Speed Read

South Korea is Giving Millions of Photos To Facial Recognition Researchers (Vice, Nov 16, 2021)
The South Korean Ministry of Justice has provided more than 100 million photos of foreign nationals who travelled through the country’s airports to facial recognition companies without their consent, according to attorneys with the non-governmental organization Lawyers for a Democratic Society. While the use of facial recognition technology has become common for governments across the world, advocates in South Korea are calling the practice a “human rights disaster” that is relatively unprecedented.
 

In Moscow’s Technological Advances, a ‘Double-Edged Sword’ (The New York Times, Nov 16, 2021)
The Moscow Metro — a world-class marvel of efficient mass transportation since it opened in 1935 — made headlines last month with a very 21st-century innovation: a payment system that doesn’t require passengers to produce a ticket, a transit card, a smartphone or a contactless bank card. All they have to do is show their face. By Oct. 15, the facial recognition system, called Face Pay, was up and running at about 240 stations on the Moscow Metro, a sprawling and constantly expanding system famous for its on-time track record and its grandiose and ornate stations.
 

How Airports Are Using Biometrics so You Can Spend Less Time Waiting in Lines (CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER, Nov 16, 2021)
Maddie Winters, a travel agent and blogger, usually racks up around 75,000 to 100,000 frequent flier miles a year. With that much time spent in airports, she relies on her memberships in programs like TSA PreCheck and Clear to save time at the airport. “[Having those memberships] makes me think I can show up at the airport later since I avoid most lines at security,” says the New Jersey–based traveler. However, on a recent trip from Los Angeles to Hawaii, a line stretching the length of the terminal to check a bag nearly cost her an on-time departure. That all-too-common scenario is one of the issues that airports, airlines, and government agencies are hoping to solve with a burgeoning amount of biometrics, the category of technology that includes fingerprint, retinal, and facial recognition scans and helps travelers skip over lines.
 

As Vaccination Apps Catch On, Some Require More Data Than Others (NPR, Nov 16, 2021)
Showing proof of vaccination is becoming more routine in places like New York City and Los Angeles. And while your vaccination card will usually get you into, say, a restaurant, big venues are starting to ask people to use phone apps. NPR's Martin Kaste reports on one app that's quickly gaining ground, even as privacy experts raise concerns.
 

Instagram Asks Users For A Video Selfie To Verify Identity (Oicanadian, Nov 16, 2021)
The Instagram app will have new verification measures. | REUTERS / Thomas White As a way to increase online security and fight against spoofing, fake accounts or bots, the social network Instagram has been asking some users to record themselves in order to verify their identity.Although it does not happen to everyone, different people have ensured that this ad has jumped them when trying to log in on a new device, for example, when trying to access through another app, from a new location or when the account has been subjected to “abnormal” behavior such as a wave of ‘likes’.
 

Portugal Needs To Approve Large Video Spying With Biometrics: That Is Argued By Way Of Virtual Rights Activists (The News Trance, Nov 16, 2021)
Whilst the Eu Parliament needs to steer clear of up to conceivable that biometrics can carry out computerized facial reputation duties in public areas (and has already voted in choose of this ban, after a number of debates at the topic), in Portugal the government stroll in the other way. And activists on this box warn that it violates the privateness of voters. The Reclaim Your Face D3 coalition of Europe, of which the Portuguese group Defesa Dos Direitos Digitais is a part, warns that the ministers are looking to accelerate the approval of those biometric surveillance regulations inside of Parliament.

 

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