Controversial Facial-recognition Software Used 30,000 Times By LAPD In Last Decade, Records Show
(Yahoo, Sep 21, 2020)
The Los Angeles Police Department has used facial-recognition software nearly 30,000 times since 2009, with hundreds of officers running images of suspects from surveillance cameras and other sources against a massive database of mugshots taken by law enforcement.
Amnesty International Identifies Three EU Companies Selling Digital Surveillance Kit To China
(Telecom Paper, Sep 21, 2020)
Amnesty International has identified three EU companies that have sold digital surveillance technologies to China, a country it says misuses its criminal law system to restrict human rights and which also uses indiscriminate mass surveillance plus facial and ethnicity software against its Uyghur population.
Chinese Cameras Blacklisted By US Being Used In UK School Toilets
(The Guardian, Sep 21, 2020)
Surveillance cameras made by Hikvision, the Chinese company that has been implicated in grave human rights violations and has been blacklisted by the US government, are being used across the UK, from leisure centres in London to school toilets in west Norfolk. While use of the surveillance cameras had already rung alarm bells in the British parliament last year, use of the cameras has expanded in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic despite allegations by the US government that the company’s cameras have been used to monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China who are being held in internment camps.
Twitter Investigates Racial Bias In Image Previews
(Up Mews Info, Sep 21, 2020)
Twitter is investigating after users discovered its picture-cropping algorithm sometimes prefers white faces to black ones. Users noticed when two photos – one of a black face the other of a white one – were in the same post, Twitter often showed only the white face on mobile. Twitter said it had tested for racial and gender bias during the algorithm’s development. But it added: “It’s clear that we’ve got more analysis to do.”
Trump Pushes To Reap Biometric Data From Immigrants, Americans
(Blomberg Law, Sep 21, 2020)
Six million would-be U.S. immigrants face expanded collection of their biometric data, including iris scans, palm-, and voice-prints, facial recognition images, and DNA, under a proposed federal rule. The Department of Homeland Security also for the first time would gather that data from American citizens sponsoring or benefiting from a visa application.
Facial Recognition Tech Company Challenges Privacy Class Actions
(NU Property Casualty, Sep 21, 2020)
A New York-based tech startup that claims to have amassed a collection of 3 billion photographic images is tussling with two federal judges overseeing nearly a dozen privacy lawsuits in New York and Illinois, home to the strictest biometrics law in the country. Since a January 18, 2020, story in The New York Times unveiled the business model of Clearview AI Inc., which uses facial recognition to provide photographic information, primarily to law enforcement, lawyers have filed 11 class actions and Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan and the ACLU, represented by Jay Edelson of Edelson PC, have also filed lawsuits.
Senators Introduce Bill On Nationwide TSA Temperature Checks
(ACI-NA, Sep 21, 2020)
As discussed at ACI-NA’s recently U.S. Policy Council meeting, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Rick Scott (R-FL) today unveiled legislation that would require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to establish temperature screenings at airport checkpoints in response to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. The Cantwell-Scott bill (S. 4623, the Fly Safe and Healthy Act) would charge the TSA with deploying a temperature check program across the United States until the end of the pandemic after first conducting a 120-day pilot of technology in various scenarios. Under the proposal, TSA would not be appropriated any new funding to establish and operate this new program.
Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Outline How They Plan To Cruise Safely
(Wall Street Journal, Sep 21, 2020)
Recommendations include tighter controls to keep infected people from boarding ships and detailed plans for addressing infections on board
Why Is TSA Doing Pat-downs At Us Airports During COVID?
(American Security Today, Sep 21, 2020)
Americans are returning to airports, but one potentially unsafe aspect of US air travel remains unchanged: the use of physical pat downs at security checkpoints. At a time when COVID-19 remains a serious public health risk TSA staff...
IrisTime, Contactless, Biometric Time Clock For Modern Workforce
(American Security Today, Sep 21, 2020)
Returning 'ASTORS' Champion Iris ID's new biometric time & attendance platform is a fully customizable and accurate solu-tion to meet leading workforce mgnt needs of small businesses to enterprise organizations worldwide.
ACI-NA Govt Affairs Updates
(ACI-NA, Sep 21, 2020)
Congress returns to session today in a very different political environment than when it recessed last week after the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday. Leaders in both chambers are reevaluating plans they made to quickly pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government into the new fiscal year and then adjourn until after the November election, while not taking up another COVID-19 emergency relief package. Instead the legislative calendars in both the House and Senate may be longer than initially planned, as Speaker Pelosi has signaled her intention to keep the House around in case there is a breakthrough on COVID-19 negotiations and Leader McConnell is preparing to keep the Senate around to process a Supreme Court nomination.
