surveillance
-
Stop Using Your Face or Thumb to Unlock Your Phone
Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California released a ruling that concluded state highway police were acting lawfully when they forcibly unlocked a suspect’s phone using their fingerprint. You probably didn’t hear about it. The case didn’t get a lot of coverage, especially because the courts weren’t giving a blanket green light…
-
Google Finally Stops Handing Your Location Data to Cops
Google announced changes to the way it harvests your location data this week that will finally put a stop to its compliance with geofence warrants, a police surveillance technique that many say circumvents the Constitution. On Tuesday, the company published a blog post explaining that over the next year, Google Maps will stop sending data…
-
Elon Musk Tests Verification With a Government ID and a Selfie
X (the social media site formerly known as Twitter) is in the process of launching a new identity verification feature that could prove controversial. The feature, which is currently only offered to/forced on premium “Blue” subscribers, asks users to fork over a selfie and a picture of a government-issued ID to verify that they are…
-
The ESRB Wants to Scan Gamers’ Faces to Verify Their Ages
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is seeking approval from the FTC to implement facial age estimation technology to stop kids skirting parental controls. If the industry’s self-regulating body gets its way, kids and their parents may need to get used to taking selfies to sign up for games. In a recent application submitted by…