Friday, July 19, 2024

If TSA says it’s optional, what they really mean is that it is not not mandatory.

https://pogowasright.org/opting-out-of-facial-recognition-at-airports/

Opting out of facial recognition at airports

Because a lot of people are stuck at airports today due to a CrowdStrike glitch affecting software, this might be a good time to talk about opting out of facial recognition at airports. Ed Hasbrouck recently wrote:

Next week the Algorithmic Justice League will be launching an awareness and sousveillance campaign focused on the use of facial recognition in airports by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its airport and airline partners.
The #freedomflyers campaign includes efforts to make travelers aware that the TSA claims that submitting to facial recognition is “optional”. The campaign also includes a free online Freedom Flyers Summit on “Resisting Airport Face Scans” on July 19th and — perhaps most importantly — a scorecard for travelers to report what actually happens when they try to opt out of facial recognition at airports.
In many cases, staff or contractors of airlines, airport operators, or the TSA tell travelers that facial recognition is required. In other cases, facial recognition turnstiles are unattended by any staff, leaving no apparent way to opt opt. Some facial recognition turnstiles are attended only by “line-minders” or security guards or subcontractors with no authority to allow travelers to pass through without submitting to mug shots.

Read more on Papers, Please!





But use this to review your recovery plans…

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/global-technology-outage-crowdstrike/3597367/

Global technology outage: Flights impacted, businesses offline, what to know

The head of CrowdStrike, the company responsible for an update that took millions of people offline, said Friday the massive global outage was not a cyberattack nor a security incident





Tools & Techniques. More detail than reasonable? Not just for realtors.

https://www.bespacific.com/forewarn-app-real-estate-homebuyer-data/

How a little-known tool is sweeping the real estate industry by giving instant access to vast amounts of homebuyer data

The Record: “…Forewarn is primarily marketed to and used by the real estate industry, and it has been penetrating that market at a rapid clip. Although some real estate agents say the financial information it returns saves time when finding clients most likely to have the budget for the houses they’re looking at, most agents and associations tout it primarily as a safety tool because it also supplies criminal records. In addition to those records, the product — owned by the data broker red violet — also supplies a given individual’s address history; phone, vehicle and property records; bankruptcies; and liens and judgements, including foreclosure histories. Although such data could generally be gleaned from public records, Forewarn delivers it at the press of a button — a function real estate agents say allows them to gather publicly available information without having to visit courthouses and municipal offices, a process which would normally take days. The power of Forewarn’s technology has led to rapid adoption, but the company is still largely unknown outside the real estate industry. Several fair housing and civil rights advocates interviewed by Recorded Future News weren’t aware of its existence. The individuals whose data it sells also have no idea their information is being shared with real estate agents, who potentially might choose not to work with them because of what they discover on the app. Forewarn did not respond to multiple requests for comment, however, statements made by one of its executives suggest that the company intentionally keeps a low profile.

Do not tell the prospect that they are not permitted or unqualified to purchase or sell property because of information you obtained from Forewarn,” a company executive said at a recent training webinar with Illinois real estate agents. She emphasized that potential buyers “do not get notified” when they are screened with the app, a question she said many real estate agents ask. Real estate agents who, for example, discover a client has a lien filed against them, should consider telling the prospect they “obtained this information from a confidential service that bases their information on available public record information,” the executive added. As Forewarn continues to penetrate the real estate industry, one of the biggest questions for the company is whether it will be able to evade scrutiny and pushback by privacy advocates who say it is essentially mass profiling renters and potential homebuyers in silence, as well as regulators who have cracked down on similar practices…”





Tools & Techniques. I wonder if teachers could use this to play Defense? (Drop student essays into it and run the checkers.)

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/this-ai-writing-tool-could-be-a-students-best-friend-and-biggest-temptation/

This AI Writing Tool Could Be a Student's Best Friend, and Biggest Temptation

Created as an AI writing tool to help students, Smodin has since added features like a plagiarism checker, which verifies that text is unique, as well as an AI content detector, which tells you whether the text is likely to be identified as AI-generated, and a homework helper, which provides answers for questions in subjects like geography, math, physics, biology and history.



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