Timely.
https://www.bespacific.com/federal-law-enforcement-use-of-facial-recognition-technology/
Federal Law Enforcement Use of Facial Recognition Technology
CRS report via LC – Federal Law Enforcement Use of Facial Recognition Technology, October 27, 2020: “Law enforcement agencies’ use of facial recognition technology (FRT), while not a new practice, has received increased attention from policymakers and the public. Some of the concerns raised revolve around the accuracy of the technology, including potential race-, gender-, and age-related biases; the process of collecting, retaining, and securing images contained in various facial recognition databases; public notification of the use of facial recognition and other image-capturing technology; and policies or standards governing law enforcement agencies’ use of the technology. Some of these concerns have manifested in actions such as federal, state, and city efforts to prohibit or bound law enforcement agencies’ use of FRT. In addition, some companies producing facial recognition software have placed new barriers to law enforcement using their technologies. FRT is one of several biometric technologies employed by law enforcement agencies, which also include fingerprint, palm print, DNA, and iris scans. FRT can be used by law enforcement for a variety of purposes such as generating investigative leads, identifying victims of crimes, helping sort faces in photos that are part of forensic evidence, and helping verify the identity of inmates before they are released from prison. However, the frequency and extent to which FRT is used at various phases of the criminal justice system is unknown. It is most often discussed by law enforcement officials as being used to help identify suspects…”
(Related)
https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/5-emerging-ai-and-machine-learning-trends-to-watch-in-2021
5 Emerging AI And Machine Learning Trends To Watch In 2021
… But it can be easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees when it comes to trends in the development and use of AI and ML technologies. As we approach the end of a turbulent 2020, here’s a big-picture look at five key AI and machine learning trends– not just in the types of applications they are finding their way into, but also in how they are being developed and the ways they are being used.
… Persistent Ethical Questions Around AI Technology
Earlier this year as protests against racial injustice were at their peak, several leading IT vendors, including Microsoft, IBM and Amazon, announced that they would limit the use of their AI-based facial recognition technology by police departments until there are federal laws regulating the technology’s use, according to a Washington Post story.
That has put the spotlight on a range of ethical questions around the increasing use of artificial intelligence technology. That includes the obvious misuse of AI for “deepfake” misinformation efforts and for cyberattacks. But it also includes grayer areas such as the use of AI by governments and law enforcement organizations for surveillance and related activities and the use of AI by businesses for marketing and customer relationship applications.
Interesting. Is this really the only one?
https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-republican-party-hackers-stole-641a8174e51077703888e2fa89070e12
Wisconsin Republican Party says hackers stole $2.3 million
Hackers have stolen $2.3 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party’s account that was being used to help reelect President Donald Trump in the key battleground state, the party’s chairman told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The party noticed the suspicious activity on Oct. 22 and contacted the FBI on Friday, said Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt.
… There have been more than 800 attempted phishing attacks for financial gain targeting the Wisconsin Democratic Party this campaign cycle, but none has been successful, said party spokeswoman Courtney Beyer.
The alleged hack is “certainly embarrassing” for Republicans, said Matt Rothschild, leader of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, an independent group that tracks campaign donations and spending.
… Hitt said the hackers manipulated invoices from four vendors who were being paid for direct mail for Trump’s reelection efforts as well as for pro-Trump material such as hats to be handed out to supporters. Invoices and other documents were altered so when the party paid them, the money went to the hackers instead of the vendors, Hitt said.
It was discovered after someone noticed that an invoice was generated that should not have been, he said.
Hitt said it appears the attack began as a phishing attempt and no data appears to have been stolen, said party spokesman Alec Zimmerman.
Protecting my Ethical Hacking students.
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/10/the-legal-risks-of-security-research.html
The Legal Risks of Security Research
Sunoo Park and Kendra Albert have published “A Researcher’s Guide to Some Legal Risks of Security Research.”
From a summary:
Such risk extends beyond anti-hacking laws, implicating copyright law and anti-circumvention provisions (DMCA §1201), electronic privacy law (ECPA), and cryptography export controls, as well as broader legal areas such as contract and trade secret law.
Our Guide gives the most comprehensive presentation to date of this landscape of legal risks, with an eye to both legal and technical nuance. Aimed at researchers, the public, and technology lawyers alike, its aims both to provide pragmatic guidance to those navigating today’s uncertain legal landscape, and to provoke public debate towards future reform.
Comprehensive, and well worth reading.
You can’t sue the virus (remember, I’m not a lawyer, so I might be wrong) but everyone else is fair game.
https://www.bespacific.com/the-aba-coronavirus-covid-19-task-force/
The ABA Coronavirus (COVID-19) Task Force
This webpage is intended as a national source of information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the delivery of legal services. It includes resources on remote service delivery, court access and rules changes, legal needs, public benefits programs, and pro bono mobilization. We appreciate receiving new information for inclusion on the site, preferably links to dynamic content that is updated regularly. About the Task Force – In response to the growing legal needs of Americans arising from the coronavirus (COVID-19), the American Bar Association has created a nationwide task force of volunteer lawyers and judges from across the legal profession. The task force will identify the legal needs arising from the pandemic, make recommendations to address those needs, and help mobilize volunteer lawyers and legal professionals to assist people who need help. The task force includes experts in disaster response; health law; insurance; legal needs of families to protect basic human needs such as food, shelter, medical and employment benefits; criminal justice; domestic violence; civil rights and social justice…”
Good or bad? Perhaps inevitable?
The Internet Won’t Be the Same After Trump
Being online has changed Donald Trump. He was the internet’s candidate in 2016—he appears in Urban Dictionary’s definition of meme god—and his campaign leveraged the power of Facebook advertising to beat Hillary Clinton. Since then, he’s become even more obsessed with petty grievances and conspiracy theories that play well on Twitter, a platform used by just 22 percent of the American population. On several occasions, the president has employed Reddit posts to help him make points or issue threats.
Trump has also changed the internet in obvious ways. During his first term, Americans have watched his administration relish the opportunity to destroy net neutrality—the core principle of a free and open internet. We’ve had to ask whether social-media platforms should penalize the president for threatening and glorifying violence, and whether the president might in turn just ban internet companies he doesn’t like. We’ve seen some people on the internet turn into emotionally-numb doom-scrollers, while others have joined the #Resistance, engaging in viral virtue signaling and creating a micro-economy of political merch.
But Trump’s impact on the internet is bigger than its weirdest memes or its most prolonged Twitter fights. His presidency has changed how Americans communicate with one another on the internet, heightening its tone of divisiveness and suspicion, shaping its norms and rules, and creating an expectation that each day online will be more surreal than the one before. We’ll look back at these years as an era of major upheaval in nearly everything about being online: The internet is a fundamentally different place from what it was in 2016, and using it the way many people do, the president’s influence is undeniable. Four years in, Americans are only starting to get a sense of how Trump has altered daily American life. Regardless of what happens on Election Day, we can expect four of the biggest changes to last.
(Related)
Explore the Twitter interactions of US politicians with this social network tool
Mozilla and the SMAT (Social Media Analysis Toolkit) team have produced a free interactive network map showing the Twitter connections of US politicians.
The live graph depicts who the likes of President Trump and Joe Biden are interacting with in the build-up to the 2020 presidential election. It’s designed to expose the networks of influence that can adversely affect elections and offer insights into communities, sectarianism, and suspicious influences.
… You can click on an individual node or search for a Twitter account to explore that user’s connections. Their interactions are divided between outbound activity showing the accounts they’ve mentioned and replied to, and inbound activity displaying the users who have replied to and mentioned them.
… You can try the tool out for yourself at this link.
I think my niece is techie enough to use this.
https://www.makeuseof.com/how-find-data-best-music-past/
How to Find Data for the Best Music of the Past
Here, we'll show you how to use Data.world to discover the most popular music over the past several decades.
… Data.world is a social platform for finding and sharing data sets. It allows you to create projects that use publicly available data. It also has a ton of integrations that allow it to work with many popular tools. On top of all that, it has a very generous free tier for personal use.
Tools.
Witeboard - A Simple Online Whiteboard
Last week a reader named Donna sent me an email asking me what I knew about Witeboard. It was a new tool for me so I gave it a try.
Witeboard is a collaborative online whiteboard. To use it just head to the site and start drawing. Witeboard has some basic drawing tools and text tools. To share your Witeboard whiteboard all you have to do is give someone the URL that's assigned to it and they can start drawing on it.
It is possible to create an account on Witeboard but you don't need to create one. The benefit of creating an account is that you can save your work and access it from multiple devices.
In the following video I demonstrate how to use Witeboard.
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