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TSA Testing Facial Recognition Technology at 16 Airports Across U.S. to Enhance Airport Security, Travel
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is testing the use of facial recognition technology at select airports across the country to enhance security and speed up procedures.
The pilot program is currently in place at some TSA checkpoints at 16 airports in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Gulfport-Biloxi and Jackson in Mississippi.
TSA says the pilot program is voluntary and accurate, but critics have raised concerns about questions of bias in facial recognition technology and possible repercussions for passengers who want to opt-out.
In a February letter to TSA, five senators — four Democrats and an Independent who is part of the Democratic caucus — demanded the agency stop the program, saying, “Increasing biometric surveillance of Americans by the government represents a risk to civil liberties and privacy rights.”
Online Age Verification Is Coming, and Privacy Is on the Chopping Block
A spate of child safety rules might make going online in a few years very different, and not just for kids. In 2022 and 2023, numerous states and countries are exploring age verification requirements for the Internet, either as an implicit demand or a formal rule. The laws are positioned as a way to protect children on a dangerous internet. But the price of that protection might be high: nothing less than the privacy of, well, everyone.
Government agencies, private companies, and academic researchers have spent years seeking a way to solve the thorny question of how to check internet users’ ages without the risk of revealing intimate information about their online lives. But after all that time, privacy and civil liberties advocates still aren’t convinced the government is ready for the challenge.
In the U.S. and abroad, lawmakers want to limit children’s access to two things: social networks and porn sites. Louisiana, Arkansas, and Utah have all passed laws that set rules for underage users on social media. Meanwhile, multiple U.S. federal bills are on the table, and so are laws in other countries, like the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill. Some of these laws demand specific features from age verification tools. Others simply punish sites for letting anyone underage use them — a more subtle request for verification.
More experimentally, there are solutions that estimate a user’s age without an ID. One potential option, which is already used by Facebook and Instagram, would use a camera and facial recognition to guess whether you’re 18. Another, which is highlighted as a potential age verification solution by France’s National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL), would “guess” your age based on your online activity.
‘Biden Bucks Stop Here’: DeSantis Touts Florida’s Digital Currency Ban, Warns of ‘Cashless Society’
The team for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday released a new video first obtained by FOX Business that follows the governor signing legislation to ban the use of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, in the Sunshine State.
One day before the video’s release, DeSantis signed legislation prohibiting a federally adopted CBDC as money within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code. The new law also implements protections against a central global currency by prohibiting any CBDC by a foreign reserve or sanctioned central bank and calls on other states to join in passing similar legislation.
The Federal Reserve defines CBDC as “a digital form of central bank money widely available to the general public,” meaning the central bank — the Federal Reserve in the case of the U.S. — would be liable for the money rather than a commercial bank.
Proponents argue a CBDC would offer greater convenience and efficiency while ensuring safety and liquidity. According to DeSantis and other critics, however, such a monetary system would give the federal government unprecedented power over consumers and businesses.
Ex-ByteDance Exec Claims CCP ‘Maintained’ Access to U.S. Data
The Chinese Communist Party “maintained supreme access” to data belonging to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, including data stored in the U.S., a former top executive claimed in a lawsuit Friday. Why it matters: The allegations come as federal officials weigh the fate of the social media giant in the U.S. amid growing concerns over national security and data privacy.
Driving the news: In a wrongful dismissal suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Yintao Yu said ByteDance “has served as a useful propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party.”
Yu, whose claim says he served as head of engineering for ByteDance’s U.S. offices from August 2017 to November 2018, alleged that inside the Beijing-based company, the CCP “had a special office or unit, which was sometimes referred to as the ‘Committee’.”
The “Committee” didn’t work for ByteDance but “played a significant role,” in part by “gui[ding] how the company advanced core Communist values,” the lawsuit claims. The CCP could also access U.S. user data via a “backdoor channel in the code,” the suit states.
Instagram and Facebook Are Using Fears of a TikTok Ban to Poach Influencers
Meta and other social media firms chasing TikTok’s short-form video success are fanning the flames of ban rhetoric while simultaneously vying to boost the attractiveness of their own TikTok clones with new monetization features. The goal? Steal away as many fearful TikTokers as possible.
Brewing fears of an impending TikTok ban could send some creators packing their digital bags and heading back to Instagram and Facebook, whether they like it or not. Digital marketing experts and content creators speaking with Gizmodo said a scenario where TikTok is made inaccessible in the U.S. would result in diminished competition in the social media landscape broadly and a far less favorable environment for creators.
It could also be a godsend for Meta and other companies racing to keep pace with TikTok’s meteoric ascent. Whether or not a national ban ever actually materializes is almost irrelevant; the fear is enough for their recruitment drive.
The U.K.’s Secretive Web Surveillance Program Is Ramping Up
The U.K. government is quietly expanding and developing a controversial surveillance technology that could be capable of logging and storing the web histories of millions of people.
Official reports and spending documents show that in the past year, U.K. police have deemed the testing of a system that can collect people’s “internet connection records” a success, and have started work to potentially introduce the system nationally. If implemented, it could hand law enforcement a powerful surveillance tool.
Critics say the system is highly intrusive, and that officials have a history of not properly protecting people’s data. Much of the technology and its operation is shrouded in secrecy, with bodies refusing to answer questions about the systems.
Surveillance Contractor Monitored Vaccine Skeptics, Report Says
Flashpoint, a surveillance contractor for the FBI, infiltrated chatrooms of airline industry groups that opposed vaccine mandates, according to a report by investigative journalist Lee Fang.
In the past, Flashpoint infiltrated Islamic terror groups. But it has since focused on vaccine skeptic groups and other domestic political groups.
Fang analyzed a webinar presentation by Flashpoint to clients that was held last year. In the presentation, Flashpoint analyst Vlad Cuiujuclu showed the company’s methods of identifying and infiltrating Telegram chat groups.
Describing the presentation, Fang wrote: “‘In this case, we’re searching for a closed channel of U.S. Freedom Flyers,’ said Cuiujuclu. ‘It’s basically a group that opposed vaccination and masks.’
Fired Teachers Who Refused COVID Vaccine to Get Full Reinstatement and Back Pay
Three Rhode Island teachers who were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine have been offered their jobs back with full back pay after reaching a settlement with the school district.
Teachers Stephanie Hines, Brittany DiOrio, and Kerri Thurber were terminated from their positions in Barrington Public Schools after they had requested a religious exemption after the school-mandated employees get the vaccine.
Last week, their attorney, Greg Piccirilli, and the school district said they had reached a settlement, allowing the teachers to return to their jobs. They are also each entitled to $33,333 in damages along with their back pay. DiOrio will get $150,000, Thurber will get $128,000, and Hines will receive $65,000 under the agreement.
Meanwhile, Barrington Public Schools told the Providence Journal that it reached the settlement because the litigation would likely put a drag on the school’s resources and funding. It attempted to distance itself from its own vaccine mandate by claiming that it was dealing with the spread of COVID-19, although there is a growing body of evidence that shows the vaccines do not prevent the spread of the virus.
Nurse Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine Reflects as National Emergency Ends: ‘It’s Frustrating to Look Back’
A New York nurse who lost her job, because she refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine due to medical circumstances, says it is “frustrating” looking back at her firing as the Biden administration marks an end to the health emergency.
Jenna Viani-Pascale says she decided to forgo the coronavirus vaccine because she suffered a stroke at 36 years old. She was dismissed from her job after she was unable to get a medical exemption for her condition or take her case to court as lawyers were hesitant to take a stand. Now as President Biden signed a bill Monday to end the national emergency response to COVID-19, the nurse is re-living her ordeal.
Viani-Pascale expressed frustration that medical professionals were not given an opportunity to make their own decision about taking the vaccine.
“I haven’t heard from my old job,” she said. “I haven’t been offered a position back. They’re still requiring it at the hospitals in New York. So, it’s just a very frustrating thing for somebody who really loved her job.”
