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We Cannot Escape the Tyranny of Technology
Recent reports of large language models developing emergent capabilities beyond their programming parameters suggest that once artificial intelligence (AI) is fully integrated with real-time data sets, the temptation for it or its human masters to use it to control, manipulate and suppress people may become irresistible. Totalitarian governments have been early adopters of digital surveillance technologies because of the ability it gives them to entrench their power. Will democratic nations be able to withstand the temptation to follow?
In recent books like “We Have Been Harmonized” and “Surveillance State,” the authors describe how the Chinese Communist Party uses elaborate surveillance systems composed of more than 300 million facial recognition cameras, mobile phone applications, GPS services, internet gating mechanisms, and a range of human overseers to collect and analyze data on the movement, activities, thoughts and patterns of citizens.
Often packaged as ways to enhance societal safety and security, these technological tools are rapidly facilitating repressive forms of government that can be used to both entitle or punish citizens based on their adherence to authoritarian rules. The brutalization of classes of people such as Chinese Uyghurs is a clear example of the misuse of such power.
There is no hiding from the kind of ubiquitous digital surveillance that governments can impose, and there is little chance of defeating it once it is embedded throughout society. Even the most well-intentioned surveillance program may naturally lead to the next step — government intervention before opposition has a chance to occur — in the name of public safety.
Big Tech Coalition Pushes Online Age Verification and Digital ID
Now, we’re hearing that a Big Tech group called Digital Trust & Safety Partnership (DTSP) has come out in support of age verification in its response to the UN’s wide-ranging Global Digital Compact.
DTSP’s members — Google, Apple, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft (plus LinkedIn), Amazon (via Twitch), Reddit, Pinterest, Zoom, and Match Group, Bitly, Discord — have “rebranded” age verification as “age assurance” and reveal that they are willing to combat harmful online content — but that this could, to actually work, highly likely mean, “collection of new personal data such as facial imagery or government-issued ID.”
So that’s the carrot Big Tech wants for itself in return for playing ball with the UN and its initiative — which itself, opponents say, is a gateway to more censorship and that of perhaps the most dangerous kind: things like linking individuals’ digital ID to their bank accounts.
Peter Hotez Finds ‘Parallel Career’ Fighting Vaccine Misinformation
Peter Hotez has wanted to be a vaccine researcher for as long as he can remember. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a once-in-a-lifetime challenge for someone of his skill set, but he never saw himself becoming the target of anti-vaxxers and the face of anti-misinformation in the way that he has the past few years.
Put plainly, Hotez knows infectious diseases. So, when the pandemic started, he felt ready to be a source of expertise amid the widespread confusion and uncertainty. But with this territory came the task of combating misinformation that sprang up as well, crystallizing what Hotez now refers to as his “parallel career,” which began before COVID-19.
He still finds his efforts to combat misinformation to be “meaningful,” saying pushing back on the anti-vaccine movement is just as important as developing vaccines. Amid the pandemic, Hotez also helped to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Corbevax, which was licensed and approved for use in India.
Hotez is also holding his ground on social media, particularly on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, regularly sharing his thoughts on infectious diseases and shutting down unverified claims. But he hopes that eventually, scientific authorities will take some of that weight off him.
Fauci Deputy Warned Him Against Vaccine Mandates: Email
Mandating COVID-19 vaccination was a mistake because of ethical and other concerns, a top government doctor warned Dr. Anthony Fauci after Dr. Fauci promoted mass vaccination.
“Coercing or forcing people to take a vaccine can have negative consequences from a biological, sociological, psychological, economical, and ethical standpoint and is not worth the cost even if the vaccine is 100% safe,” Dr. Matthew Memoli, director of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases clinical studies unit at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told Dr. Fauci in an email.
“A more prudent approach that considers these issues would be to focus our efforts on those at high risk of severe disease and death, such as the elderly and obese, and do not push vaccination on the young and healthy any further.”
The email was sent on July 30, 2021, after Dr. Fauci, then the director of the NIAID, claimed that communities would be safer if more people received one of the COVID-19 vaccines and that mass vaccination would lead to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccinating people who have not been infected with COVID-19, he said, could affect the evolution of the virus that causes COVID-19 in unexpected ways.
Report Highlights Civil Liberties Concerns With Facial Recognition Technology
Facial recognition technology (FRT) can allow investigators to scan billions of photos or videos quickly to identify a potential suspect or a victim. Now, a new watchdog report is revealing more about how often federal law enforcement agencies use the tool and the training for staff.
The new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says seven federal law enforcement agencies have used FRT. That includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, the Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Marshals Service. The findings say all seven started using the technology before training was put in place.
“We learned about 60,000 searches had been conducted before anyone in those agencies was required to take any type of training,” said Gretta Goodwin, a Director for GAO’s Justice and Law Enforcement Issues Team. “That’s a concern.”
“It is absolutely galling that we have these federal agencies playing with fire here with no policies and no training in a lot of circumstances,” said Nate Freed Wessler, Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.
Airbnb Bans Creepy Surveillance Cameras Inside Rentals Starting April 30
Airbnb, like hotels and rival vacation rental site Vrbo, will no longer allow hosts to record guests while they’re inside the property. Airbnb previously allowed hosts to have disclosed cameras outside the property and in “common areas” inside, but Airbnb’s enforcement of the policy and the rules’ lack of specificity made camera use troubling for renters.
Airbnb announced today that as of April 30, it’s “banning the use of indoor security cameras in listings globally as part of efforts to simplify our policy on security cameras and other devices” and to prioritize privacy.
Cameras that are turned off but inside the property will also be banned, as are indoor recording devices. Airbnb’s updated policy defines cameras and recording devices as “any device that records or transmits video, images, or audio, such as a baby monitor, doorbell camera, or other camera.”
Rumble Makes Major Announcement in Effort to Combat Censorship, Ensure ‘Free and Open Internet’
Rumble, a popular video-sharing platform, announced Monday the launch of a new cloud service it says will champion the “free and open internet,” and ease companies’ fears of facing censorship or the threat of being deplatformed because of their values.
According to Rumble, its new service, called Rumble Cloud, is designed to help businesses become independent from traditional providers, including their “unfair pricing, vendor lock-in strategies, and censorship.”
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski told Fox that the importance of Rumble Cloud comes down to less about what the company will do and more about what it’s not going to do: engage in “viewpoint discrimination.”
