So
a cop using the old Mark I Eyeball can still recognize crooks. A
device that captures images of faces and presents them to a person
for identification seems to be outlawed too.
San
Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Use by Police
San
Francisco on Tuesday became the first US city to ban use of facial
recognition technology by police or other government agencies.
Backers
of the legislation argued that using software and cameras to
positively identify people is, as city councillor Aaron Peskin put
it, "not ready for prime time."
… "The
propensity for facial recognition technology to endanger civil rights
and civil liberties substantially outweighs its purported benefits,
and the technology will exacerbate racial injustice and threaten our
ability to live free of continuous government monitoring," read
the legislation passed Tuesday.
The
ban was part of broader legislation setting use and auditing policy
for surveillance systems, creating high hurdles and requiring board
approval for any city agencies.
"It
shall be unlawful for any department to obtain, retain, access, or
use any Face Recognition Technology or any information obtained from
Face Recognition Technology," read a graph tucked into the
lengthy document.
"Face
recognition technology" means an automated or
semi-automated process that assists in identifying or
verifying an individual based on an individual's face.
A
useful(?) quick summary.
What
is the California Consumer Privacy Act and Does it Apply to Me?
Oh
joy.
Quit
worrying about killer robots, they are coming whether you like it or
not – and they absolutely will not stop
The use of
fully automated AI systems in military battles is inevitable unless
there are strict regulations in place from international treaties,
eggheads have opined.
Their
paper, which popped up on arXiv [PDF
]
last week, discusses the grim outlook of developing killing machines
for armed forces. The idea of keeping humans in the loop has always
been favoured because modern AI systems like neural networks are like
black
boxes,
their inner workings are inherently difficult to understand. Plus,
you know, we've all seen Terminator.
Counter
suit anyone?
Adobe
Warns Users Someone Else Might Sue Them For Using Old Versions Of
Photoshop
For
years we've noted repeatedly how in the modern era you no longer
truly own the things you buy. From game consoles that magically lose
important functionality post
purchase, to digital purchases that just up
and disappear,
we now live in an era where a quick firmware update can erode
functionality and overlong EULAs can strip away all of your rights in
an instant, leaving you with a hole in your pocket and a glorified
paperweight.
The
latest case in point: Adobe this week began warning users of its
Creative Cloud software applications that they are no
longer authorized to use older versions of the company's software
platforms (Lightroom
Classic, Photoshop, Premiere, Animate, and Media Director). In the
letter, Adobe rather cryptically implied that users could risk
copyright infringement claims by mysterious third parties if they
continued using older versions of these platforms and refused to
update them. End users, not surprisingly, were equal parts confused
and annoyed:
… While
Adobe couldn't be bothered to clarify this fact, the company was
apparently
making a vague reference to its ongoing legal dispute with Dolby
Labs.
Dolby sued
Adobe last year (pdf)
for copyright violations after it wasn't happy with the new revenue
sharing arrangement crafted in the wake of Adobe's 2013 shift toward
its controversial cloud-based "software as a subscription"
model. There's really no indication that Dolby would actually
sue
Adobe customers, and it seems more than likely that Adobe was just
interested in throwing some shade at Dolby -- without making it
entirely clear that's what they were doing.
Regardless,
copyright experts were quick to point out that given the overbroad
nature of modern EULAs, users
are completely
out of luck
when it comes to having any real legal recourse:
For
our programmers.
JavaScript
and machine learning: Google shows what's possible using the web
programming language
Building
and training machine-learning models using a web-scripting language
might seem ambitious, but in 2019 it's perfectly feasible.
Helping
make machine learning possible in the browser isTensorFlow.js,
Google's open-source library for carrying out machine learning using
JavaScript. The possibilities opened up by the library were
showcased recently with a Google
Doodle that generated a fresh Bach-style melody on
demand.
… TensorFlow.js
can be used in JavaScript applications running in the browser, on
servers inside a Node.js
environment,
on the
desktop using Electron and
on mobile browsers on Android and iOS devices. However, it is within
the browser that Gupta sees the most possibilities.
Because, reading!
Redefine
reading practice with Rivet
… Rivet
is a new reading app from Area 120, Google’s workshop for
experimental projects, that addresses the most common barriers to
effective reading practice through a free, easy-to-use reading
experience optimized for kids. Evidence shows that one of the major
differences between poor and strong readers is the amount of time
spent reading, so we're introducing Rivet to make high-quality
reading practice available to all.
… Rivet
is now available on Android smartphones, tablets, iPads, iPhones and
Chromebooks in eleven
countries worldwide.
If you know a little reader who could benefit from better reading
practice, check us out in the Play
Store or
App
Store today.
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