What if they went after the Supreme Court while it was considering election issues…

https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/06/brazil_court_ransomware/

Ransomware attack shutters Brazilian courts. But did attackers breach the virtual machine divide?

Brazil’s Superior Tribunal de Justiça has temporarily shut down after a suspected ransomware attack.

The Tribunal (STJ) is second-highest of Brazil’s courts and is the highest court that decides on federal matters other than constitutional law. At the time of writing, the court’s website consists of nothing but a series of updates on the attack. Those notifications state that a virus attack was detected on November 3, when court networks were shut down as a precaution.

The most recent update says the attacked encrypted data related to legal proceedings, email, and administrative contracts. The statement says the data has been backed up and that work to restore systems is under way, with court business to resume on Monday November 9. Which will be more than welcome because hundreds of cases have been suspended due to the incident.

You probably won’t get all of your employees to read this paper, but you need to.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3415231

How Experts Detect Phishing Scam Emails

Phishing scam emails are emails that pretend to be something they are not in order to get the recipient of the email to undertake some action they normally would not. While technical protections against phishing reduce the number of phishing emails received, they are not perfect and phishing remains one of the largest sources of security risk in technology and communication systems. To better understand the cognitive process that end users can use to identify phishing messages, I interviewed 21 IT experts about instances where they successfully identified emails as phishing in their own inboxes. IT experts naturally follow a three-stage process for identifying phishing emails. In the first stage, the email recipient tries to make sense of the email, and understand how it relates to other things in their life. As they do this, they notice discrepancies: little things that are "off'' about the email. As the recipient notices more discrepancies, they feel a need for an alternative explanation for the email. At some point, some feature of the email --- usually, the presence of a link requesting an action --- triggers them to recognize that phishing is a possible alternative explanation. At this point, they become suspicious (stage two) and investigate the email by looking for technical details that can conclusively identify the email as phishing. Once they find such information, then they move to stage three and deal with the email by deleting it or reporting it. I discuss ways this process can fail, and implications for improving training of end users about phishing.

Perspective. (Will the US follow their lead?)

https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/06/surveillance_camera_commissioner_80000_half_uk_councils/

Snap-crappy: 183 Brit local authorities operate 80,000 CCTV cams between them, says surveillance watchdog

"There are over 6,000 systems and 80,000 cameras in operation across 183 LAs!" So exclaimed the UK's outgoing Surveillance Camera Commissioner as he detailed just how many council CCTV cameras there are across the nation.

In a public plea asking councils to take compliance with surveillance laws seriously, Tony Porter lifted the lid on the scale and depth of CCTV camera deployment across Great Britain.

The figure of 80,000 cameras across 183 councils covers just under half of Britain's 343 local authorities (LAs), meaning district and county councils, unitary authorities, metropolitan districts and London boroughs.

Local authorities have access to "recent innovations such as dash cams and body-worn video" deployed across the length and breadth of boroughs and counties, as Porter explained in a recent blog post asking councils to ensure they comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

“It’s for your own good!”

UK: Woman threatened with police visit after refusing to download NHS corona tracking app

Cindy Harper reports:

A British woman has been threatened with a visit from police for refusing to download the NHS coronavirus tracking app on her smartphone and allowing herself to be tracked. This the latest story in how the coronavirus is leading to an erosion of civil liberties in many countries.

The woman recently tested positive for COVID and is in self-isolation at home.

Read more on Reclaim the Net.

Correlation is not causation, except when it is.

https://www.bespacific.com/counties-with-worst-virus-surges-overwhelmingly-voted-for-trump/

Counties with worst virus surges overwhelmingly voted for Trump

AP – “U.S. voters went to the polls starkly divided on how they see President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, with a surprising twist: In places where the virus is most rampant now, Trump enjoyed enormous support. An Associated Press analysis reveals that in 376 counties with the highest number of new cases per capita, the overwhelming majority — 93% of those counties — went for Trump, a rate above other less severely hit areas. Most were rural areas in Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin. Taking note of the contrast, state health officials are pausing for a moment of introspection. Even as they worry about rising numbers of hospitalizations and deaths, they hope to reframe their messages and aim for a reset on public sentiment now that the election is over. “Public health officials need to step back, listen to and understand the people who aren’t taking the same stance” on mask-wearing and other control measures, said Dr. Marcus Plescia of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “I think there’s the potential for things to get less charged and divisive,” he said, adding that there’s a chance a retooled public health message might unify Americans around lowering case counts so hospitals won’t get swamped during the winter months. The AP’s analysis was limited to counties in which at least 95% of precincts had reported results, and grouped counties into six categories based on the rates of COVID-19 cases they’d experienced per 100,000 residents…”

Might be useful for ‘normal people’ too.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sites-law-students/

The 10 Best Websites for Law Students

I’ll ask my niece to explain some of these.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/20-awesome-music-extensions-for-chrome/

The 20 Best Music Extensions for Google Chrome

… since the selection of music extensions available for Chrome is changing all the time, it can be easy to miss the best ones coming onto the scene. You may not even realize how much you needed a certain one until you try it.

If you have an interest in Privacy, you will want to listen to this!

https://www.law.du.edu/privacy-foundation

The Privacy Foundation at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Friday, October 30, 2020 12:00 - 1:00 pm Via Zoom

Facial Recognition & Privacy Session Recording

(This session recording is password protected. Please contact Vincent Gonzales vgonzales@law.du.edu for the password)

I’m shocked! Shocked I tell you!

https://www.databreaches.net/don-t-pay-ransom-on-the-promise-your-data-will-be-deleted-because-it-wont-be-coveware/

Don ‘t pay ransom on the promise your data will be deleted, because it won’t be — Coveware

In Coveware’s Q3 2020 report, there’s a section on criminals not keeping their word about deleting data if you’ll just pay them their extortion demands (imagine criminals not keeping their word — oh, the shock):

PAYING A RANSOM MAY NOT STOP RANSOMWARE GROUPS FROM LEAKING THE EXFILTRATED DATA

Coveware feels that we have reached a tipping point with the data exfiltration tactic. Despite some companies opting to pay threat actors to not release exfiltrated data, Coveware has seen a fraying of promises of the cybercriminals (if that is a thing) to delete the data. The below list includes ransomware groups whom we have observed publicly DOX victims after payment, or have demanded a second extortion payment from a company that had previously paid to have the data deleted / no leaked:

• Sodinokibi: Victims that paid were re-extorted weeks later with threats to post the same data set.

• Maze / Sekhmet / Egregor (related groups): Data posted on a leak site accidentally or willfully before the client understood there was data taken.

• Netwalker: Data posted of companies that had paid for it not to be leaked

• Mespinoza: Data posted of companies that had paid for it not to be leaked

• Conti: Fake files are shown as proof of deletion

Although victims may decide there are valid reasons to pay to prevent the public sharing of stolen data, Coveware’s policy is to advise victims of data exfiltration extortion to expect the following if they opt to pay:

• The data will not be credibly deleted. Victims should assume it will be traded to other threat actors, sold, or held for a second/future extortion attempt

• Stolen data custody was held by multiple parties and not secured. Even if the threat actor deletes a volume of data following a payment, other parties that had access to it may have made copies so that they can extort the victim in the future

• The data may get posted anyway by mistake or on purpose before a victim can even respond to an extortion attempt

  They present a powerful case for not paying that second extortion. But can victims get the decryption key without paying the second part of the ransom? Won’t threat actors just increase the ransom for the decryption key if they learn that their victims will NOT pay them to delete data or promise not to publish it?

  In a way, I think it’s a shame that Coveware and other experts haven’t publicly and immediately pointed out when criminals have broken their word. Maybe if they had/did, other victims wouldn’t have paid the ransom when criminals assured them that their word was good because if they lied, no one would ever believe them again.

Read Coveware’s full report on their site.

New law.

https://fpf.org/2020/11/04/californias-prop-24-the-california-privacy-rights-act-passed-whats-next/

California’s Prop 24, the “California Privacy Rights Act,” Passed. What’s Next?

California voters approved Proposition 24 (the California Privacy Rights Act) (CPRA) (full text here ). Garnering 56.1% of the vote so far, the initiative will almost certainly meet the majority threshold to become the new law of the land in California.

(Related)

Portland, Maine Votes to Add Teeth to Ban on Facial Recognition

From EPIC.org:

Voters in Portland, Maine passed a ballot initiative that strengthens the city’s ban on the use of facial recognition by law enforcement and city agencies. The City Council previously passed an order banning face surveillance, but the initiative strengthens the ban with a private right of action and penalties for violations of the law. A growing list of cities have banned facial recognition technology, including Boston, Oakland, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. EPIC has launched a campaign to Ban Face Surveillance and through the Public Voice coalition gathered the support of over 100 organizations and many leading experts across 30 plus countries. Earlier this year, an EPIC-led coalition called on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to recommend the suspension of face surveillance systems across the federal government.

(Related)

Michigan Passes Warrant Requirement for Electronic Data Searches

Alex Ebert reports:

Michigan voters approved a state constitutional amendment that will require state and local law enforcement officers to get a warrant before searching through suspects’ electronic data.

Read more on Bloomberg Law.

Getting closer to eliminating lawyers?

https://thenextweb.com/offers/2020/11/05/with-docpro-you-can-create-all-your-own-legal-documents-for-your-business-in-minutes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29

With DocPro, you can create all your own legal documents for your business in minutes

TLDR: With DocPro, you get access to over 1,500 templates for legal documents of every kind, all fully customizable for all your business and personal needs.

At least they are thinking about it. Let’s hope corporate Boards are doing the same.

Military AI Is Bigger Than Just The Kill Chain: JAIC Chief

The military must not get so fixated on using artificial intelligence to find targets that it neglects its wider applications from deployment planning to escalation control, warns the new director of the Pentagon’s Joint AI Center.

In recent field tests, an experimental Army AI was able to find targets in satellite imagery and relay target coordinates to artillery in under 20 seconds. Accelerating the “kill chain” from detection to destruction this way is a powerful but narrow application of artificial intelligence, said Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, a Marine Corps intelligence officer who took over JAIC on Oct. 1st.

Misapplication of AI raises the potential for “rapid escalation and strategic instability,” Groen told an NDIA conference last week. “That’s really where we have to…go back to ethical principles.”

The principles for military AI promulgated in February, Groen noted, require artificial intelligence to be “governable.” To quote that policy (the emphasis is ours): “The Department will design and engineer AI capabilities to fulfill their intended functions while possessing the ability to detect and avoid unintended consequences, and the ability to disengage or deactivate deployed systems that demonstrate unintended behavior.”

Learning is never done.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/04/valuable-skills-to-learn-before-2021-and-where-to-find-free-online-courses-according-to-futurist.html

These are the top 5 skills to learn right now, says futurist—and where to find free online courses

… As a futurist who has helped more than 1,000 companies adapt to change and uncertainty, I’ve found that, while hard skills remain important, there are five forward-thinking — and often ignored — soft skills you need in order to remain valuable and relevant in a rapidly-changing workforce.

Here are the skills to master before 2021, along with the best free online courses to help you build upon them:

1. Futuristic thinking skills

2. Courageous leadership skills

3. Emotional intelligence skills

4. Interpersonal communication skills

5. Cognitive flexibility

Might I suggest: Secure first, smoke later?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/configuration-snafu-exposes-passwords-for-two-million-marijuana-growers/#ftag=RSSbaffb68

Configuration snafu exposes passwords for two million marijuana growers

GrowDiaries, an online community where marijuana growers can blog about their plants and interact with other farmers, has suffered a security breach in September this year.

The breach occurred after the company left two Kibana apps exposed on the internet without administrative passwords.

Learn to hate your neighbor?

https://threatpost.com/police-livestream-ring-camera-mississippi/160936/

Police to Livestream Ring Camera Footage of Mississippi Residents

Police in Mississippi are testing a program in which they can livestream video from Ring cameras installed at private homes and businesses. The move is sounding an alarm bell with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other privacy advocates who have long disapproved of the Amazon-owned company’s alliance with law enforcement.

The program in Jackson, Miss., to use the Ring door cameras as part of surveillance efforts, is being touted as a new way to help police fight rising crime, according to a report in the Jackson Free Press.

Police have partnered with two technology companies – Jackson-based tech consulting company PILEUM and Georgia-based cloud services provider Fusus – to allow law enforcement to access private Ring camera surveillance of residents or businesses who agreed to participate in the 45-day program. If private participants allow, the city now has permission to access those cameras through the platform, and could use the data collected to track criminal activity.

The ACLU, however, called the launch of the program its “worst fears” being “confirmed,” in a Tuesday blog post by ACLU policy analyst Matthew Guariglia.

Will this get their attention?

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252491537/GDPR-lawsuit-against-Oracle-and-Salesforce-moves-forward

GDPR lawsuit against Oracle and Salesforce moves forward

The data processing policies and practices of two of the world’s largest software companies, Salesforce and Oracle, will come under scrutiny in the High Court of England and Wales in the biggest digital privacy class action lawsuit ever filed.

The suit, filed by privacy campaigner and data protection specialist Rebecca Rumbul, is seeking damages that have been estimated in excess of £10bn, which could conceivably lead to awards of £500 for every internet user in the UK. A parallel suit in the Netherlands backed by a Dutch group called The Privacy Collective Foundation could take the total damages to more than €15bn.

Another perspective.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/03/artificial-intelligence-health-care-ten-steps-to-ethics-based-governance/

Ten steps to ethics-based governance of AI in health care

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform health care. It can enable health care professionals to analyze health data quickly and precisely, and lead to better detection, treatment, and prevention of a multitude of physical and mental health issues.

Artificial intelligence integrated with virtual care — telemedicine and digital health — interventions are playing a vital role in responding to Covid-19. Penn Medicine, for example, has designed a Covid-19 chatbot to stratify patients and facilitate triage. Penn is also using machine learning to identify patients at risk for sepsis.

The University of California, San Diego, health system is applying AI by using machine learning to augment lung imaging analyses for detecting pneumonia in chest X-rays to identify patients likely to have Covid-19 complications. The U.S. Veterans Health Administration is piloting an AI tool to predict Covid-19 outcomes such as length of hospitalization and death. Mass General Brigham developed a Covid-19 screener chatbot to rapidly stratify sick patients, facilitate triage of patients to appropriate care settings, and alleviate the workload on contact centers.

… . A data governance framework based on the following 10 steps can assist health care systems embrace artificial intelligence applications in ways that reduces ethical risks to patients, providers, and payers.

Worth studying.

https://fpf.org/2020/11/04/understanding-blockchain-a-review-of-fpfs-oct-29th-digital-data-flows-masterclass/

Understanding Blockchain: A Review of FPF’s Oct. 29th Digital Data Flows Masterclass

On 29 October 2020, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB and Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) hosted the eight Digital Data Flows Masterclass. The masterclass on blockchain technology completes the VUB-FPF Digital Data Flows Masterclass series.

The most recent masterclass explored the basics of how blockchain technologies work, including established and proposed use cases, which were then evaluated through the lens of privacy and data protection.

The slides of the presenters can be accessed here and here.

The recording of the class can be accessed here.

Deep pockets are huge targets.

https://www.techradar.com/news/this-could-be-the-most-expensive-data-breach-ever

This could be the most expensive data breach ever

JM Bullion, which sells gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium, became the victim of a cyberattack back in February that was not discovered until July. It remains unclear why the hack is only just being disclosed publicly.

This type of attack is known as MageCart and works by placing lines of malicious JavaScript code into a website. Then, when an individual enters payment information, the code diverts it to an external server operated by the hacker.

… “Through an investigation, it was determined that malicious code was present on the website from February 18, 2020 to July 17, 2020, which had the ability to capture customer information entered into the website in limited scenarios while making a purchase.”

Again, for my Ethical Hackers.

https://www.bespacific.com/cyberlaw-clinic-and-eff-publish-guide-to-legal-risks-of-security-research/

Cyberlaw Clinic and EFF publish Guide to Legal Risks of Security Research

Cyberlaw Clinic: “We are excited to announce the release of A Researcher’s Guide to Some Legal Risks of Security Research (pdf), a report authored by Sunoo Park and Kendra Albert, and co-published by the Cyberlaw Clinic and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Just last month, over 75 prominent security researchers signed a letter urging the Supreme Court not to interpret the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the federal anti-hacking / computer crime statute, in a way that would criminalize swaths of valuable security research. The case in question, Van Buren v. United States, is still pending. Meanwhile, security researchers routinely face legal risks and receive legal threats, with documented chilling effects on their work. This harms security research, which in turn harms the security of the technologies on which we all increasingly rely. 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…”

Your face on a body camera or other video is like leaving fingerprints behind, but not in this case. Police found a face on Twitter and “identified” it before running it through the system. (Or is the article wrong?)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/facial-recognition-protests-lafayette-square/2020/11/02/64b03286-ec86-11ea-b4bc-3a2098fc73d4_story.html

Facial recognition used to identify Lafayette Square protester accused of assault

A line of U.S. Park Police officers pushed protesters back from Lafayette Square on June 1, firing pepper balls and rolling canisters spewing irritant gas into the retreating crowds on H Street NW, video shows.

Amid screams and smoke, a man in a tie-dye T-shirt pulled an officer to the ground and punched him in the face, before disappearing into the chaos, according to charging documents.

The man grabbed another officer, before police caught up with him and attempted to make an arrest, authorities said. But the man wrestled free and vanished once again.

The protester might never have been identified, but an officer found an image of the man on Twitter and investigators fed it into a facial recognition system, court documents state. They found a match and made an arrest.

The court documents are believed to be the first public acknowledgment that authorities used the controversial technology in connection with the widely criticized sweep of largely peaceful protesters ahead of a photo op by President Trump.

Executive orders are not magic wands…

https://www.makeuseof.com/tiktok-dodges-us-ban-again/

TikTok Dodges a US Ban Once Again

… TikTok was supposed to be officially removed from US app stores on September 20th, however, a federal judge delayed the ban. Even still, that judge's ruling didn't block the other portion of Trump's executive order that would stop all use of TikTok starting November 12th.

In response to the potential November 12th ban, three TikTok influencers filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The influencers cited that a TikTok ban would hurt their ability to earn a living. The influencers who filed the suit, Cosette Rinab, Douglas Marland, and Alec Chambers each have millions of followers on TikTok.

Best election forecasting site. (If you can’t stand the suspense.)

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/

Freebie.

https://www.infoq.com/articles/book-review-accelerating-software-quality/

Q&A on the Book Accelerating Software Quality

The book Accelerating Software Quality by Eran Kinsbruner explores how we can combine techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning with a DevOps approach to increase testing effectiveness and deliver higher quality. It provides examples and recommendations for using AI/ML-based solutions in software development and operations.

InfoQ readers can download a sample of Advancing Software Quality.

‘Fake news’ spreads quickly, but does it only spread among those most likely to believe it?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/01/tech/false-biden-video-twitter/index.html

False video of Joe Biden viewed 1 million times on Twitter

A deceptively edited video of Joe Biden making it appear the Democratic presidential nominee forgot what state he was in was viewed more than one million times on Twitter over the weekend.

In the video, Biden addresses a crowd — saying, "Hello, Minnesota!" The event did, indeed, take place in St Paul, Minnesota.

In the unedited, original video, signs in front of and behind Biden on the stage read "Text MN to 30330" — making it clear the event was in Minnesota.

However in the false video, the on-stage signs were edited to read "Tampa, Florida," and "Text FL to 30330."

Can we extend this to all surveillance?

https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-to-monitor-remote-workers-ethically/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mitsmr+%28MIT+Sloan+Management+Review%29

How to Monitor Remote Workers — Ethically

Remote working is no short-term arrangement that will dissipate when society reopens — it’s here to stay. A fundamental paradigm shift solidified the moment that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey encouraged employees to work from home forever. Influential companies, including Google, Facebook, and Square, followed suit — and as these early adopters move, so do the rest. A notable 88% of organizations worldwide now either encourage or require their employees to work from home, and they reap significant benefits from the arrangement. Freed from tedious and stressful commutes, employees have more time to work: Up to 400 additional hours per year per employee could be reallocated to their workdays, resulting in productivity improvements across 77% of the workforce.

Coupled with this productivity rise, however, is an alarming surge in monitoring to scrutinize employee activity. Workers have long been aware of managers tracking the content of their emails, social media accounts, meeting records, time sheets, and workspace utilization, but with working from home now widespread, the stakes are a lot higher.

Worth reading.

https://onezero.medium.com/what-facebook-has-fixed-since-the-2016-election-and-what-it-hasnt-5354e9fb4227

What Social Media Companies Have Fixed Since the 2016 Election

And a few things they haven’t

How to win friends and influence people.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-43754-1_3

Privacy and Tracking

In order for ubiquitous computing to realize its full potential, it is necessary for service providers to detect the presence of user devices to identify the needs and wishes of the associated users—both as this relates to the performance of services and the implementation of privacy preferences. We take a large step in the direction of improving service performance by introducing an approach to tie a person’s online behavior (e.g., as represented by her HTML cookies) with her physical behavior (e.g., location and brick-and-mortar purchases). This enables insights from web browsing to be applied to in-store sales (e.g., using coupons), and data related to user location and behavior to be used to improve the understanding of the user’s online needs. We also show how to tie a user profile to a user communications channel, which enables messaging (e.g., alerts, reminders and coupons) that is tied to the detection of user actions, whether on- or offline. We show how to combine this advance in profiling capabilities with a practically manageable approach to enhance end-user privacy. One aspect of this is an extension of the domain of observations to which users can (or can deny to) grant permissions, e.g., allowing individual users a practical method to determine under what circumstances facial recognition can be used for personalization purposes. Our approach is backwards compatible with existing consumer devices; can be rolled out gradually; and is designed with attention given to the usability of the resulting system.

Is this article suggesting that mere humans can’t understand Facebook?

https://academic.oup.com/jeclap/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jeclap/lpaa077/5940770

The Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Future of Competition Law Enforcement

In a future in which the evidential underpinnings for initiating competition law investigations could begin to shift towards a reliance upon the use of artificial intelligence, this paper outlines some of the key opportunities and risks for businesses and regulators.

In October 2017, the European Commission (the Commission) published a consultancy tender seeking advice on how artificial intelligence (AI) could improve its processes of evidence management, legal drafting and—as is the focus of this paper—its market intelligence gathering.1 More recently, in its AI White Paper of February 2020, the Commission again expressed an intention to understand how AI can equip ‘law enforcement authorities with appropriate tools’.2

Looking at faces changes how we look at faces…

https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.30820/0171-3434-2020-2-45/facial-recognition-technologies-and-the-new-physiognomic-era-volume-43-2020-issue-2

Facial recognition technologies and the new physiognomic era

The current overproduction of images of faces in digital photographs and videos, and the widespread use of facial recognition technologies have important effects on the way we understand ourselves and others. This is because facial recognition technologies create new circulation pathways of images that transform portraits and photographs into material for potential personal identification. In other words, different types of images of faces become available to the scrutiny of facial recognition technologies. In these new circulation pathways, images are continually shared between many different actors who use (or abuse) them for different purposes. Besides this distribution of images, the categorization practices involved in the development and use of facial recognition systems reinvigorate physiognomic assumptions and judgments (e.g., about beauty, race, dangerousness). They constitute the framework through which faces are interpreted. This paper shows that, because of this procedure, facial recognition technologies introduce new and far-reaching »facialization« processes, which reiterate old discriminatory practices.

A sure fire discussion stimulus for my classes. When should your car kill you?

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Machine-Ethics-and-Automated-Vehicles-Goodall/4be6deba004cd99fa5434cd3c297747be9d45bb5

Machine Ethics and Automated Vehicles

Road vehicle travel at a reasonable speed involves some risk, even when using computer-controlled driving with failure-free hardware and perfect sensing. A fully-automated vehicle must continuously decide how to allocate this risk without a human driver’s oversight. These are ethical decisions, particularly in instances where an automated vehicle cannot avoid crashing. In this chapter, I introduce the concept of moral behavior for an automated vehicle, argue the need for research in this area through responses to anticipated critiques, and discuss relevant applications from machine ethics and moral modeling research.

Resources.

https://www.makeuseof.com/4-unique-ways-to-get-datasets-for-your-machine-learning-project/

4 Unique Ways to Get Datasets for Your Machine Learning Project