Facing Up to Facial Surveillance
The benefits of facial recognition technology are that it offers a quick, non-invasive means of identifying people. Those are also its dangers. Last month it was reported that facial recognition will be used to take attendance in Singapore’s Parliament and check into certain hotels. The latest phones already unlock with Face ID and many buildings — […] more…
Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Autonomy
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are routinely said to operate autonomously, exposing gaps in regulatory regimes that assume the centrality of human actors. Yet surprisingly little attention is given to precisely what is meant by “autonomy” and its relationship to those gaps. Driverless vehicles and autonomous weapon systems are the most widely studied examples, but related […] more…
Monitoring the Surveillance State
Should we rein in the powers of the state by restricting its surveillance powers, or do some of our own monitoring by expanding those powers still further? Earlier this year, it was announced that officers from Singapore’s Bukit Merah West Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) would begin trials of body-worn cameras. The aim is […] more…
US Intelligence, Inc.
Among the stories and rumors prompted by Edward J. Snowden’s leaking of classified material – whistleblowing or treason, depending on where you stand – the revelations that may actually lead to a policy change concern the extent to which private companies now carry out intelligence collection and analysis in the United States. Around a third of […] more…
Getting Used to a Surveillance Society
Outrage at the United States National Security Agency’s collection of data misses the point: The focus should be on how the data is being used. HOW should we balance liberty and security? The answer is simple: We shouldn’t. The metaphor of a “balance” between liberty and security offers an attractive way to view the […] more…
Who Killed Privacy?
It is more than a decade since the former CEO of Sun Microsystems infamously declared that privacy was dead, urging the reporters who had asked him about the subject to “get over it”. That was before the launch of Facebook, Google’s Street View, the iPhone, and a proliferation of other tools that many saw as […] more…
One Nation Under Surveillance
What limits, if any, should be placed on a government’s efforts to spy on its citizens in the name of national security? Spying on foreigners has long been regarded as an unseemly but necessary enterprise. Spying on one’s own citizens in a democracy, by contrast, has historically been subject to various forms of legal and […] more…
A Little Less Privacy, a Bit More Security
The European Union has announced that it will overhaul its data protection rules in 2011. Later this month, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Commerce Department will release their own reports on online privacy. Meanwhile, as part of the much-hyped efforts to prepare for “cyberwar,” the U.S. National Security Agency is strengthening ties with organizations […] more…
