Utah Auditor Names Statewide Chief Privacy Officer
(State Scoop, Nov 18, 2021)
The Utah state auditor this week named Whitney Phillips, who’s spent the past five years as privacy officer for the Utah State Board of Education, as its first statewide privacy chief. The announcement Tuesday follows the role’s creation earlier this year, along with several other recent measures that advanced Utah’s efforts to protect residents’ personal data. While Christopher Bramwell, the state’s new government operations privacy officer, evaluates the privacy practices of agencies within the Utah state government, Phillips, who’s set to start at the end of the month, will be tasked with monitoring the rest of the state, including cities, counties, school districts, colleges and universities.
Musicians Want Nothing To Do With Amazon’s Venue-entry Palm Scanners
(Input Mag, Nov 18, 2021)
More than 30 activist groups and 200 artists have signed an open letter demanding that companies reject Amazon’s palm-scanning technology once and for all. The letter, which was penned by Fight For The Future, details the ways in which palm-recognition technology can be just as harmful as the facial recognition tools many lawmakers and companies have turned against as of late.The letter focuses on the spread of this technology — called Amazon One — to live music venues like Colorado’s Red Rock Amphitheatre, which announced its intention to begin using it in September. It’s also leveled at AXS — a digital ticket provider — and AEG Worldwide, owner of many stadiums around the world.
How AI Is Helping In The Fight For Safer Factories
(CBN, Nov 18, 2021)
IN manufacturing, safety has long been a top priority. More recently, modern workplace safety has undergone a tectonic shift to accommodate the exceptional challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. While many of us hoped to be out of the woods by now, the pandemic is once again surging, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, along with others. Enter artificial intelligence. Many manufacturers already leverage AI technology to anticipate and problem solve for unexpected obstacles such as machinery failure, defective product delivery, and more. According to a recent MIT survey, the top three use cases for AI in factories are improving product quality, achieving greater speed and visibility across supply chains, and optimizing inventory management. Beyond these core use cases, AI can and should be deployed to advance worker safety, especially in a pandemic. AI can help leaders improve factory security, accurate health checks, and build confidence among workers to ensure operational efficiency is never compromised.
Certain Facial Recognition Technology Contravenes Privacy Law
(Lexology, Nov 18, 2021)
The use of facial recognition technology is now widespread across many industries as evolving technology facilitates its ready adoption. However, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has put organisations on notice that they must ensure biometric information is not collected unlawfully or unnecessarily through the use of this technology. Further, all such information is required to be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with the requirements of the Privacy Act and general expectations of privacy.
Instagram’s Video Selfie Verification System Hilariously Fooled By Dolls
(India Times, Nov 18, 2021)
The feature was first introduced in August however was delayed post issues with the verification process. However, it looks like while fixing the system, they’ve managed to make it slightly worse instead as reportedly the facial recognition system can be fooled pretty easily using dolls. In the video, you can see Chalkdis moving the doll’s head according to the directions the app is showing on the screen Moments later you see the algorithm verify the doll as a user, with a pop-up, “video selfie complete” upon completion.
How Behavioral Biometrics Can Tackle AML Fraud
(Bank Info Security, Nov 18, 2021)
One of the effective ways to tackle AML fraud is to leverage technologies such as behavioral biometrics and device biometrics, says Charles Subrt, director of the fraud and AML practice at Aite-Novarica Group. "From onboarding and know-your-customer practices, we are seeing new techniques. Behavioral biometrics is a key piece in terms of being able to not only ease the friction in terms of customer experience but also to be able to distinguish between good customers and bad customers by looking at their behavior," he says.
In The Face Of IT: Exploring The Future Of Biometrics In A Post-Covid World
(St. Marys, Nov 18, 2021)
As governments around the world consider the options available to them to enable a return to some degree of normality, including assembling for large public events, biometrics could form part of the solution in the form of digital Covid-19 ‘vaccine passports’. But what some consider an appropriate use of new technology, others call discriminatory with the prospect of national identity cards looming on the horizon. Coupled with the use of ‘smart surveillance’ enabled CCTV, these ID cards would impact civil liberty, reduce freedom of movement and potentially change behaviour in a way that CCTV on its own would not.
