Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategorySurveillance

social-scoring-and-rating-symbol-abstract-3d-illustration-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Social scoring and rating symbol abstract 3d illustration
Type
post
Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
February 19, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance
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Face recognition: Is the U.S. Copying China’s Surveillance State?

Although facial recognition (and the resulting “social credit score”) prevail in China, the technology is getting pushback in America
Caitlin Cory
February 19, 2021
8
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

In a recent article, I recounted the story of Dana Kurtbek, who has faced harassment from the DHS and the FBI after facial recognition technology and anonymous reports placed her inside the Capitol Building during the riot on January 6th. By her own account, she never came closer than a mile from the Capitol. She expressed concern to Mind Matters News that the continuing harassment may have resulted from neighbors who disagree with her pro-Trump views reporting her to the federal government. Facial recognition technology and neighbors as informants may sound strange to American ears, but in China, both are essential elements of the Chinese Communist Party’s technocratic regime. In 2014, China unveiled a social credit system that Human Rights Read More ›

like-facebook-3d-box-with-white-background-3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Like facebook 3d box with white background. 3d rendering
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 17, 2021
Categorized
Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance
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Who’s Afraid of Facebook? Maybe We Should All Be More Wary

A whistleblower showed that rules are enforced very unevenly. Facebook allows extremist language to flourish in some venues and censors mainstream speech in others
News
February 17, 2021
7
Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance

Facebook is, according to Fortune Magazine, the “dominant social media app,” with $84.2 billion in revenue in 2019, especially after acquiring Instagram. So dominant that government hearings into questionable activities offer mere slaps on the wrist. There is a reason for that, as we shall soon see. Facebook is, of course, a censor but at best a clumsy one. It removed a page by international disease experts critical of the COVID lockdowns, as if they were mere health cranks. Recently, Facebook announced that it plans to continue to take down posts whose claims its fact checkers “deem false” (February 8, 2021). To get some sense of what that means, Facebook censored an article at UnHerd that was critical of the Read More ›

classic-club-sandwich-with-ham-and-bacon-on-a-wooden-board-next-cup-is-a-mixture-of-pickled-miniature-onions-gherkins-tomatoes-gray-background-close-up-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Classic club sandwich with ham and bacon on a wooden board. Next cup is a mixture of pickled miniature onions, gherkins, tomatoes. Gray background. Close-up.
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
February 15, 2021
Categorized
Surveillance, Technocracy
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For Five Days There Was Free Expression in China

Then censors blocked the Clubhouse app
Heather Zeiger
February 15, 2021
7
Surveillance, Technocracy

In March 2020, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Paul Davidson and former Google engineer Rohan Seth launched their newest app, Clubhouse. The app is an invite-only audio chat app that lets users talk in virtual rooms. These conversations can be one-on-one or they could have an audience of up to 5,000 users (the current room limit in the beta version of the app). The app is only available on the iPhone and, once invited, users must use their actual phone number and Apple ID to join. Each user is only allowed to invite up to five people. The app’s exclusive nature gave it the tantalizing aura of the “next-big-thing” among the tech types. On January 31, Space-X’s Elon Musk made an appearance Read More ›

ring-fire-in-black-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Ring fire in black
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 13, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Global Technology, Surveillance
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AI profs: Beware “Black Ball” Tech That Could Destroy the Planet

Oxford Future of Humanity researchers contemplate a technology with immense destructive powers that is easy to access and use
News
February 13, 2021
5
Artificial Intelligence, Global Technology, Surveillance

Nick Bostrom and Matthew van der Merwe of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute offer a sticky question: What if we invented a “black ball” technology, one that destroyed human civilization? In the wake of Hiroshima, many people predicted that nuclear technologies would destroy the world. Albert Einstein is purported to have said, “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” However, say Bostrom and van der Merwe, to make nuclear technology work for you, you need to be a nuclear physicist. One might add that radioactive materials also “send messages.” Figuring out what untrusted actors are doing with nukes did not prove to be Read More ›

facial-recognition-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
facial recognition concept
Type
post
Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
February 9, 2021
Categorized
Surveillance
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False Identification: One Woman’s Facial Recognition Nightmare

Government security officials and the ACLU stay mum, despite repeated requests for information, involvement in the Pennsylvania woman’s case
Caitlin Cory
February 9, 2021
7
Surveillance

After attending a pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C., on January 6, a Pennsylvania woman has told media, she has been interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and visited by the FBI. She and her daughter have both been subjected to repeated security screenings before boarding flights. Federal security officials have reportedly claimed that facial recognition technology and anonymous reports place the woman inside the Capitol Building, among those who entered illegally on January 6. She insists she never went near the Capitol, let alone engaged in any illegal activity. Repeated inquiries from Mind Matters News to the DHS and FBI about their targeting of the woman and her daughter have been ignored. So have inquiries to the American Read More ›

kashgar-china-with-more-than-80-of-the-population-made-by-uyghurs-kashgar-displays-a-lot-of-islamic-landmarks-here-in-particular-the-id-kah-mosque-the-biggest-mosque-in-china-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Kashgar, China - with more than 80% of the population made by Uyghurs, Kashgar displays a lot of Islamic landmarks. Here in particular the Id Kah Mosque, the biggest mosque in China
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
February 3, 2021
Categorized
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance
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Leaked Police Database: Total Surveillance of China’s Uyghurs

Human Rights Watch notes that many countries engage in human rights abuses, but “more than any other government, Beijing has made technology central to its repression.”
Heather Zeiger
February 3, 2021
8
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance

Human Rights Watch has released its 2021 annual report of global human rights abuses in 2020. In his keynote article, Executive Director Kenneth Roth said “this has been the darkest period for human rights in China since the 1989 massacre that ended the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.” The report outlines several ways that the Chinese Communist Party has repressed Chinese citizens. Among those are the Uyghurs, an ethnically Turkish majority Muslim people living in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. The CCP continues to use every means, including massive technological surveillance, to control the Uyghur population. This is the second year that China has been one of the biggest offenders of human rights. Last year’s keynote article pointed out Read More ›

the-concept-of-biased-views-judged-by-appearances-various-miniature-people-standing-behind-the-glasses-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
The concept of biased views judged by appearances. Various miniature people standing behind the glasses.
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
December 30, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance
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How Bias Can Be Coded Into Unthinking Programs

MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini started the project as a trivial “bathroom mirror” message
Heather Zeiger
December 30, 2020
7
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

Coded Bias, a new documentary by 7th Empire Media that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, looks at the ways algorithms and machine learning can perpetuate racism, sexism, and infringements on civil liberties. The film calls for accountability and transparency in artificial intelligence systems, which are algorithms that sift large amounts of data to make predictions, as well as regulations on how these systems can be used and who has access to the data. The documentary follows the path of MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini. Buolamwini took a class on science fiction and technology in which one of her assignments was to create a piece of technology that isn’t necessarily useful but is inspired by science fiction. Buolamwini Read More ›

mosquito-stuck-in-honey-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Mosquito stuck in honey
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
December 16, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance
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Hi Tech and China: The Long Game re Spying in the United States

The relationship between California’s Eric Swalwell and Fang Fang could be a thriller. But they say it really happened
Heather Zeiger
December 16, 2020
8
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

An investigative report from news site Axios reveals that Christine Fang (better known as Fang Fang), a fundraiser for Representative Eric Swalwell (D.–California), not only interacted with political elites in California but cultivated relationships with two Midwestern governors. She is also accused of being a spy for China from 2011 to 2015. This story adds to the growing evidence that China is playing the long-game of influencing American politics: Start with promising figures at the bottom, not at the top: The case demonstrates China’s strategy of cultivating relationships that may take years or even decades to bear fruit. The Chinese Communist Party knows that today’s mayors and city council members are tomorrow’s governors and members of Congress.” Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Read More ›

3d-rendering-of-a-futuristic-robot-dog-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
3D rendering of a futuristic robot dog.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
December 15, 2020
Categorized
Surveillance
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Questions Dog the Future of Police Robots

Robots will have all the human judgment flaws but none of the capacity to change
News
December 15, 2020
2
Surveillance

Here’s a snippet from a recent New York Times article on the apparent first use of police robots in the United States in 2016, to kill Micah Xavier Johnson. Johnson had been discharged from the U.S. Army under unclear circumstances and in July of that year he shot five officers dead. Like almost all police robots in use today, the Dallas device was a straightforward remote-control platform. But more sophisticated robots are being developed in labs around the world, and they will use artificial intelligence to do much more. A robot with algorithms for, say, facial recognition, or predicting people’s actions, or deciding on its own to fire “nonlethal” projectiles is a robot that many researchers find problematic. The reason: Read More ›

digital-world-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
digital world
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
November 25, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance
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China’s Eyes Are Watching Africa Closely

In exchange for help with high-tech communication systems, China gets to install mass surveillance technology
Heather Zeiger
November 25, 2020
7
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance

Depending on who you talk to, the twenty-year relationship between China and several countries in the African Union has been described as everything from mutually beneficial to asymmetric and dysfunctional right down to exploitative and neo-colonialist. Recent pre-COVID-19 surveys indicate that citizens of several African nations see their country’s interaction with China as largely positive. But if some African science fiction writers are any indicator, others see a dystopian future. The current onslaught of high-tech surveillance technologies from China provides a chance to compare the two views. Recently, I have written about racial tensions between African nationals and local government in Guangzhou amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and about how the pandemic has worsened African countries’ debt crisis, particularly due to Read More ›

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Ai identify person technology for recognize, classify and predict human behavior for safety. Futuristic artificial intelligence. Surveillance and data collection of citizens through city cameras.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
November 6, 2020
Categorized
Data Privacy, Ethics, Global Technology, Surveillance
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The Information We Just Give Away Obliterates Privacy

Privacy may turn out to be one of the biggest political issues of the new decade
News
November 6, 2020
6
Data Privacy, Ethics, Global Technology, Surveillance

A story came to light at VICE in 2017, that the CIA spied on people through their smart TVs. Without getting into those weeds, note this conventional warning offered by manufacturers: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.” An old birdwatcher’s tip: If you can see them, assume they can see you. If the internet is wide open to us, we are potentially wide open to the internet. Here are three surveillance issues worth pondering, about the systems we take for granted: ➤ Alexa employees listen in: Amazon.com Inc. employs thousands of people Read More ›

with-the-global-spread-of-the-new-coronavirus-pneumonia-an-automated-line-of-disposable-medical-masks-makes-the-masks-ready-for-an-epidemic-24-hours-a-day-covid-19-outbreak-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
With the global spread of the new coronavirus pneumonia, an automated line of disposable medical masks makes the masks ready for an epidemic 24 hours a day, COVID-19 outbreak
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
November 5, 2020
Categorized
Ethics, Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Surveillance
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COVID-19 Response Exposes Racism in China, amid Harmony Claims

The lid blew off when African leaders broke the accustomed silence imposed by their dependence on Chinese high-tech loans
Heather Zeiger
November 5, 2020
8
Ethics, Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Surveillance

The coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic has exposed two longstanding ugly problems: underlying racist views of Africans living in China and the burden debt to China lays on several African countries. The key flashpoints creating tension between China and Africa are 1) Mistreatment of citizens of African countries living in China, particularly in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province (pictured) and 2) Beijing’s position on granting debt relief to countries in Africa so they can direct resources to dealing with the coronavirus. In one incident, Nigeria’s speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, posted a video of himself summoning Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian to his office where he expressed his displeasure about a Nigerian man being evicted from his home. While nobody Read More ›

china-flag-and-praying-patriot-man-with-crossed-hands-holding-cross-hoping-and-wishing-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
China flag and praying patriot man with crossed hands. Holding cross, hoping and wishing.
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
October 18, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Religion, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy
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How China’s Technocracy Uses the Pandemic to Suppress Religion

The pandemic provided a pretext to install surveillance equipment in churches and surveil believers online
Heather Zeiger
October 18, 2020
9
Artificial Intelligence, Religion, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the ways that technology can lead either to greater accessibility or greater oppression. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is now using the same technologies that have given many people around the world access to religious materials and church services during the pandemic to forcibly stop religious gatherings and restrict the distribution of religious materials within China. Although the CCP is officially atheist, over 60% of the population adheres to a recognized religion; 30.8% practice Chinese folk religions, 16.6% Buddhism, 7.4% Christianity, 4.2% ethnic religion, and 1.8% Islam. Authentic numbers may be higher, given the risk of punishment for practicing certain religions in China. The Chinese government has persecuted, tortured, and imprisoned Falun Gong members Read More ›

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Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
October 12, 2020
Categorized
Global Technology, Programming, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy
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China: COVID-19’s True History Finds an Unlikely Home — GitHub

The Chinese Communist party, rewriting the COVID-19 story with itself as the hero, must reckon with truthful techies
Heather Zeiger
October 12, 2020
9
Global Technology, Programming, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

For a brief window of time at the beginning of 2020, China’s internet censors didn’t block stories about Wuhan and COVID-19, the coronavirus. Caixin, a widely-read news magazine, published a multi-page investigative report on everything leading up to the outbreak, including the way in which the provincial authorities in Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, suppressed knowledge of the virus. Fang Fang, an award-winning novelist, kept a Wuhan diary online on Weibo, which was recently published as a book in the U.S. (HarperCollins 2020). For that short time, comments on the coronavirus were not being censored (Wired) at WeChat. Many people were thus able to vent their frustrations and pay their respects when 32-year-old ophthalmologist and whistleblower Li Wenliang Read More ›

department-store-shop-class-luxury-near-the-red-bridge-historical-buildings-of-saint-petersburg-in-the-background-the-city-and-st-isaacs-cathedral-dome-of-golden-color-in-the-evening-at-sunset-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Department store shop class luxury, near the Red Bridge, historical buildings of Saint-Petersburg. In the background the city and St. Isaac's Cathedral dome of golden color, in the evening at sunset.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
October 9, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology, Surveillance
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Russia Aims to Close the Technology Gap With the United States

Independent since 1991, the vast nation offers a government version of Silicon Valley culture
News
October 9, 2020
10
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology, Surveillance

In this week’s podcast, “AI development in Russia, Part 1,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talks with Samuel Bendett about Russia’s struggles to develop AI for entrepreneurship and free enterprise, rather than military uses. It turns out to be mainly a cultural struggle, as historic institutions must adapt to an environment where market dominance is more important than military dominance. Mr. Bendett, who is fluent in Russian and English, is an advisor to the Russia Studies Program and the Center for Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence of the CNA Adversary Analysis Group. And how is Russia faring? https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-103-Samuel-Bendett.mp3 From the transcript: (Show Notes, Resources, and a link to the complete transcript follow.) Robert J. Marks (pictured): What I want Read More ›

group-of-friends-using-smartphones-to-communicate-in-social-media-concept-of-a-generation-of-millennials-who-are-online-all-the-time-warm-hipster-filter-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Group of friends using smartphones to communicate in social media. Concept of a generation of millennials who are online all the time. Warm hipster filter.
Type
post
Author
James C. Patterson II
Date
October 5, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance
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The Social Dilemma: You’re Not the Customer, You’re the Product

A new Netflix documentary explores the techniques used to explore, then shape and sharpen, our attitudes, values, and beliefs
James C. Patterson II
October 5, 2020
6
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance

What is truth? This question has likely been pondered by man for as long as man has been able to ponder. How do you know that what you read or hear is true? How do you know that what you think is true? Why is it that people with different worldviews or belief systems can look at the exact same raw objective data and interpret it in radically different ways? The answers to these questions are important to “know”, insofar as anyone can know anything within a reasonable degree of certainty. However, in our society today, it is becoming more and more difficulty to determine what is true––with any degree of certainty. A recent 90-minute Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, Read More ›

sunset-on-a-yurt-in-the-grassland-of-mongolia-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
sunset on a yurt , in the grassland of Mongolia
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
September 28, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy
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High-Tech Suppression of China’s Mongol Region Provokes Protests

But Mongolian protesters against Chinese-dominated schools are threatened with loss of social credit, which means no jobs or loans
Heather Zeiger
September 28, 2020
8
Artificial Intelligence, Education, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

China is removing the Mongolian language and culture from the curriculum and textbooks in Inner Mongolia (see outline map), an autonomous region in China. In August, leaked government documents showed that language and literature, civics, and history will be taught in Mandarin rather than Mongolian in schools where Mongolian is the primary language. Additionally, the new textbooks replace stories about historic Mongolian heroes with Chinese ballads and expunge a popular folk verse that expresses pride in the Mongolian culture and language. In response, many parents in Inner Mongolia (called Southern Mongolia locally) have been keeping their children from attending school on September 1. In retaliation, state authorities threaten their jobs and social credit status: Southern Mongolia has quickly become a Read More ›

the-man-wiht-a-cpu-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
The man wiht a CPU.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
September 22, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Surveillance, Technocracy
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Will a Brain-Computer Interface Be a Boon or a Nightmare?

BCI is probably coming anyway, and whether it is a good thing or a bad thing largely depends on how we choose to use it
News
September 22, 2020
6
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Surveillance, Technocracy

Talk about a scary headline from an impressive research group!: “The Brain-Computer Interface is coming — and we are just so not ready for it” from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Okay, what’s going on? Both more and less than we think, depending on what we focus on. The Bulletin, published since 1947, is best known for a Doomsday Clock which expresses how close the editors think we are to nuclear war and climate apocalypse. An article in the current edition of the Bulletin covers the remarkable advances in prosthetics in recent years, in hooking up neurons (which use electrical signals) to electronic limbs, enabling much better control of prostheses. But the startling thing to realize is where researchers Read More ›

video-call-online-zoom-conference-business-team-gathered-for-an-online-meeting-in-zoom-app-on-a-computer-monitor-a-group-of-people-online-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Video call. Online zoom conference. Business team gathered for an online meeting in zoom app. On a computer monitor a group of people online
Type
post
Author
News
Date
September 11, 2020
Categorized
Business and Finance, Surveillance, Work
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COVID-19: Technology Trends That Are Sneaking Up on Us Faster Now

Most of these changes, for better or worse, are probably here to stay
News
September 11, 2020
13
Business and Finance, Surveillance, Work

We knew big changes were coming. And that COVID-19 has ramped them up. But when experts expound grand generalities and wave their hands a lot, it can be hard to clearly see what a change means where we live and work. One writing teacher, for example, learned how to massively adapt all of a sudden: Each spring, I teach Writing about Oneself, a class on first-person reading and writing, to 12 Yale undergraduates chosen from 100 or so… Every year I fill out the registrar’s Pedagogical Needs Request Form, leaving 14 of the 15 “Technological Needs” boxes unchecked. (No, I don’t need a SMART board. No, I don’t need a digital projector. No, I don’t need a Blu-ray player.) The Read More ›

Digital globe with mosaic of images
Digital globe with mosaic of images
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
August 26, 2020
Categorized
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance
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Why Some Nation States Are Banning TikTok

The United States is not alone in questioning the social medium’s allegiance to the Chinese government
Heather Zeiger
August 26, 2020
10
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance

Why is TikTok so controversial? It’s the first Chinese technology company that has reached a billion users outside of China. Its main demographic is Generation Z—teens and twenty-somethings. If you take a look at TikTok videos, most are goofy and irreverent. They’re frenetic shorts of everything from fashion tips to pranks and, of course, (bad) dancing. TikTok’s stated mission is to “inspire creativity and bring joy.” What could go wrong? Here’s what. Working with China, as Disney and the NBA can attest, comes with certain strings attached, including acquiescing to the Chinese Communist Party’s rules for acceptable speech. Because ByteDance, which owns TikTok, is a Chinese company (although partly owned by investors from the U.S. and Japan), the Chinese Communist Read More ›