or indirect.

Probably has more general application.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/can-financial-institutions-prepare-ai-risks/

How Can Financial Institutions Prepare for AI Risks?

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies hold big promise for the financial services industry, but they also bring risks that must be addressed with the right governance approaches, according to a white paper by a group of academics and executives from the financial services and technology industries, published by Wharton AI for Business.

An interesting experiment.

https://warontherocks.com/2021/04/strategy-in-the-artificial-age-observations-from-teaching-an-ai-to-write-a-u-s-national-security-strategy/

STRATEGY IN THE ARTIFICIAL AGE: OBSERVATIONS FROM TEACHING AN AI TO WRITE A U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

… Analysts are gifted at identifying the departures from precedent that appear in each new U.S. National Security Strategy.

This article attempts to do the opposite. Instead of asking what has changed across each iteration of this document, this article seeks to understand what has remained the same. To this end, I used machine learning to create the “bernardcodie” program. Bernardcodie is an artificial recurrent neural network trained on the entirety of the U.S. National Security Strategy corpus. Leveraging the natural ability of deep learning networks for pattern identification, this article complements human insight with artificial analysis. So, what patterns are revealed when we teach an artificial neural network the canon of U.S. national security strategies and ask it to write its own strategy?

My AI continues to ask, “Can a corporation (also not a living person) own a patent?”

https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2021/04/14/can-ai-own-patent-new-legal-drama-will-decide

Can an AI own a patent? A new legal drama will decide

Perspective.

https://www.bespacific.com/annual-threat-assessment-of-the-us-intelligence-community/

Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community

Office of the Director of National Intelligence: “This annual report, April 2021 of worldwide threats to the national security of the United States responds to Section 617 of the FY21 Intelligence Authorization Act (P.L. 116-260). This report reflects the collective insights of the Intelligence Community (IC), which is committed every day to providing the nuanced, independent, and unvarnished intelligence that policymakers, warfighters, and domestic law enforcement personnel need to protect American lives and America’s interests anywhere in the world. This assessment focuses on the most direct, serious threats to the United States during the next year.

Perspective. Imagine a future where AI Einstein teaches physics and other AIs teach whatever the are experts in.

https://nerdist.com/article/ai-albert-einstein-bot-can-answer-your-questions/

Have a Chat with an A.I. Version of Einstein

For years, sci-fi movies and shows have been showing us a future where someone uses technology to bring back Albert Einstein. On Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lt. Barclay brings him back on the holodeck to help solve a puzzle. In Steven Spielberg’s film A.I., Einstein’s a library computer program called “Dr. Know.” Well, we are officially living in the future now. Because someone has created a virtual Einstein who answers questions from users. To interact with the Digital Einstein Experience yourself, be sure to click here.

Public can still be private?

https://www.databreaches.net/this-was-not-a-breach-how-big-tech-gaslights-the-world-on-data-leaks/

‘This was not a breach’: How Big Tech gaslights the world on data leaks

Vincent Manancourt and Laurens Cerulus report:

First Facebook. Then LinkedIn. Now Clubhouse.

After data on a combined billion Facebook and LinkedIn users appeared online last week, reports surfaced over the weekend that upstart social network Clubhouse had also leaked reams of user information.

But if you think any of the above is a problem, Big Tech has a message for you:

You’re the crazy one.

Read more on Politico.eu.

“Breach.”

“Leak.”

“Scrape of public info.”

If you don’t know what the terms mean, read the article. If you do know what the terms mean, then don’t let big companies try to convince you that scraped data is not a data security or privacy issue.

For my Computer Security lectures.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3614588/6-tips-for-receiving-and-responding-to-third-party-security-disclosures.html#tk.rss_all

6 tips for receiving and responding to third-party security disclosures

Your first notification of your next breach or significant threat might come from outside your organization. Have these preparations in place to effectively and quickly respond to inbound security intelligence.

(Related)

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3613937/7-new-social-engineering-tactics-threat-actors-are-using-now.html#tk.rss_all

7 new social engineering tactics threat actors are using now

Old tactics in new packages lead the list of current social engineering attacks. Experts provide real-world examples.

Don’t you love a good argument? My AI does.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/will-r2-d2-and-wall-e-help-define-intellectual-property-for-robots

Will R2-D2 and WALL-E Help Define Intellectual Property for Robots?

Now that the Supreme Court has dealt with copyright issues concerning computer code (well, sorta ), perhaps the justices will eventually get around to the humanoids who may one day compete for planetary dominance. We're talking about robots powered by artificial intelligence. What's the possibility that the future of androids will partly turn on a federal judge's view of C-3PO, R2-D2, WALL-E and other famous robots appearing in movies? Believe it or not, greater than zero.

In Pennsylvania federal court, an American company is currently suing a Chinese company over interactive robots alleged to be intellectual property violations. Specifically, Digital Dream Labs LLC is pursuing Living Technology LTD. over an "EMO toy robot" and construction vehicle-style robots that supposedly copy the three-dimensional sculpture of its own AI-assisted robot plus graphics, animations and sounds emitted from the robot's head potentially covered in copyright registrations. Plus, there are also trademark and trade dress claims asserted given the potential for consumer confusion.

… "This is a case about robots," states a memorandum from the Chinese defendant in support of a motion to dismiss. "Specifically, toy robots powered by artificial intelligence. Whether it is C-3PO, Johnny 5 or WALL-E, robots are familiar, and consumers have become accustomed, through popular culture, to the idea of interacting with robots that can perform a variety of tasks. These robots often exhibit human characteristics, including movements, gestures and physical traits, and even approximate human emotions."

The memorandum (which is adorned with lots of pictures ) continues, "Indeed, human physical traits, such as eyes, are depicted on these robots by everything from various mechanical components, to graphics on a screen, like BURN-E’s 'blue eyes.' The robots at issue in this case, just like their robot movie star counterparts, also have human-like traits and are powered by artificial intelligence to perform various functions and otherwise engage with a user."

In other words, Living Technology is ridiculing how the Americans are asserting ownership claims over what it sees as commonplace and functional elements while hunting for valid IP claims to fit the protection they seek. The dismissal motion asserts that "claims fail because the discrete items claimed are not copyrightable as a matter of law" and "because even if such discrete items were capable of being independently asserted as a basis of infringement, they are not substantially similar, as a matter of law."

Artificial Intelligence teaching artificial empathy?

https://www.ft.com/content/758e0a2f-3507-4b66-990a-73310d8f588b

It’s creepy that AI is teaching workers to be more human

Empathy is one of those precious human qualities that we don’t think artificial intelligence will ever supplant. It is argued that jobs requiring empathy will be relatively untouched (and perhaps even elevated) by the rise of smart machines. But in the call centre industry, a more complicated story is beginning to play out.

Companies such as Cogito promise to “deliver empathy on an enterprise scale” by using artificial intelligence to “coach” call centre workers in real time. Cogito monitors the words, tone and pitch of customer calls. If the customer starts to sound irritated or upset, it will send an “empathy cue” that reminds the worker to think about how the customer is feeling and try to relate. The purpose is to “help make individuals better versions of themselves”, as Cogito’s marketing material puts it.

Pretty snarky, but with a grain of truth.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/04/13/1022568/big-tech-ai-ethics-guide/

Big Tech’s guide to talking about AI ethics

50-ish words you can use to show that you care without incriminating yourself.

AI researchers often say good machine learning is really more art than science. The same could be said for effective public relations. Selecting the right words to strike a positive tone or reframe the conversation about AI is a delicate task: done well, it can strengthen one’s brand image, but done poorly, it can trigger an even greater backlash.

The tech giants would know. Over the last few years, they’ve had to learn this art quickly as they’ve faced increasing public distrust of their actions and intensifying criticism about their AI research and technologies.

Now they’ve developed a new vocabulary to use when they want to assure the public that they care deeply about developing AI responsibly—but want to make sure they don’t invite too much scrutiny. Here’s an insider’s guide to decoding their language and challenging the assumptions and values baked in.

Perspective. Talk is cheap?

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/12/22379414/microsoft-buys-nuance-ai-speech-tech

Microsoft buys AI speech tech company Nuance for $19.7 billion

Microsoft is buying AI speech tech firm Nuance for $19.7 billion, bolstering the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant’s prowess in voice recognition and giving it further leverage in the health care market, where Nuance sells many products.

… Nuance is best known for its Dragon software, which uses deep learning to transcribe speech and improves its accuracy over time by adapting to a user’s voice. Nuance has licensed this tech for many services and applications, including, most famously, Apple’s digital assistant Siri.

Tools

https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2021/04/19-canva-tutorials-for-teachers-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+freetech4teachers/cGEY+(Free+Technology+for+Teachers)

19 Canva Tutorials for Teachers and Students - Certificates, Comics, and More!

I've been using Canva to make all kinds of graphics and presentations almost since the day it was first available to the public. Over the years I've used to make greeting cards, videos, infographics, presentations, posters, timelines, comics, and many other graphics. And, at one point or another in the last five years, I've made videos about how to make all of those graphics. In not particular order, here's my complete list of Canva tutorials for teachers and students.

More stuff for shut-ins.

https://www.makeuseof.com/ways-to-discover-podcasts-worth-listening-to/

5 Uncommon Ways to Discover Podcasts Worth Listening To

Asynchronous warfare does not always mean the little guy is punching up…

https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/12/iran_cyber_attack_theory/

Stuxnet sibling theory surges after Iran says nuke facility shut down by electrical fault

Iran has admitted that one of its nuclear facilities went offline over the weekend, and a single report claiming Israeli cyber-weapons were the cause has been widely accepted as a credible explanation for the incident.

Iran on Sunday published this announcement that said an “accident” impacted the “electricity distribution network” at its Natanz enrichment facility.

The facility was inaugurated the previous day, and is thought to have the capability to enrich Uranium and to represent capacity for uses prohibited under the US/Iran nuclear deal.

… Iranian officials have said that whatever hit Natanz was an act of “nuclear terrorism”. The Register can find no indication that any radioactive material has been exposed.

… Not long after the news of this weekend’s electrical incident, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported that intelligence sources had told its reporters the accident was in fact a cyber-attack. The corporation is an independent public broadcaster.

But the say-so of just one of the corporation’s shows is all the evidence that Israel had any hand in the attack. While Israel does not comment on such matters officially, Israeli politicians have claimed that Natanz was more badly damaged than Iran is letting on. And now the New York Times reports the event was a "detonation of explosives."

Perspective.

https://www.bespacific.com/a-20-year-forecast-for-the-world-increasingly-fragmented-and-turbulent/

A 20-year-forecast for the world: increasingly fragmented and turbulent

National Intelligence Council – Global Trends 2040 – A More Contested World – March 2021: “…Published every four years since 1997, Global Trends assesses the key trends and uncertainties that will shape the strategic environment for the United States during the next two decades. Global Trends is designed to provide an analytic framework for policymakers early in each administration as they craft national security strategy and navigate an uncertain future. The goal is not to offer a specific prediction of the world in 2040; instead, our intent is to help policymakers and citizens see what may lie beyond the horizon and prepare for an array of possible futures… This edition of Global Trends constructs its analysis of the future in several stages. First, we examine structural forces in demographics, environment, economics, and technology that shape the contours of our future world. Second, we analyze how these structural forces and other factors—combined with human responses—affect emerging dynamics in societies, states, and the international system. Third, we envision five plausible scenarios for the distant future in 2040. The key themes discussed previously appear across these sections…”

Perspective. Does this sound like China is serious about eliminating the symptoms of anti-trust?

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/alibaba-stock-price-china-ends-antitrust-probe-with-record-fine-2021-4-1030292961

Alibaba shares jump 8% as China ends its antitrust probe on Jack Ma's tech empire with a record $2.8 billion fine

Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares rose as much as 8% on Monday after China ended its antitrust probe into the e-commerce group with a record $2.8 billion fine.

Chinese regulators opened an antitrust investigation into Alibaba in December and introduced a series of stricter rules for financial services.

… CEO Daniel Zhang said in an online conference on Monday the company does not expect any material impact from changes made in the exclusivity arrangement with its merchants after the imposition of the fine.

The company's Hong Kong-listed stock rose 8% as a key source of uncertainty was eliminated, and the fine wasn't as severe as some expected. The amount is equal to roughly 4% of Alibaba's annual sales in China, according to Xinhua News.

One public record is a point of contact. Millions of records looks like input to machine learning.

https://cybernews.com/security/clubhouse-data-leak-1-3-million-user-records-leaked-for-free-online/

Clubhouse data leak: 1.3 million scraped user records leaked online for free

Days after scraped data from more than a billion Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, collectively speaking, was put for sale online, it looks like now it’s Clubhouse’s turn. The upstart platform seems to have experienced the same fate, with an SQL database containing 1.3 million scraped Clubhouse user records leaked for free on a popular hacker forum.

Local use is okay if an local ordinance is in place. Nothing to prevent local cops from asking state cops to ID a face?

https://www.pogowasright.org/virginia-to-ban-local-police-from-using-facial-recognition/

Virginia to Ban Local Police from Using Facial Recognition

From EPIC.org”

A bill passed in Virginia will ban local law-enforcement agencies from using facial recognition technology without prior legislative approval starting July 1, 2021. The bill further requires any local police agency eventually authorized to have “exclusive control” over the facial recognition system, preventing the use of Clearview AI and other commercial FR products. However, Virginia State Police and other state law enforcement agencies may continue to use facial recognition. EPIC and a coalition recently urged New York City Council to enact a comprehensive ban on facial recognition. EPIC leads a campaign to Ban Face Surveillance and through the Public Voice Coalition gathered support from over 100 organizations and experts from more than 30 countries.

We should be ethical and legal?

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1365/s43439-021-00022-x

The global governance on automated facial recognition (AFR): ethical and legal opportunities and privacy challenges

The digital revolution transforms people’s view about values and priorities. Automated facial recognition (AFR) comes with many concerns as well as benefits. The technology raises significant legal and ethical challenges, which risk perpetuating systemic injustice unless countervailing measures are put in place. The way facial images are obtained and used, potentially without consent or opportunities to opt out, can have a negative impact on people’s privacy. Laws on privacy vary across jurisdictions, which has an enormous effect on measures that could be taken to safeguard AFR-related ethical concerns. In an era of digitalisation, the existing laws are ill-equipped to address evolving needs against threats to individual privacy. Integrating the principles of proportionality and necessity, of the upmost importance is to ensure the proper use of AFR in a socially responsible way. It is imperative to build an AFR infrastructure that incorporates society’s legal and ethical commitments, and further address the challenges of governing the technology.

Too much law?

https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2824&context=ilj

WHAT’S YOUR PRIVACY WORTH ON THE GLOBAL TECH MARKET?

WEIGHING THE COST OF PROTECTING CONSUMER DATA AGAINST THE RISK THAT NEW LEGISLATION MAY STIFLE COMPETITION AND INNOVATION DURING THIS GLOBAL, TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION.

The world is currently in an artificial intelligence (“AI”) arms race, whereby the first nation to develop AI will become the global super nation. That country will set the precedent for generations of future economic, technological, medical, and societal growth. While companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon have propelled the United States to the front of this race for AI dominance, corporations have over-stepped ethical norms of data gathering and processing: methods necessary for technological development. Numerous data privacy breaches have left some consumers unlikely to ever share their data willingly without some assurances of protection. Noting these corporate scandals and data’s potential for abuse, many countries have implemented data privacy laws to protect consumers. Statutes enacted for this purpose include the European Union’s ratification of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the United States’ various local statutes, and China’s cybersecurity law (“CSL”) and its Personal Information Security Specification (“2018 Specification”). This Note argues that enacting wide-spread legislation as a means of protecting consumer data will cause more problems than it solves. Over-legislating technology will threaten innovation as tight-leashed constraints on development hinder growth. The consequences to a nation’s global stance in this race to innovate are tantamount to individuals’ privacy interests. The real battle will be treading the line between protecting citizens’ privacy while facilitating technological growth. After examining the flaws with the GDPR, the CSL, and the 2018 Specification, this Note urges the United States to enact a federally binding data privacy statute, incorporating some principles found within various pieces of legislation, that strikes a balance between protecting consumer data privacy and enabling technological innovation.

Artificial law?

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3791648

Artificial Intelligence and its Applicability to Court Decisions

The relevance of the topic artificial intelligence (AI) in the current reality is notorious, arising from the exponential advance of technical-scientific knowledge responsible for the development of both computers (hardware) and the programs (software) installed in them. The expansion of technical knowledge, responsible for almost daily technological innovations, makes it indispensable the corresponding expansion of the study and critical analysis of these innovations from a normative (ethical/moral and legal) perspective, with the evaluation of the impact and consequences of the use of AI programs in human life, in its individual and social dimensions, in order to provide the adequacy of the technical production to the normative parameters socially understood as due. This article aims to make a critical analysis of the application of AI to Law, by examining the use of AI programs by the judiciary. Starting from the concept of AI, its present adoption by Brazilian courts is presented, with an exposition of the activities performed by the AI programs used. This is followed by a debate on the appropriateness of the type of tasks to be assigned to such programs within the judiciary. The pertinence of assigning the execution of repetitive tasks to machines is emphasized, but the decision-making activity (the ultimate purpose of the judiciary) is based on exclusive human competence. Finally, it critically examines, under the prism of principles inherent to the democratic rule of law and the principles of fundamental rights, the reality of the United States, where the judiciary in most states uses AI programs - risk assessment software - to assist the judge in making pre-trial and procedural decisions.

Applicable in other areas?

https://europepmc.org/article/med/33821471

Coming to Terms with the Black Box Problem: How to Justify AI Systems in Health Care.

The use of opaque, uninterpretable artificial intelligence systems in health care can be medically beneficial, but it is often viewed as potentially morally problematic on account of this opacity-because the systems are black boxes. Alex John London has recently argued that opacity is not generally problematic, given that many standard therapies are explanatorily opaque and that we can rely on statistical validation of the systems in deciding whether to implement them. But is statistical validation sufficient to justify implementation of these AI systems in health care, or is it merely one of the necessary criteria? I argue that accountability, which holds an important role in preserving the patient-physician trust that allows the institution of medicine to function, contributes further to an account of AI system justification. Hence, I endorse the vanishing accountability principle: accountability in medicine, in addition to statistical validation, must be preserved. AI systems that introduce problematic gaps in accountability should not be implemented.

Protect data to control AI? I don’t think so...

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3817472

Automated decision-making as a data protection issue

Artificial intelligence techniques have been used to automate various procedures in modern life, ranging from ludic applications to substantial decisions about the lives of individuals and groups. Given the variety of automated decision-making applications and the different forms in which decisions may harm humans, the law has struggled to provide adequate responses to automation. This paper examines the role of a specific branch of law — data protection law — in the regulation of artificial intelligence. Data protection law is applicable to automation scenarios which rely on data about natural persons, and it seeks to address risks to these persons through three approaches: allowing persons to exercise rights against specific automated decisions, disclosing information about the decision-making systems and imposing design requirements for those systems. By exploring the potentials and limits of such approaches, this paper presents a portrait of the relevance of data protection law for regulating AI.

Why does the boss seem so ignorant? In some areas he is!

https://www.zdnet.com/article/training-upward-your-executives-may-not-understand-digital-transformation/

Training upward: your executives may not fully understand digital transformation

There has been plenty of discussion about the need to provide training to workers to acquaint them with digital skills. Some high-profile companies, such as Amazon, have committed almost a billion dollars to bring their workforces up to speed with digital and artificial intelligence skills. Worker training is a necessity these days, but for many technology managers and professionals, there's just of a pressing need to train upward in the ranks.

… Digital or technology savvy is not a top requirement for executive or board-level jobs, a recent study published in Harvard Business Review finds. A perusal of executive search listings finds that while high-focus roles such as CIO and CTO mention "technology" or "digital" skills as part of their criteria, this drops to 60% for CEO listings, 40% for COO, CFO and board listings, and 30% for HR leaders.

… The top skills needed in the C-suite include design thinking, artificial intelligence, data science, machine learning techniques, cybersecurity, and DevOps, a 2019 study from Gartner found.

With the rise of the digital economy, "the demand for digital savviness in the upper echelons of leadership has grown far more quickly than the supply," another recent study published in MIT Sloan Management Review confirms. The analysis of almost 2,000 large companies find only seven percent have digitally savvy executive teams.

Perspective.

https://siliconangle.com/2021/04/10/new-era-innovation-moores-law-not-dead-ai-ready-explode/

A new era of innovation: Moore’s Law is not dead and AI is ready to explode

Moore’s Law is dead, right? Think again.

Although the historical annual improvement of about 40% in central processing unit performance is slowing, the combination of CPUs packaged with alternative processors is improving at a rate of more than 100% per annum. These unprecedented and massive improvements in processing power combined with data and artificial intelligence will completely change the way we think about designing hardware, writing software and applying technology to businesses.

Every industry will be disrupted. You hear that all the time. Well, it’s absolutely true and we’re going to explain why and what it all means.

In this Breaking Analysis, we’re going to unveil some data that suggests we’re entering a new era of innovation where inexpensive processing capabilities will power an explosion of machine intelligence applications. We’ll also tell you what new bottlenecks will emerge and what this means for system architectures and industry transformations in the coming decade.