Facial Recognition Technology Isn’t Good Just Because It’s Used to Arrest Neo-Nazis
(Slate, Jan 12, 2021)
In a recent New Yorker article about the Capitol siege, Ronan Farrow described how investigators used a bevy of online data and facial recognition technology to confirm the identity of Larry Rendall Brock Jr., an Air Force Academy graduate and combat veteran from Texas. Brock was photographed inside the Capitol carrying zip ties, presumably to be used to restrain someone. (He claimed to Farrow that he merely picked them up off the floor and forgot about them. Brock was arrested Sunday and charged with two counts.) Even as they stormed the Capitol, many rioters stopped to pose for photos and give excited interviews on livestream.
Trump Admin Launches National AI Initiative Office
(The Next Web, Jan 12, 2021)
The White House today announced the launch of its National AI Initiative Office, marking what should be President Trump‘s final manipulation of the country’s gutted Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
Interview: Kathy Baxter, Architect Of Ethical AI Practice At Salesforce
(Inside Big Data, Jan 12, 2021)
I recently caught up with Kathy Baxter, one of the elite AI ethicists in the world and Salesforce‘s Principal Architect of Ethical AI, to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of ethical data collection
Should Law Enforcement Be Using AI And Cell Phone Data To Find Rioters?
(Big Think, Jan 12, 2021)
If ever there were a reason to wear masks, the insurrection at the Capitol last week would have been it. But many of those present believed the anti-mask rhetoric being used as a distraction from the nation's skyrocketing death rate. In fact, the day might even prove to have been a superspreader event, with at least two congresspeople becoming infected after the siege.
Big Brother Gets Even Bigger: Moscow To Create Database With Residents' Salaries, Vehicle Information & Even School Results
(RT, Jan 12, 2021)
Moscow has revealed a plan to spend $2.4 million on a giant database containing information about every single city resident, including passport numbers, insurance policies, salaries, car registrations – and even their pets. It will also include work and tax details, school grades, and data from their 'Troika' care – Moscow's unified transport payment system, used on the metro, busses and trains. The new proposal will undoubtedly increase fears about ever-growing surveillance in the Russian capital, where the number of facial recognition cameras has recently been increased.
United States: New York Proposes A New Biometric Privacy Act
(Mondaq, Jan 12, 2021)
On January 6th, the first day of the New York legislature's 2021 session, NY lawmakers proposed Assembly Bill 27 (AB 27), the Biometric Privacy Act. The legislative purpose of AB 27 is to provide safeguards for consumers regarding their biometric identifiers, such as fingerprints, handprints, retina or iris scans, voiceprints, and other facial and hand recognition. Effectively, the proposed Act would require private (non-governmental) organizations that possess a biometric identifier or biometric information (i.e., information "based on" a biometric identifier) (collectively "biometric data") to develop a written retention policy setting forth the time period for information containing biometric data, as well as guidelines for permanently destroying such biometric data either when: (i) the initial purpose for obtaining such information "has been satisfied," or (ii) within three years of the individual's last interaction with the private entity, whichever happens first.
The US Army Is Developing A Nightmarish Thermal Facial Recognition System
(AOL, Jan 12, 2021)
The US Army just took a giant step toward developing killer robots that can see and identify faces in the dark. DEVCOM, the US Army’s corporate research department, last week published a pre-print paper documenting the development of an image database for training AI to perform facial recognition using thermal images.
SITA And Etihad Airways Trial Advanced Biometric Technolog
(Aerospace Technology, Jan 12, 2021)
nformation technology company SITA and UAE carrier Etihad Airways have trialled an advanced biometric technology at Abu Dhabi Airport. The implementation is designed to improve the entry and exit to the restricted Crew Briefing Centre (CBC). Some of the challenges that the partners sought to address are reducing lining up and fast-tracking the crew check-in process at the CBC and flight preparations stress. The partnership also focused on introducing facial recognition technology to promote low touch process and integrate ‘biometrics on-the-go’ convenience to enable crew members to use their smartphones.
BIO-key Sees Significant Increase in Customer Demand for its Cloud-Based Authentication Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) Solution PortalGuard
(BIO-key, Jan 12, 2021)
Today announced that many of its existing customers are migrating from their current on-premises deployment to BIO-key's PortalGuard® Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) cloud-based authentication solution. While also onboarding new named customers BIO-key is assisting an increasing base of customers who desire to move more of their critical applications to the cloud and are attracted to improved security and simplified management capabilities of PortalGuard® IDaaS. In Q4 2020, BIO-key migrated nine of its [on-premises] customers to PortalGuard IDaaS, supporting approximately 115,000 users. Also, there is further upside potential of converting over 200 existing on-premises customers representing millions of users to IDaaS in 2021 and beyond.
