The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/science-technology/)
A prison video visitation service was left unprotected since at least April, exposing thousands of private conversations intended to be protected by attorney-client privilege. The service, HomeWAV, said it fixed the system but did not explain why conversations protected by attorney-client privilege had been recorded in the first place.
Data surveillance software designed for military use has been employed by the LAPD for more than a decade, according to a Buzzfeed News investigation.
Health experts and technology regulators told a Senate Commerce Committee meeting this week that strengthening federal protections for data privacy could increase the effectiveness of contact tracing and help the U.S. deal with the coronavirus.
The decision earlier this month by the city of Portland, Or., to ban the use of biometric facial recognition by businesses and local police is one of the strictest measures so far taken by U.S. jurisdictions to address spreading concerns about privacy.
Only if the access is tightly regulated under the privacy protections guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment, argue two Vanderbilt University researchers.
Spit hoods have come under scrutiny in light of the March death of Daniel Prude, which recently led to the suspension of seven Rochester police officers.
Last week, the NYPD admitted using facial recognition technology to help officers ID a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, Derrick Ingram. Following public outrage, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that he will reassess the NYPD’s use of the software.
Only one arrest has been attributed to a costly program to record video surveillance of Baltimore streets using two camera-equipped aircraft. The city’s police commissioner expresses doubt that tax money will pay for the program once private funding for a six-month experiment runs out.
In response to growing concerns about racial bias, IBM, Amazon and Microsoft have all imposed limitations or bans on the selling of facial recognition items to police in the United States.
Borrowing the old adage to never let a good crisis go to waste, live video technology is giving individuals cut off by COVID-19 from pretrial diversion services access to treatment and counselling as an alternative to prison, writes the executive director of the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative.