What a surprise! (What? A surprise?)

https://www.cyberscoop.com/feds-spending-on-facial-recognition-tech-continues-unmitigated-despite-privacy-concerns/

Feds' spending on facial recognition tech expands, despite privacy concerns

The FBI on Dec. 30 signed a deal with Clearview AI for an $18,000 subscription license to the company’s facial recognition technology. While the value of the contract might seem just a drop in the bucket for the agency’s nearly $10 billion budget, the contract was significant in that it cemented the agency’s relationship with the controversial firm. The FBI previously acknowledged using Clearview AI to the Government Accountability Office but did not specify if it had a contract with the company.

The FBI didn’t respond to a request for comment, but it isn’t the only federal law enforcement agency to ramp up its procurement of privately-owned facial recognition technologies in recent months. In September, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent almost $4 million on facial recognition technology from a company called Trust Stamp, as Business Insider first reported. The same month agency purchased a contract with Clearview AI starting at $500,000 with the potential to go up to $1.5 million dollars. In total, ICE investment in Clearview AI has more than doubled during the Biden administration, said Jack Poulson, executive director of the nonprofit Tech Inquiry.

Strangely presented as a slide deck. Some new (to me) terms, like Data Fabric.

https://www.crn.com/slide-shows/channel-programs/gartner-12-top-strategic-technology-trends-for-2022

Gartner: 12 Top Strategic Technology Trends For 2022

From cloud-native platforms to decision intelligence to hyperautomation, here’s what technology research firm Gartner is predicting to be trending in 2022.

… Data fabric is a design concept that acts as an integrated layer (fabric) of data and connecting processes, according to Gartner. It uses analytics over existing metadata assets to support the design, deployment and utilization of integrated and reusable data across all environments.

… Autonomic systems are self-managed physical or software systems that learn from their environments and greatly modify their own algorithms in real time, according to Gartner. This optimizes their behavior in complex environments.