Fight Face Surveillance (e61)

We discuss the latest on big tech companies spying on our faces, from a NYT experiment with a feed in Bryant park, to some scary face surveillance of a Muslim population in China. We also hit on state-level efforts to fight this “plutonium of AI.” We also break down Trump’s incitement against Rep. Ilhan Omar and the pathetic response from Democratic leadership. Listen at iTunes, Patreon, or below.

Support the show on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. You’ll get access to bonus content each month and help us keep the show going!

TAKE ACTION – BILLS FIGHTING FACE SURVEILLANCE:

* Massachusetts is still set to consider a Face Surveillance moratorium. * Live in San Francisco? Please support the “Stop Secret Surveillance” ordinance! * Find your member on the Board of Supervisors here. Then give them a call and urge them to vote to Stop Secret Surveillance: https://sfbos.org/roster-members* If you don’t know your district, you can look it up here: https://sfelections.org/tools/districts_lookup/* Supervisor @AaronPeskin intro’d it, and right now, and @hillaryronen & @MattHaneySF are co-sponsors. Tweet at them to say THANKS!* Tell your friends & family to support the ordinance as well, by signing this ACLU petition.* Learn even more about the ordinance at this Engadget piece by Andrew Tarantola.

MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

* 78 machine learning researchers have signed an open letter calling on Amazon to stop selling facial surveillance to police, and defending research from Joy Buolamwini at MIT finding racial and gender bias in Amazon’s face detection software* NYT also published a story about the Chinese government’s use of FS to track and control Uighurs* Face surveillance is as dangerous as nuclear plutonium* Who defended Rep. Omar from the Trump incitement? Bernie, Warren, Castro; full list here.19 of the 282 Democrats/independents in Congress (~6.5%) defended Ilhan Omar on here within six hours of Trump’s tweet (link)*

Past episodes on the Tsarnaev Trial:

* E23: Includes review of the book Maximum Harm by Michelle McPhee about Tsarnaev* E6: https://www.humorlessqueers.com/2015/06/03/the-tsarnaev-trial-big-bank-felonies-the-patriot-act-e06/

* E3: https://www.humorlessqueers.com/2015/01/15/problems-with-the-tsarnaev-trial-wall-street-2015/