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News From Around the World
Find the latest news articles from around the world about electromagnetic radiation and frequency, wireless technology, 5G and cellular information.
Clearview facial recognition searches double, database reaches 50B images
The number of facial recognition searches performed with Clearview AI by law enforcement officials has doubled over the past year, reaching 2 million. The company’s database of facial images for biometric comparison has also grown, reaching 50 billion in total, Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That told Biometric Update in an email.
The database reached 40 billion images in November of last year, and Ton-That told the BBC that the company had been used for one million searches as of last March.
Robots Integrate Biometrics for Parcel Delivery, Security, and Military Operations
Tech firms have announced the development and testing of robotic systems with biometric capabilities aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and security surveillance.
Hyundai Motor Group, for instance, has created robotics that integrate facial recognition for smart buildings. Similarly, Kody Technolab has deployed surveillance and service robots at the Tuneland Music Festival in India.
In addition, countries like the United States and China are incorporating rifle-armed robot dogs into their militaries.
AT&T can’t hang up on landline phone customers, California agency rules
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rejected AT&T’s request to end its landline phone obligations. The state agency also urged AT&T to upgrade copper facilities to fiber instead of trying to shut down the outdated portions of its network.
AT&T asked the state to eliminate its Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligation, which requires it to provide landline telephone service to any potential customer in its service territory.
FCC Seeks Comment on Petition to Create a New FM Station Class
The Media Bureau seeks comment on the Petition for Rulemaking submitted by Commander Communications Corporation requesting the Commission create a new FM station class “A10.”
Commander President Carl Haynes proposes specific operating parameters for the new Class A10 stations of a maximum of 10,000 watts effective radiated power and 100 meters height above average terrain. He also suggests amendments to minimum distance separation requirements for existing facilities to accommodate a new FM station class. This proposal is intended to supersede an earlier proposal for a new “Class C4” category of FM station.
“Maladaptive Traits”: AI Systems Are Learning To Lie And Deceive
A new study has found that AI systems known as large language models (LLMs) can exhibit “Machiavellianism,” or intentional and amoral manipulativeness, which can then lead to deceptive behavior.
The study authored by German AI ethicist Thilo Hagendorff of the University of Stuttgart, and published in PNAS, notes that OpenAI’s GPT-4 demonstrated deceptive behavior in 99.2% of simple test scenarios. Hagendorff qualified various “maladaptive” traits in 10 different LLMs, most of which are within the GPT family, according to Futurism.
Privacy advocates push back against Meta’s data usage for AI development
Meta has notified millions of European users about upcoming changes to its privacy policy, set to take effect on June 26, 2024. According to Silicon, the company plans to utilize personal data, including years of posts, images, and tracking information, to develop unspecified AI technologies and share data with undefined third parties. The change has prompted backlash from privacy advocates and regulatory bodies.
Max Schrems, a privacy advocate, criticizes Meta’s approach, stating that the company aims to use any data from any source for any purpose under the guise of “AI technology.” Schrems highlights that this practice is fundamentally at odds with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements.
Seattle Middle School to Enforce Student Cellphone Lockdowns
A mandatory cellphone locking system will be introduced at a Seattle school from September aimed at advancing academic performance, student engagement, and mental health across the board.
A decrease in bullying is also anticipated to be delivered by the planned “digital de-stress.”
Hamilton International Middle School principal Dr. Eric Marshall approved the plan in an effort to lift the academic environment.
The UN Cybercrime Draft Convention is a Blank Check for Unchecked Surveillance Abuses
The United Nations Ad Hoc Committee is just weeks away from finalizing a too-broad Cybercrime Draft Convention. This draft would normalize unchecked domestic surveillance and rampant government overreach, allowing serious human rights abuses around the world.
The latest draft of the convention—originally spearheaded by Russia but since then the subject of two and a half years of negotiations—still authorizes broad surveillance powers without robust safeguards and fails to spell out data protection principles essential to prevent government abuse of power.
FCC, NTIA, Navy Work to Expand 3.5 GHz Spectrum Sharing
The FCC, NTIA, and the U.S. Navy have collaborated to expand spectrum sharing in the 3.5 GHz band. Modifications to the aggregate interference model used in the 3.5 GHz band would allow the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) to provide uninterrupted access to mid-band spectrum that supports wireless internet and other services to approximately 72 million more people, officials said.
After coordination with the Navy and the FCC, NTIA formally submitted a request to change the aggregate interference model to the FCC this week. The FCC endorsed the changes yesterday and invited Spectrum Access System administrators to submit demonstrations of their ability to implement the modified protection criteria.
Cat microchipping now mandatory
UK: All cat owners should now have their pets microchipped as new legislation comes into force today (June 10, 2024).
Owners must ensure their cat is microchipped before they reach the age of 20 weeks with their contact details stored and kept up to date in an approved pet microchipping database.
School To Use Remote Tracking Wristbands On Children
A school in Switzerland has controversially announced it will trial tracking wristbands on children to keep tabs on their location.
As highlighted by Remix News, Swiss outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports that the Letten after-school care centre in Birmensdorf will require kids to wear the Bluetooth tech at all times during care hours unless parents specifically opt out.
Ugandan human rights lawyer’s arrest exposes use of national ID for surveillance
A Ugandan human rights lawyer’s recent arrest highlights the country’s surveillance and government control via the use of the national identification card.
First introduced by the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) nearly a decade ago, Uganda’s national ID card was initially touted as a solution to streamline administrative processes and bolster citizen services.
Austria: Microsoft allegedly tracks children with education software
A privacy campaign group with a strong record in legal upheavals has asked the Austrian data protection authority to investigate Microsoft 365 Education to clarify if it breaches transparency provisions under GDPR.
Noyb said Microsoft pushed data protection obligations onto schools that use the system, and failed to comply with subjects’ right to access data about them. Neither Microsoft’s privacy documentation, requests for access, nor noyb’s research could fully clarify what data about children is being processed by Microsoft 365 Education.
Malfunctioning Facial Recognition Technology May Put Innocent Individuals at Risk
Government entities, including seven law enforcement agencies in the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice, have instituted the use of facial recognition to verify or ascertain someone’s identity using an algorithm that matches a human face from a digital image or a video frame against a database of faces.
However, the case of Harvey Eugene Murphy, Jr. is proof that flawed or misused facial recognition systems can put citizens at risk.
Internet addiction affects behavior and development of adolescents, study finds
Adolescents with an internet addiction undergo changes in the brain that could lead to additional addictive behavior and tendencies, finds a new study by UCL researchers.
The findings, published in PLOS Mental Health, reviewed 12 articles involving 237 young people aged 10–19 with a formal diagnosis of internet addiction between 2013 and 2023.
Internet addiction has been defined as a person’s inability to resist the urge to use the internet, negatively impacting their psychological well-being, as well as their social, academic and professional lives.
Outburst of discontent as state seizes control of 5G towers
The good news is Miami-Dade residents addressing county commissioners Tuesday, June 4, 2024 to a speaker, had only positive things to say about 5G, the latest standard for mobile networks. The bad news is that 5G poles are erupting all over the county and commissioners can’t stop it.
“They put one up 15 feet from my children’s bedroom,” one resident complained.
Commissioners nodded sympathetically but said their hands were tied.
“If we were the government that had control over it, it would be one thing,” said Commission Chair Oliver G. Gilbert III. “But we’re not.”
Campaigners ‘thrilled’ as St Albans aims to be smartphone-free for under-14s
“This is mega!” said Daisy Greenwell from the Smartphone-Free Childhood campaign. “We are absolutely thrilled and we believe it’s going to have a domino effect.”
She was reacting to news that St Albans in Hertfordshire is attempting to become the first UK city to go smartphone-free for all children under 14.
Before St Albans, it was Greystones in Ireland last year, where parents banded together to collectively tell their children they could not have a smartphone until secondary school. Greenwell believes others will now take similar steps.
WTTC calls for renewed effort on digital health passes through WHO network
Countries around the world should sign up to the Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN) to align health checks for seamless verification across borders in preparation for the next global health crisis, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) says.
The GDHCN is operated by the World Health Organization, and WTTC President and CEO Julia Simpson writes in an article that to avoid a global tourism shutdown in the event of another pandemic, a unified plan including digital health passes should be established.
Brain Tumor Rates Are Rising in the US: The Role of Cell Phone & Cordless Phone Use
Since the year 2000, the U.S. has experienced significant increases in the age-adjusted incidence rates of four head and neck tumors associated with cell phone use, including meningioma, the most common non-malignant brain tumor, and cancers of the brain (i.e., glioblastoma) and the thyroid and salivary glands.
The increase in age-adjusted incidence rates for these four tumors may be attributable to the chronic effects of mobile phone use in addition to increased exposure to other risk factors as well as improvements in diagnostic screening and reporting.
Privacy International Warns That Biometrics at Sports Stadiums Infringe on Human Rights
The use of facial recognition at sports stadiums and arenas represents a threat to people’s rights to privacy and to participate in sporting life, according to Privacy International.
The privacy advocacy group has written a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur in response to a call for input “on the right to participate in sports.”
The letter seems more focused on the comfort level of people attending entertainment events at privately-owned facilities than the rights of downtrodden people to play sports, however. In the former case, pricey tickets come with terms and conditions, which allow the search of attendee’s bags and pockets to prevent people from carrying weapons into crowded events. In the latter case, people living in refugee camps may be dissuaded from using a playing field by the use of security cameras.
Facewatch, Met police face lawsuits after facial recognition misidentification
Biometric security company Facewatch, which provides facial recognition software to shops across the UK, is facing a lawsuit after its system wrongly flagged a 19-year-old girl as a shoplifter.
The girl, who goes under the name Sara to protect her identity, was shopping at Home Bargains in Manchester in February when staff confronted her and threw her out of the store. In the UK’s first challenge to facial recognition surveillance, Sara is now taking Facewatch and Home Bargains to court with the help of the digital rights group Big Brother Watch.
“I have never stolen in my life and so I was confused, upset and humiliated to be labeled as a criminal in front of a whole shop of people,” she said in a statement.
MPs urge under-16s UK smartphone ban and statutory ban in schools
MPs have urged the next government to consider a total ban on smartphones for under 16-year-olds and a statutory ban on mobile phone use in schools as part of a crackdown on screen time for children.
Members of the House of Commons education committee made the recommendations in a report into the impact of screen time on education and wellbeing, which also called on ministers to raise the threshold for opening a social media account to 16.
Police in US cities that ban facial recognition asking others to do it for them
A major report in the Washington Post has found that law enforcement officers in U.S. several cities where facial recognition tech is banned for police have asked neighboring forces to search face databases for them.
Facial recognition has been prohibited in San Francisco since 2019. But Chesa Boudin, San Francisco’s former district attorney, sums up the problem: “Police are using it but not saying they are using it.” The Post says the SFPD have outsourced at least five attempts to make facial matches. Some of these were done by the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), a “multi-jurisdiction program serving law enforcement agencies in the region.” Others were farmed out to the Daly City Police Department. None were successful.
Butler County resident fighting to keep Verizon from installing cell phone tower near property
SARVER, Pa. (KDKA) — We’re seeing more and more cell phone towers pop up, but what if one’s planned for directly across the street from your house?
“Just because there’s a field right there doesn’t mean that’s the perfect place for a cell phone tower!” resident Lynn Shearer said.
Shearer says Verizon wants to build a cell phone tower steps away from his front door in Butler County. He’s a cancer survivor and worries about potential health effects.
“It’s pretty nice to come out, get your coffee in the morning and say, ‘Man, this is really nice,'” Shearer said of his property.
Clearview AI facial recognition gets green light for use by Dallas police
Police in Dallas, Texas are getting AI-driven facial recognition technology. Local ABC affiliate WFAA reports that city council has approved the use of Clearview AI’s algorithmic 1-n biometric face matching software for law enforcement purposes. The system uses a face-scraping process that sends potential biometric matches found on the internet for review by two human officers.
Like other departments, Dallas police say facial recognition will be a “game-changer” for police investigations, as the force faces staffing shortages. The department says it will establish rules to govern the facial recognition technology’s use, and file a progress report in six months.
DeWine signs bill limiting student cellphone use in school
Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill limiting cellphone use by students in Ohio schools.
The Senate and House passed the bill within the last month. The policy was added to an unrelated House bill in a Senate committee and the Senate later passed it.
The bill requires public schools to create a policy limiting phone use as much as possible during school hours. It also requires the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to create a model policy for schools to adopt if they don’t want to make their own.
Public Health by Way of the Surveillance State
Following a $300M grant from the American Rescue Plan, the USDA immediately began implementing new rule changes for mandatory tracking, tracing, and surveillance through the Animal Plant Health Investigation System (APHIS), using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) ear tags in cattle and bison.
In addition to implementing RFID tags, the USDA is currently proposing a total reconstruction of its APHIS program, dropping “Plants” from its surveillance system to focus solely upon “Animal Disease Surveillance,” in the new APHIS-15 proposal, created from the One Health approach.
This Is What Happened After Several Schools Banned Cellphones
Banning cellphones in schools improved academics, reduced bullying, and reduced students’ need for counseling, a 73-page Norwegian paper found.
Girls benefited the most from the policies.
“Banning smartphones significantly decreases the health care take-up for psychological symptoms and diseases among girls,” Sara Sofie Abrahamsson, a postdoctoral researcher and the paper’s sole author, wrote in the abstract. Post-ban bullying among both genders decreases.”
Police in Germany using live facial recognition
Police in Germany are employing high-definition cameras and live facial recognition to catch suspects, raising legal questions in the wake of the European Union’s AI Act.
The system, which is deployed by police in the German eastern State of Saxony and in Berlin, can process facial images “with a time delay of a few seconds,” the Berlin public prosecutor’s office told German media outlet Netzpolitik.
Civil rights groups want facial recognition technology banned in New York State
A group of major civil rights organizations in New York is pushing for a statewide ban on the use of facial recognition and other biometric technologies by law enforcement, residential buildings, public accommodations and schools.
A release from the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), which is leading the public advocacy campaign, says the “Ban The Scan” coalition demands the passage of four bills to enact a total ban on facial recognition across New York State.