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Phillies to Start Letting in Fans via Facial Recognition
Philadelphia will soon become the first city to allow fans entry into a stadium with facial recognition technology, according to the MLB.
The new technology, MLB’s Go-Ahead Entry, will launch Monday, Aug. 21 at Citizens Bank Park, home to the Philadelphia Phillies, according to multiple media reports. The program uses a camera that recognizes any fan who has registered as they walk into the ballpark. Once identified, the tickets automatically scan.
“No need to stop or even get a phone out,” MLB officials said in a statement. “Fans can now enjoy the ultimate hands-free, free-flow experience entering the ballpark with their eyes up.”
Enrollment in Go-Ahead Entry is voluntary, the organization said, noting that the cameras will users’ faces to “create a unique numerical token.” The facial scans will be immediately deleted afterward and only the unique numerical token will be stored and associated with the user’s MLB account, officials said. Those 18 and younger can only enter through the Go-Ahead entry lanes with a registered parent or legal guardian who is consenting on their behalf, according to the organization.
Social Media Is Parents’ Top Concern as Kids Head Back to School: Poll
U.S. News & World Report reported:
When U.S. parents express their concerns about their school-aged children, social media use and the internet are at the top of the list. Mental health issues are another top worry, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.
Two-thirds of parents surveyed reported that they are worried about children’s increased time on devices, including overall screen time and use of social media. Those were the No.1 and No.2 concerns on the list this year.
The majority of parents view depression, suicide, stress, anxiety, and related topics like bullying as big problems, the poll showed.
Some of the lowest-ranking concerns on the list were vaccine safety at 16%, parents doing too much at 13% and COVID at 12%. Parents were surveyed in February. The results were released on Aug. 21.
Jordan Requests Interviews With Former Twitter Safety Chief, DHS Official in Censorship Probe
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent letters Friday to the former Twitter safety chief and the Department of Homeland Security’s former cybersecurity director, requesting interviews with the two as the House Judiciary Committee continues its investigation into alleged social media censorship by the federal government.
Jordan said the Biden administration “participated in efforts to unconstitutionally monitor and censor Americans’ speech on social media platforms.”
The committee work is parallel to a federal lawsuit from the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana against the administration which resulted in a near-total ban on communicating with social media platforms such as X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook in July.
Jordan is seeking interviews with former Twitter Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth, who left that role in 2022, as well as the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chris Krebs, who led the agency during the Trump administration.
House GOP Subpoenas Citibank Over Alleged Jan. 6 ‘Back-Channel’ Cooperation With the FBI
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has issued a subpoena to Citibank as part of a hunt for information on whether banks shared private customer data with the FBI after the January 6 insurrection.
In a Thursday letter to Citibank, Jordan said Citi declined to voluntarily provide information to lawmakers and its lawyers indicated they would only comply with a subpoena.
Lawmakers had requested information from seven banks: PNC, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Truist and U.S. Bank. Among those seven banks, Citibank was the only one that hadn’t voluntarily complied with the request, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.
The subpoena compels Citibank to produce requested documents sought by the House Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, according to Jordan.
Your Biometrics May Not Be as Safe as You Think
Using your biometric data, such as your fingerprint, to login and authenticate your identity may not be as secure as you think.
This is according to NordVPN, whose researchers claim to have found 81,000 stolen fingerprints across dark web forums. The VPN provider also added that since users can’t change their fingerprints — as they can a compromised password — they are at risk of being permanently compromised.
While acknowledging that biometrics are generally a very safe method of authentication, Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN, said that “all recorded data is hackable … biometric information a valuable target for cybercriminals, and hacking of this type of data becomes a popular way of identity theft.”
NordVPN identified 20 different types of biometric data that can be used, with the most popular being fingerprints, face, and voice. It further claims that all are vulnerable to compromise in different ways.
White House Science Adviser Calls for More Safeguards Against Artificial Intelligence Risks
When President Joe Biden has questions about artificial intelligence, one expert he turns to is his science adviser Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Prabhakar is helping to guide the U.S. approach to safeguarding AI technology, relying in part on cooperation from big American tech firms like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta.
The India-born, Texas-raised engineer and applied physicist is coming at the problem from a career bridging work in government — including leading the Defense Department’s advanced technology research arm — and the private sector as a former Silicon Valley executive and venture capitalist.
“Some of the things we see are big and obvious. If you break the guardrails of a chatbot, which people do routinely, and coax it to tell you how to build a weapon, well, clearly that’s concerning. Some of the harms are much more subtle,” says Prabhakar.
“When these systems are trained off human data, they sometimes distill the bias that’s in that data. There’s now a fairly substantial, distressing history of facial recognition systems being used inappropriately and leading to wrongful arrests of Black people. And then privacy concerns. All of our data that’s out in the world, each individual piece may not reveal much about us, but when you put it all together it tells you rather a lot about each of us.”
Ad Firm Plans to Use People’s Data in a Maneuver to Sink Data Privacy Bill
One of the world’s largest advertising firms is crafting a campaign to thwart a California bill intended to enhance people’s control over the data that companies collect on them.
According to emails obtained by POLITICO, the Interpublic Group is coordinating an effort against a bill that would make it easier for people to request that data brokers — firms that collect and sell personal information — delete their dossiers.
SB 362, known as the Delete Act, would require companies to delete all data on individuals upon request — including data purchased or acquired from third parties. This would shrink the trove of personal information they hold, such as browsing history, birthdates and past purchases. Data brokers compile this information to build profiles of people, which can be used to craft advertisements tailored to an individual’s preferences. But that also grants them access to some of people’s most sensitive details, such as whether they are pregnant or suffering from mental illness.
The IPG emails reveal how an advertising company could use that same personal data and targeting capabilities to undermine a public policy proposal that threatens its bottom line.
Montana AG Asks Court to Reject TikTok Challenge to State Ban
Montana’s attorney general asked a U.S. judge to uphold a first-of-its-kind state ban on the use of short video-sharing app TikTok before it takes effect on Jan. 1.
TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, sued in May seeking to block the first-of-its-kind U.S. state ban on several grounds, arguing that it violates the First Amendment free speech rights of the company and users. A separate lawsuit has been filed by TikTok users in Montana.
Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, said Monday that the state legislature and governor “did the right thing in prohibiting TikTok from operating in Montana as long as it is under the control of a foreign adversary.”
Knudsen said in a legal filing that Montana can ban harmful products, saying it does not violate free speech rights.
A hearing on TikTok’s request for a preliminary injunction is set for Oct. 12.
