Greetings, and happy Wednesday! I hope you are all having a lovely summer, and enjoying the AI & surveillance festival that is the Paris Olympics 2024. Although, despite all those concerns, i’m really enjoying watching the swimming where Ireland have been – admittedly uncharacteristically – incredible.
This is not AI related per se, but it is surveillance and technology: a US Federal Court has held that police require a warrant to search traveller’s electronic devices at the border. The ruling may be of interset to readers of this newsletter, in part because it refers to the ‘window onto a person’s life’ revealed by such private communications (obviously this has broad teach & surveillance relevance), and because it raised the chilling effects that such surveillance may induce.
We have had a few stories in the past on dating and AI, chatbots, etc. Now this isn’t quite that. But apparently AI may help the world’s loneliest plant to find a mate. Its a pretty cool story, and fingers crossed for Wood’s cyad. (yes, that kind of mate). And in other relationship news…
The BBC have a story on two arrests at Bedford River Festival, facilitated by facial recognition (you knew this bit was coming). As with all the recent deployments – see here for MPS stats – questions have to be asked re necessity and proportionality given the limited number of arrests versus the massive biometric processing. There’s also a survey on attitudes to facial recognition in Australia. Tl;dr great for apps, less so for surveillance. And this one, on a wearable AI friend. Its quite intriguing.
OK, i dont like linking to Effective Altruism (despite them once citing me. once.) but they do have a tracker on AI governance initiatives. And thats pretty handy.
For the week thats in it the wrap up song has to be ‘Chariots of Fire’ doesn’t it? Its also a banger, or a belter as I would say if I was an Irishman of a different generation. You can play this after if you want. So creepy.
Have a lovely week. Don’t forget the sun cream!
Websites
Fast Company, From wiretapping to geolocation data collection: AI mass surveillance for the Paris Olympics draws privacy concerns
WIRED, At the Olympics, AI Is Watching You
Knight First Amendment Institute, Federal Court Says Warrant Required for Device Searches at the Border
WIRED, Wear This AI Friend Around Your Neck
RUSI, The Need for a Strategic Approach to Disinformation and AI-Driven Threats
Smithsonian, The ‘World’s Loneliest Plant’ Could Soon Find a Mate With a Little Help From A.I.
Defense One, Homeland Security tests AI waters with tools for intel analysts
Privacy International, Social media monitoring in the UK: the invisible surveillance tool increasingly deployed by government
Privacy International, Joint letter to UK retailers regarding the potenital use of facial recognition technology (FRT) within their stores
BBC, Facial recognition leads to arrests at Bedford River Festival
The Conversation, Australians like facial recognition for ID but don’t want it used for surveillance, new survey shows
The Conversation, Social robot or digital avatar, users interact with this AI technology as if it’s real
WIRED, The ACLU Fights for Your Constitutional Right to Make Deepfakes (a little click-baity?)
Effective Altruism, AI governance tracker of each country per regionPublic News Service, A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections