Surveillance Britain: where police are quietly trying to access 50m photos for one mass lineup
By The Guardian Published on January 11, 2024 When you send off your details and photo to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for your first driving licence, you’re probably thinking about being able to do things like taking friends on a road trip, dropping the kids off to school or helping elderly […]
Why AI is a disaster for the climate
By The Guardian Published on December 23, 2023 “Amid all the hysteria about ChatGPT and co, one thing is being missed: how energy-intensive the technology is” What to do when surrounded by people who are losing their minds about the Newest New Thing? Answer: reach for the Gartner Hype Cycle, an ingenious […]
Israel is using an AI system to find targets in Gaza. Experts say it’s just the start
By npr Published on December 14, 2023 The pace is astonishing: In the wake of the brutal attacks by Hamas-led militants on October 7, Israeli forces have struck more than 22,000 targets inside Gaza, a small strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. Just since the temporary truce broke down on December 1, Israel’s Air […]
Incognito Mode Isn’t Doing What You Think It’s Doing
By The Wall Street Journal Published on November 22, 2023 “Private browsing, for one thing, may be giving holiday shoppers a false sense of privacy” There is an urban myth that says online shoppers who doggedly search for certain items on the web get tagged by algorithms that then cause them to […]
Israel Reportedly Using AI to Identify Targets for “Mass Assassination Factory”
By The Byte Published on December 2, 2023 “We work quickly and there is no time to delve deep into the target.” Israel is, per reports in multiple international news outlets, using a secretive artificial intelligence tool to identify targets — and their accompanying collateral damage — for assassination amid its ongoing […]
The LAPD Is Using Controversial Mass Surveillance Tracking Software
By VICE Published on November 30, 2023 The LAPD has purchased controversial mass surveillance software that allows police to track individuals using geolocation data. The company that provides the software, called WebLoc, is Cobwebs Technologies. The Israeli company was founded by three IDF veterans in 2015 and has previously sold contracts to the […]
A.I. Could Soon Need as Much Electricity as an Entire Country
By The New York Times Published on October 10, 2023 OpenAI’s ChatGPT exploded onto the scene nearly a year ago, reaching an estimated 100 million users in two months and setting off an A.I. boom. Behind the scenes, the technology relies on thousands of specialized computer chips. And in the coming years, they could consume […]
As A.I.-Controlled Killer Drones Become Reality, Nations Debate Limits
By The New York Times Published on November 21, 2023 Worried about the risks of robot warfare, some countries want new legal constraints, but the U.S. and other major powers are resistant. It seems like something out of science fiction: swarms of killer robots that hunt down targets on their own and […]
Britain is ‘omni-surveillance’ society, watchdog warns
By The Guardian Published on October 29, 2023 Britain is an “omni-surveillance” society with police forces in the “extraordinary” position of holding more than 3m custody photographs of innocent people more than a decade after being told to destroy them, the independent surveillance watchdog has said. Fraser Sampson, who will end his term […]