Why the IRS wants you to log in with a video selfie
The IRS will soon require taxpayers to use facial recognition to access their online accounts. Users will need to submit a combination of documents and even a video selfie to…
France latest to slap Clearview AI with order to delete data
Controversial facial recognition company, Clearview AI, which has amassed a database of some 10 billion images by scraping selfies off the Internet so it can sell an identity-matching service to…
Clearview AI is offering its services to Governments for Free Trials
In March, a BuzzFeed News investigation based on Clearview AI’s own internal data showed how the New York–based startup distributed its facial recognition tool, by marketing free trials for its…
Deepfakes: Microsoft and others in Big Tech are working to bring authenticity to videos, photos
"Can we build a detector that can distinguish real reality from this virtual synthesized reality? Deepfakes are imperfect now; you can find all sorts of artifacts," Microsoft distinguished engineer Paul…
The Birth of the World Wide Web: An Oral History of the Internet
Fifty years ago, in response to the surprise Soviet launch of Sputnik, the U.S. military set up the Advanced Research Projects Agency. It would become the cradle of connectivity, spawning…
How Musicians and Sex Workers Beat Facial Recognition in New Orleans
Last December, the city of New Orleans voted to ban facial recognition, joining Oakland, Somerville, Portland, San Francisco, and other cities that have successfully pushed back against the widely-criticized surveillance…
Toy Donation
Smart toys: Your child’s best friend or a creepy surveillance tool?
Imagine a child born this year who will be surrounded by technology at every phase of her childhood. When she is three years old, Sophie’s parents buy her a smart…
Tech Companies Are Profiling Us From Before Birth
Children today are the very first generation of citizens to be datafied from before birth. The social and political consequences of this historical transformation have yet to be seen. Tens…
Face Surveillance and the Capitol Attack
After last week’s violent attack on the Capitol, law enforcement is working overtime to identify the perpetrators. This is critical to accountability for the attempted insurrection. Law enforcement has many,…
How Much Should We Really Care about Data Privacy
As data scientists how much should we care data privacy? Well more data means better models and less data means less accurate models. So in a sense the value we…