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Samsung TV Will Let Parents Spy on Their Children
Parents will soon be able to spy on their children through their television after Samsung unveiled new technology that will allow families to keep “a watchful eye on loved ones”.
Using artificial intelligence, Samsung said its new television range will detect “unusual behaviour in both pets and family members” by linking to smart home devices such as robot vacuum cleaners and even fridges.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Samsung said its new “Neo” televisions will act as “intelligent companions” that intend to “simplify and enrich everyday living.” The company said: “It enhances comfort by automatically adjusting room settings, like dimming the lights when a child falls asleep, while providing real-time updates and recorded events through TVs.”
The televisions will also link up to Samsung’s “Family Care” service, currently available on its smartphones in the U.S., which provide users with alerts about older relatives. The service can be used to check if a vulnerable family member has got up that morning or gone to a planned doctor’s appointment. When a family member comes home, it will provide a summary of visitors to the house on the TV while nobody was in. Its televisions will also have the capability to alert homeowners to suspicious activity by intruders through a connection to security cameras including video doorbells.
Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program as Zuckerberg Vows To Restore Free Expression on Facebook, Instagram
Meta is ending its fact-checking program and lifting restrictions on speech to “restore free expression” across Facebook, Instagram and Meta platforms, admitting its current content moderation practices have “gone too far.” “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video posted Tuesday morning. “More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.”
Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, joined Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning for an exclusive interview to discuss the changes.
“This is a great opportunity for us to reset the balance in favor of free expression. As Mark says in that video, what we’re doing is we’re getting back to our roots and free expression,” Kaplan told “Fox & Friends.”
Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was put in place after the 2016 election and had been used to “manage content” and misinformation on its platforms, largely due to “political pressure,” executives said, but admitted the system has “gone too far.”
Pakistan Introduces Biometric Registration for Children 10 to 18 Years Old
Pakistan will collect biometrics from children between the ages of 10 and 18 years old when adding them to the civil registry or updating their information, NADRA and the Passport Department have announced.
Children in Pakistan are added to the country’s civil registry through the Child Registration Certificate, also known as a “B-form.” The B-form is required for passport applications, and will as of Jan.1, includes fingerprint biometrics and a facial photo as “security features,” according to the announcement. The biometric data, added to NADRA’s database, will be used by the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports to verify the identity of the child as part of the passport application process.
The change was made on the instruction of Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, as the first stage in a series of reforms. Authorities say it will help prevent fraud among children’s ID cards and passports, as well as assist in preventing human trafficking. They also say the work to improve service delivery through the Pak ID mobile app is ongoing. Further steps will include the enrollment of iris, fingerprint and face biometrics with Union Councils.
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Apple Agrees To Pay $95 Million To Settle Siri Privacy Lawsuit
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit filed over its Siri voice assistant, according to a newly filed court document. Lawyers for people who sued Apple after they said Siri recorded their conversations and shared the conversations with advertisers told a federal court in California that Apple does not oppose their proposed settlement, which features a payment of $95 million.
“The Settlement, if approved, will resolve Plaintiffs’ allegations that Siri Device purchasers’ confidential or private communications were obtained by Apple and/or were shared with third parties without their consent as a result of an unintended Siri activation,” the lawyers said in the Dec. 31, 2024 filing. Plaintiffs said in the most recent version of their lawsuit that Apple illegally recorded their confidential conversations despite promising that Siri would only listen to, record, and share conversations with permission.
Plaintiffs said that some of their conversations in their home that should not have been recorded were used by Apple and its partners to target them with advertisements for Olive Garden, Air Jordans, and other products.
Federal Joint Agency Report on Law Enforcement Use of Biometrics Released
The rapid evolution and deployment of biometric technologies have profoundly reshaped law enforcement practices in the U.S. While these advancements promise significant benefits, including enhanced public safety and streamlined criminal investigations, they also raise critical concerns about privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
A new report, prepared under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Justice, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, delves into these complexities, offering an incisive examination of biometric technology’s dual-edged implications. The 137-page report underscores the importance of balancing these competing priorities through robust legal frameworks, rigorous oversight, and a commitment to transparency and equity. While biometrics technologies have proven indispensable for various law enforcement functions, their increasing ubiquity has also brought issues of equity, accuracy, and accountability to the fore, as highlighted by the report’s findings.
The report was prepared by Janice Kephart, director of DHS’s Biometric Interagency Working Group and former counsel to the 9/11 Commission. The report fulfills Section 13(e) of the May 25, 2022, Executive Order 14074, Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety.
First Amendment Gives Way to National Security: Countdown on for TikTok
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up TikTok’s plea for a stay of its own partial execution. The first round of briefs were due just before Christmas. The second and final round are due Jan. 3. Argument before the court is just a week later on Jan. 10. In appellate court land, this counts as super-sonic speed. And there’s a good reason for speed. TikTok’s execution date, in America, is set for Jan. 19.
When Congress passed the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act this past spring, it required one of two things to happen by that date. Either ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, must divest itself (i.e., sell or give away, or get rid of somehow) of TikTok, or TikTok must shut down in the U.S. Neither of those things has happened yet.
You may be thinking that shutting down TikTok, one of many social media platforms available to Americans on the internet, is no grave matter. But TikTok is some combination of entertainment, political conversation, style consultant, food guide, sports talk, and business platform for 170 million people every month in America. By comparison, that’s almost 20 million more people than who voted in November’s presidential election. If TikTok were a candidate, it’d be a formidable one.
