Ah lads, it’s been a while. Sorry for the sporadic interruption to your inbox. Things have been busy, and the air miles have been mounting up, but the break is nearly upon us.
First, recommendations, I’m sitting on a plane from Sao Paolo to Rio (on a trip to support Gina Romero’s work, for a forthcoming report on freedom of assembly/association and chilling effects), and listening to this podcast. No spoilers, but if you’re a bit of a music geek. Give it a pop.
Second, i’m no longer on the plane, that was a week ago, but still recovering! So, turns out, when you don’t do a newsletter for ages, there’s loads of news in the interim. Which makes it very hard to catch up! Most importantly (to me, at the moment) is a load of facial recognition news.
First up, the big news. The Home Office has launched a consultation regarding a potential legal framework for police use of facial recognition. I shall be contributing. 10 week deadline if you’re interested. There are also a lot of stories on the facial recognition naughty step. The most prominent (the naughtiest?) is a really interesting story in the Guardian (shout out Mark Wilding who has had one hell of a facial recognition scoop week) about police lobbying to use FRT at a threshold they knew would introduce bias. I think its worth excerpting:
Police bosses were told the system was biased in September 2024, after a Home Office-commissioned review by the NPL found the system was more likely to suggest incorrect matches for probe images depicting women, Black people, and those aged 40 and under.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) ordered that the confidence threshold required for potential matches be increased to a level where the bias was significantly reduced.
That decision was reversed the following month after forces complained the system was producing fewer “investigative leads”. NPCC documents show that the higher threshold reduced the number of searches resulting in potential matches from 56% to 14%.
Ouch. There is also a Times piece on the use of FRT to track children. And a Computer Weekly piece that refers to my work. So that’s obviously included. This newsletter might be free. Propaganda is the price.
I had also done a bit of a quick recap while i was on the plane, which is now a bit out of date, but sure here we go anyways: There is a story on AI being trained on prisoners phone calls (which they have to pay for) in order to detect potential criminality. And a story on using AI to generate sketches of suspects. There’s a NY Times piece on using AI for dynamic pricing. Which I, unfortunately, would be a sucker for. And which, in fairness, the AI probably knows. Or, this really interesting piece on Israel’s surveillance of the Gaza Strip, and – importantly – life under that surveillance. Which tragically leads on to this story on Palantir’s role in the future governance of Gaza. And this piece on ‘how Palantir infiltrated the State’.
I’m afraid I’m only going to have time to do a very superficial list of stories over the past week, just not enough time in this day. I’m going to put the newsletter on leave, along with myself, until the New Year too. We’ll be back. Hopefully more regularly.
I had a few songs lined up to leave you with. Including one by Bricknasty, who i can’t make up my mind about. But they’re irish so im throwing them in. But then i realised that this is the last newsletter before Christmas. And I enjoy my Irish citizenship. So there’s only one option. You know what it is. No prizes.
Stay lovely. Be well. See ye in 2026. <3
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ASPI, AI in theatre: gaining decision advantage at machine tempo
Home Office, Legal framework for using facial recognition in law enforcement – GOV.UK
The Times, Police Use Facial Recognition to Track Children as Young as 12
NY Mag, Watched, Tracked, Targeted: Life Under Surveillance in Gaza
The Guardian, UK police forces lobbied to use biased facial recognition technology
Financial Times, Facial recognition technology used by UK police is biased, Home Office admits
The Register, Home Office kept police facial recognition flaws to itself, UK data watchdog fumes
BBC, Facial recognition cameras rolled out by Merseyside Police
BBC, Police facial recognition vans in Hampshire and Isle of Wight
BBC, Six held in Northamptonshire live facial recognition operation
Computer Weekly, How police live facial recognition subtly reconfigures suspicion
BBC, Cardiff man wrongly accused of shoplifting in B&M in facial recognition error
BBC, First facial recognition vans deployed in Leeds
EFF, Axon Tests Face Recognition on Body-Worn Cameras
Technology Review, AI Model Trained on Prison Phone Calls is Now Being Used to Surveil Inmates,
New York Times, N.Y. Law Could Set Stage for A.I. Regulation’s Next ‘Big Battleground’ (on dynamic pricing)
The Verge, The AI boom is based on a fundamental mistake
The Guardian, ‘A step-change’: tech firms battle for undersea dominance with submarine drones
Prospect Magazine, How Palantir infiltrated the state
Netzpolitik, Databroker Files: Targeting the EU
972 Mag, AI-powered surveillance firms are gunning for a share of Gaza spoils
Washington Post, Have you seen this (AI-generated) man? Police swap suspect sketches for AI.
Technology News, Trump signs order to fight state AI laws
The Hill, AI architects named Time person of the year (people?)
The HIll, Waymo recalls robotaxi software after school bus incidents
Open Rights, Joint Briefing: ‘Do not introduce Digital ID cards’ Parliamentary Petition Debate
ITU, Key international organizations align on AI standards
Business & Human Rights Centre, Microsoft did not respond to allegations of civil and criminal liability for reportedly enabling “Israel’s commission of atrocity crimes”
Washington Post, A teddy bear powered by AI told safety testers about knives, pills and sex
Washington Post, China uses AI to boost censorship and surveillance (what!?>!)
The Register, UK pushes ahead with facial recognition expansion despite civil liberties backlash
WIRED, You’re Thinking About AI and Water All Wrong
Denver Post, Here’s how Denver police fly drones to 911 calls, triggering fears about privacy and surveillance
New York Times, Trump Moves to Stop States From Regulating AI With a New Executive Order
The Guardian, AI the main suspect after radio stations wrongly identify reporter as alleged violent offender
Financial Times, The perils of using AI when recruiting