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<ul class="summary-list"><li>A bright pink <keyword id="11895013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media" source="Orion">social media</keyword> app designed for women uses facial recognition to ban men.</li><li>New users take a selfie and artificial intelligence decides if they're male or female.</li></ul>An app marketed towards "females" has faced a barrage of online criticism for excluding transgender women with its use of artificial intelligence.Giggle, which first launched in early 2020, according to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/7/21128236/gender-app-giggle-women-ai-screen-trans-social">The Verge, uses facial recognition </a>to determine if new users are male or female. "The way the app works is when you install it, you have to take a picture of yourself and it uses AI to analyze your face," said Jenny, a 23-year-old trans woman from California. "And if it decides you're a woman, it will let you in. If it decides you're a man, it will reject you. But if it rejects you, you can just submit another picture." Giggle's founder and CEO, Sall Grover, has brashly pushed back against online criticism, including claims that the app uses technology that has failed to properly identify women of color, while publicly embracing an ideology that's considered harmful to trans people. "This particular combination of gender categorization and facial recognition and race is something that we absolutely know is a problem," Casey Fiesler, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies technology ethics, told Insider.The issue, however, has gone beyond the platform's questionable AI practices. Grover, who has embraced being called a "TERF" — trans-exclusionary radical feminist — told Insider that she decided to exclude trans women from the platform once trans activists began using it.According to <a href="https://joinagiggle.com/faq/">Giggle's website</a>, the app sends a new user's selfie to the facial-recognition AI company Kairos, which analyzes the photo."Through computer vision and deep learning, they recognise females in videos, photos, and the real world," according to Giggle. If the Kairos AI is 95% certain the person is female, the person is allowed to create an account, Giggle says. Kairos did not return Insider's request for comment.Grover said in a December tweet in the wake of the controversy that the app would be temporarily removed from the Google app store after the company was targeted with negative reviews by people she described in a tweet as "male" and "trolls." The app was restored to Google Play in January and has remained available on the App Store. Neither Apple nor Google returned Insider's requests for comment about whether the app violated any policies.<h2>Trans people sounded the alarm about Giggle on social media in December </h2>Victoria Morris, a 27-year-old trans woman from Orlando, Florida, said she first heard of Giggle while browsing trans Reddit forums. Morris, who said she had downloaded the app but was never able to get it to work, tweeted in early December about the slew of negative reviews Giggle received on the App Store. The tweet, which was shared more than 4,000 times, showcased negative reviews claiming the app looked for "euro-centric facial features," excluded Black women, and even verified cisgender men.Jenny, who requested her last name be withheld over safety concerns, told Insider "it was pretty easy to get past the filter" when she and her friends first tried to install Giggle about two years ago. "Sometimes it took a few tries, but it would eventually work," she said.She re-downloaded the platform late last year when she saw people were discussing it on social media.But once she got on Giggle, Jenny said she saw posts in the general discussion section from people who were talking about trans people in "disparaging ways." After Jenny <a href="https://twitter.com/halomancer1/status/1468893322886275082">tweeted about joining Giggle on December 9,</a> another Twitter user tagged Grover in the tweet, claiming Jenny was "transgressing women's boundaries" by using the app. In response, <a href="https://twitter.com/salltweets/status/1469098786177765376">Grover replied "Sorted"</a> with a heart emoji. Shortly after, Jenny said her Giggle app stopped working. She said she didn't receive any formal notice her account had been terminated beyond the tweet from the Giggle CEO.<h2>Artificial intelligence, like the one used by Giggle, has a history of issues around race</h2>Giggle has also faced criticism for failing to recognize faces that don't appear to be white. Fieseler, the University of Colorado at Boulder professor, said research has shown the type of facial analysis used by Giggle has led to instances of racism because the technology often works better on lighter skin tones."It works best for white men and worse for Black women and progressively worse the darker woman's skin is in terms of correctly classifying gender. That's just something that we know," she said.In 2019, Joy Buolamwini, a researcher at the M.I.T. Media Lab, in a study found that Kairos' technology misgendered darker-skinned females 22.5% of the time, according to a report from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/technology/amazon-facial-technology-study.html">The New York Times</a>. Melissa Doval, the then-CEO of Kairos, told the Times it had made changes to its algorithm following the research to improve its accuracy. Morris said Giggle "seemed like it was harming both trans women and also a lot of women of color or that don't have the Eurocentric features that the app is really designed for." "We just know that these systems are imperfect," Fieseler said. "So if you're using them for gatekeeping, there's going to be errors and there's likely going to be systematic errors around race in particular." Grover denied that the platform's AI prevented women of color from using it. If Giggle improperly rejects someone, a prospective user should contact the company to have the problem rectified, Grover told Insider in an email."Women of every race are not just welcome on Giggle, women of every race are on Giggle," Grover said.<h2>Trans women were initially allowed on Giggle but were later banned by Grover</h2>Grover, who lives in Australia, said she and her mother had the idea to create Giggle after they shared "many glasses of rose." "We wanted a place where women could go to help each other," she said in an email. "A female space, in the palm of their hand. Where women could find support, connection and a refuge amongst other women no matter where they were or what they were doing." Grover declined to say how many employees work at Giggle but she said "a team of women" work on the app's onboarding process. In current marketing materials on its social media channels and on its website, Giggle claims to be a space for "females" rather than a space for "women." This is intentional, Grover said, adding that "the word 'woman' has been so heavily appropriated" that "clarification feels necessary." Grover said she decided to exclude trans women from Giggle after some trans women posted threats against TERFs on the app."There was an orchestrated - albeit failed - attempt to get Giggle removed from the App Store and Google Play. There was some media attention, all of which called me a TERF and Giggle, Transphobic," she said.Thereafter, she said she researched trans and "radical feminist" communities and decided that trans women should be excluded from her app.<h2>TERF ideology is harmful to trans people, advocates say </h2>As <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/5/20840101/terfs-radical-feminists-gender-critical">Vox reported</a>, the term TERF, which labels individuals who exclude trans women from their feminism, originated in the 1970s, but gained traction online beginning in the early 2000s. Many women who expose such ideology have rejected it, claiming the term a slur, instead adopting the moniker "gender-critical" feminists, unlike Grover. "These are words that are thrown at women, on a daily basis, who stand up for our own hard-won sex-based rights," Grover said. "What am I supposed to do? Cower and give up my own rights? No. Never going to happen. You get over it, move on and keep going." Advocates for the trans community say such TERF ideology creates real-world harm for trans people. In addition to advocating for the exclusion of trans women from women's spaces, TERFs have also historically advocated against access to gender-affirming care for trans people, as Insider's Canela López <a href="https://www.insider.com/jk-rowling-what-is-a-terf-trans-exclusionary-radical-feminist-2020-6">reported</a>. Nearly all of Grover's posts to Twitter mention trans people or biological sex. In a<a href="https://twitter.com/salltweets/status/1476789447085596673"> December 31 tweet</a> she wrote: "I'd rather be shrill and knowledgeable than be so arrogantly ignorant about something so simple like the immutable binary of biological sex." In a January 6 tweet, she <a href="https://twitter.com/salltweets/status/1478845189602959360">came to the defense of "Harry Potter'' author J.K. Rowling</a>, who has likewise been labeled a TERF <a href="https://www.insider.com/jk-rowling-is-terf-tweets-same-sex-attraction-feminists-lesbians-2020-6">for her views about trans people</a>.Morris, who tweeted about Giggle in December, said she never had any interactions with Grover, but said Grover shared a tweet that called her a "beggar" after she posted a link to a fundraiser for gender-affirming surgery.In at least one other social media post, however, Grover appeared to inform trans users via Twitter they'd been booted from Giggle, as she had with Jenny."Your account has been removed. Thank you for making it very easy for us to do so," Grover said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/salltweets/status/1469127883591323648">December 9 tweet</a> after two trans women said they had been allowed on Giggle.Jenny said Grover on December 10 shared a collage of tweets from Jenny and her friends. Jenny said she viewed this as her "making fun" of them for calling out the Giggle app for attempting, and failing, to exclude trans women.In the December 10 tweet, Grover wrote, "it's just not healthy to be this angry over female spaces."

A social media app just for 'females' intentionally excludes trans women &mdash; and some say its face-recognition AI discriminates against women of color, too

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="6359816" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="irs" source="Orion">IRS</keyword> will require users of its online portal to create an ID.me account from summer 2022.</li><li>ID.me is a digital identification company that requires selfies from users for facial recognition.</li></ul>The International Revenue Service (IRS) is going to require users of its online <keyword id="12148805" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tax" source="Orion">tax</keyword> payment services to create an identification account, which will involve sending off a selfie for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facial-recognition-promoters-say-misinformation-is-thwarting-the-technology-2021-10">facial recognition</a>.Security blogger Brian Krebs was the <a href="https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/01/irs-will-soon-require-selfies-for-online-access/">first to spot</a> a message on the IRS website directing users to create an account with a company called ID.me."If you have an existing IRD username, please create a new ID.me account as soon as possible. We're bringing you an improved sign-in experience. You won't be able to log in with your existing IRS username and password starting in summer 2022," the message read.Creating an ID.me account involves submitting various pieces of official documentation, as well as taking a live video selfie.An IRS spokesperson confirmed to <a href="https://gizmodo.com/irs-will-require-facial-recognition-scans-to-access-you-1848387715?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4">Gizmodo</a> that users will need an ID.me account to make and view payments, and access their tax records.The Department of the Treasury did not immediately respond when contacted by Insider.ID.me offers digital identification services, and was able to land contracts with the US state governments over the course of the pandemic, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-01-20/cybersecurity-company-id-me-is-becoming-government-s-digital-gatekeeper">Bloomberg</a> reports.One user told Bloomberg they ran into significant problems trying to send off a selfie to ID.me, as the app failed to recognise her face, and then locked her out for 72 hours at a time.Bloomberg also found a log of complaints lodged against ID.me by users with California's Employment Development Department (EDD). One complaint involved a transgender user who was blocked from accessing state benefits because the gender stated on their driver's license and their passport didn't match.

The IRS will start using facial recognition this summer — and you'll have to send off a selfie if you want to pay your taxes online

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The FaceTag lets users sign up, scan the face of another user, and exchange contact information.</li><li>The app is only available to <keyword id="11956256" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="harvard" source="Orion">Harvard</keyword> students, echoing Zuckerberg's initial creation, TheFacebook.</li></ul>Harvard freshman Yuen Ler Chow created an app in his dorm room that lets students sign up, scan the face of another user, and exchange contact information like phone numbers and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-instagram-how-to-use-guide">Instagram</a> handles. Right now, it's only available at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-into-harvard-business-school-according-to-admissions-2019-7">Harvard</a>. Chow calls it, "The FaceTag."In a comment under a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-app-online-website-video-sharing-2019-7">TikTok</a> video he made about the app, Chow said he only named it The FaceTag because FaceTag.com was taken. But he told Insider over the phone that he knew what he was doing (by alluding to Harvard alumnus <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-fabulous-life-career-photos-2017-4">Mark Zuckerberg</a> who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-facebook-was-founded-2010-3">initially called his creation TheFacebook</a>)."Obviously this app isn't related to <keyword id="11892960" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="facebook" source="Orion">Facebook</keyword> at all," he said. "But the fact that I am a Harvard undergrad and I'm making kinda like a <keyword id="11895013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media" source="Orion">social media</keyword> app, having the name FaceTag was funny, and having it be The FaceTag was kinda funny as well."The FaceTag has just more than 100 sign ups, according to Chow, and it's only available via web browser at TheFaceTag.com. But a series of TikToks he made about it collectively has almost a million views. Most of the comments strike a similar tone: the app is unethical, and he shouldn't have made it."What's up with Harvard kids and not understanding ethics?" one TikToker wrote. "What a wonderful idea from a young Harvard student, surely this won't be a threat to democracy within a decade," another said. ("Can't tell if you're joking," Chow responded.)"Dude don't you think if there was an ethical way to do this there would already be several iterations of it?" popular TikToker Serena Shahidi, also known as @glamdemon2004, commented.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of The FaceTag application homepage is shown on October 21, 2021." height="456" width="608" msid="87205997" hostid="261"></div>There are lots of apps for exchanging contact information, but they aren't super popular, and unlike The FaceTag, they don't use facial recognition. Chow said these commenters don't understand the app, which he made using <a href="https://github.com/justadudewhohacks/face-api.js/">an open source facial recognition API</a>. When a person first makes a FaceTag profile, the app scans their face and extracts points and measurements. That information is saved, Chow said, but not the image itself. If you scan the face of someone who hasn't signed up for The FaceTag, it won't work. But if they are signed up, too, the app will make a match.People can enter their phone number, Instagram, and Snapchat account details into The FaceTag. And it's all or nothing: You can't decide to share different information with different people. If someone has a private profile, they have to hit "accept" before others can get their contact information. On a non-private profile, contact information is shared right after the app makes a face match.The debate about The FaceTag reflects growing concerns surrounding facial recognition. Many of the <keyword id="11894125" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tiktok" source="Orion">TikTok</keyword> comments pose "what-ifs" that are common fears for women, especially. What if someone scans your face and gets your information without your consent? (This could be avoided by not signing up, or making your profile private.) What if you're coerced into sharing your information on The FaceTag? (Like real life, this can't be completely avoided, but you can remove someone as a FaceTag "friend" if you want to.)The biggest risk, arguably, is if someone hacked The FaceTag and harvested users' friends, contact information, and facial measurements."A reason many people have so many misconceptions about the app is because I didn't really explain it in the video," Chow wrote in an email. "This was deliberate, because I knew that a shorter, more concise video would go viral rather than, say, a whole minute video explaining my app. It worked - I got like a million views total, but... now idk if the hate was worth it lol."The FaceTag may not have sparked controversy if it generated QR codes rather than using a face-scanner. But Chow told Insider he wanted to use facial recognition because it's "just so much more cool" than QR codes, and he wanted to play around with open source machine learning tools.The debate around The FaceTag is also happening on TikTok, one of the most intrusive apps out there. It uses phone activity trackers (cookies), buys data from third parties, and gathers an immense amount of behavioral information, including "keystroke patterns," and logs of any objects, scenery, and "face and body features" that appear in videos, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/legal/privacy-policy-us">according to its privacy policy</a>. Chow is conscious of this irony. "It's kinda weird how I see so many people scared over the fact that I'm collecting this data, but almost all the other social media apps collect way, way more," he said. "It's just that I'm directly telling them that I'm collecting it and they get scared."Compared to Facebook, The FaceTag is small potatoes to say the least. But among TikTok commenters, there seems to be a sense that they're doing a public service by criticizing the next <keyword id="11896062" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mark-zuckerberg" source="Orion">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> before he potentially ruins society. On the phone with Insider, Chow seemed exhausted by the intense feedback. But he still wants The FaceTag to grow. He said he wants to start "advertising more soon." In TikTok comments, he's also expressed interest in raising money ("How to invest?" someone said, "I'm working on it," Chow responded).And, of course, expanding it to non-Harvard users. "Turn it into an app outside Harvard then you will be a millionaire," someone said on TikTok. "That's the plan," he responded.

A Harvard freshman made a social networking app called 'The FaceTag.' It's sparked a debate about the ethics of facial recognition.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>When Clearview came up in conversation, people's expressions would grow serious, or irritated.</li><li>The industry is upset with the company for giving facial-recognition technology a bad name.</li></ul>When I <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facial-recognition-promoters-say-misinformation-is-thwarting-the-technology-2021-10">attended the surveillance-technology conference Connect:ID</a> recently, the elephant in the room was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clearview-ai-facial-recognition-us-army-cid-criminal-command-tech-2021-8">Clearview AI</a>, a company that matches search images with pictures scraped from the internet. I overheard multiple conversations that referred to Clearview with skepticism, at best. Several industry professionals openly expressed not liking or respecting the company. One government contractor said Clearview was "creepy." He told me he'd read about the company's <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/clearview-ai-facial-recognition-alt-right_n_5e7d028bc5b6cb08a92a5c48">extensive ties to the far right</a> and was alarmed by that. In one discussion, an attendee called the company "the worst facial-recognition company in the world." When I caught up with Jeremy Grant from the law firm Venable LLP, he said he was dismayed to discover he would be talking on a panel with Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That. Minutes before it started, Grant was told Ton-That had bailed, for an unknown reason. There's a fundamental difference between Clearview and most facial-recognition providers, and the sense I got from this conference is that the industry is upset with the company for giving the technology a bad name. Clearview matches search images with billions of pictures it's scraped from <keyword id="11895013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media" source="Orion">social media</keyword>. Other facial-recognition vendors, such as NEC and Panasonic, usually match search images with faces in a database provided by a client. This is often something like a database of mugshots or worker ID photos. (Many companies train their algorithms on photos from the internet, though).Throughout the conference, when Clearview came up in conversation, people's expressions would grow serious, or irritated. "Aren't they the people who scraped all those photos?" one attendee said. There was a level of awareness - even in an industry that critics allege violates people's <keyword id="6355135" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="privacy" source="Orion">privacy</keyword> - that Clearview took an exceptional step by collecting photos of people posted on social media. While some conference booths for facial-recognition vendors were bustling, Clearview's setup was comparatively quiet. The company's Q&amp;A roundtable event, though, got heavy attendance. Ton-That and Clearview's new vice president of federal sales, Matt Jones, fielded questions. One man from the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security asked how the company responded to the controversy that erupted after the public learned it had scraped billions of images from the internet. Ton-That said it had only scraped photos that were already public. The same man later asked whether Clearview has any way to report false positives or provide feedback on results. Ton-That dodged the question, while Jones said "we always encourage feedback." But in essence, no, you can't report false positives to Clearview. "But really there's no such thing as a false positive because it's not an affirmative match?" Clearview's new PR rep, Josh Zecher, said to Ton-That from across the table. Ton-That then noted that Clearview search results are "investigative leads" and not matches.This is an important distinction because "match" implies that Clearview delivers a definitive search result, while "investigative lead" suggests the technology is just a starting point or one piece of data for broader investigations by law enforcement and other authorities. This likely <a href="https://www.clearview.ai/codeofconduct">protects Clearview AI from liability</a> in the case of an incorrect search result.But Ton-That frequently slipped from the PR-approved language when touting the technology. "No one has done what we do at this scale with this accuracy," he said later in the conference, adding that anyone "is able to solve cases instantaneously if they get matches in the system."<div type="image" title="Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton-That (center) is shown seated at a table during the Connect:ID surveillance technology conference in Washington DC in October 2021." height="3024" width="4032" msid="87135305" hostid="261"></div>Ton-That also wouldn't say whether Clearview was respecting the cease and desists the company had received from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social-media sites after scraping their photos. When I asked how often Clearview has complied with requests to remove images from its database, which it's claimed to do for more than a year, he smiled and said, "We can talk about that later."A different man asked how accurate Clearview is, even if the input photo has a strange angle or poor lighting. Ton-That said Clearview did "well." He said the company's database now has 10 billion photos, up from 3 billion, and it's only getting better. But he repeated an accuracy figure - 98.6% accurate per 1 million faces - that's been <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/clearview-ai-nypd-facial-recognition">used since 2019</a>."People are constantly dumping their - it's just a constant," Clearview's Jones said during the roundtable event, referring to the steady stream of people posting their photos online, only for Clearview to scrape them. In a separate event this week, Ton-That interviewed Joshua Findley, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations under Immigration and Customs Enforcement who focuses on crimes against children. They discussed the case of a man who was sentenced to 35 years in prison "for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child," according to a Justice Department press release. See the <keyword id="12343174" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="clearview-ai" source="Orion">Clearview AI</keyword> CEO's <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/clearview-connectid-205247/">presentation here</a>. Findley said he'd been searching for the suspect, whose face was in three frames of an abuse video, but wasn't having success. After he sent the pictures to an HSI investigator who had access to Clearview AI, he said, the investigator found the suspect in the background of other photos taken at a bodybuilding expo. Soon after, HSI was able to find the man's name, get a search warrant under probable cause, and seize the man's laptop and cameras with incriminating material, Findley said.Clearview has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/18/magazine/facial-recognition-clearview-ai.html">frequently mentioned</a> this as an example of its technology being used for good. The case is remarkable, but it's unclear how representative it is. In 2019, Clearview <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/clearview-ai-nypd-facial-recognition?bfsource=relatedmanual">claimed it helped catch a terrorism suspect</a>, but the company simply searched for the suspect and sent the results to the New York Police Department after the department had already arrested the man. Findley said HSI has used Clearview on "prolific sextortion artists" who coerce minors into sending them sexually explicit images. This has been a huge problem, especially for young girls, for decades. "That's something I never knew happened," Ton-That said.This week, Ton-That participated in a panel event on privacy put on by The Federalist Society, <a href="https://fedsoc.org/conferences/a-national-symposium-on-law-and-technology?#agenda-item-panel-i-privacy-for-and-from-the-digital-person">which was livestreamed</a>. The CEO said there should be a reasonable expectation of privacy at events that journalists might attend."I think it's quite different in terms of expectations of privacy when you're looking up something on Google Maps, when you're doing a search for something on Google, you expect it not to be private," he said. "As opposed to when you're at an event like this one, someone takes a photo of you and perhaps they write an article about it. There's a completely different expectation of privacy there."

"The worst facial-recognition company in the world": Surveillance-technology vendors quietly complained about Clearview AI at a top surveillance conference recently

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Mijente, Just Futures Law, and the No Border Wall Coalition highlight how CBP uses digital tools.</li><li>A new report says CBP relies on cameras, <keyword id="11895873" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="drones" source="Orion">drones</keyword>, and license-plate-reading <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech" source="Orion">tech</keyword> to monitor migrants.</li></ul>US <keyword id="12137954" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="customs-and-border-protection" source="Orion">Customs and Border Protection</keyword> and Immigration and Customs Enforcement use phone hacking, license-plate scanning, iris recognition, and a host of other <keyword id="6354565" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="surveillance" source="Orion">surveillance</keyword> technology to monitor the US border, according to a <a href=" https://notechforice.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Deadly.Digital.Border.Wall_.pdf">report</a> released on Thursday by immigrant-rights groups. "The Deadly Digital Border Wall," compiled by Mijente, Just Futures Law, and the No Border Wall Coalition, doesn't identify every piece of software and hardware the agencies use. One example is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-google-microsoft-ice-raven-data-mining-tool-undocumented-workers-2021-8">Raven</a>, short for Repository for Analytics in a Virtualized Environment, a data-mining and analytics tool ICE is developing. But it does provide an overview of some of the key technologies that ICE and CBP rely on.Cinthya Rodriguez, a Mijente organizer, said the US border was a "testing ground" for more widespread expansions of government surveillance."We remain steadfast in our #NoTechForICE demand and call on the Biden administration to follow up on promises made to immigrant communities with meaningful action," she added.Here are the top 14 border-surveillance technologies, according to the report:<ol><li>Automated license-plate recognition</li></ol>This is a camera system that takes pictures of car license plates as they pass by and logs other relevant information like date, time, and place. Immigration agencies install these cameras at and near borders. CBP pays Motorola Solutions for it, while ICE pays Vigilant Solutions.<ol start="2"><li>Integrated fixed towers</li></ol>Along the US-Mexico border, CBP operates tall towers designed to spot people from almost 10 miles away. The agency has paid the Israeli military contractor <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/08/25/border-patrol-israel-elbit-surveillance/">Elbit Systems</a> to install these structures.<ol start="3"><li>Remote video surveillance</li></ol>These surveillance towers are slightly smaller and movable. General Dynamics won a $177 million contract for installing these in 2013. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2023.<ol start="4"><li>Mobile video-surveillance system</li></ol>This consists of a telescope, a laser light, a thermal-imaging device, and a video system that's attached to the back of a truck, which itself is equipped with geospatial analytics. Since 2015, Tactical Micro has been providing CBP with dozens of the systems, and PureTech Systems has been providing the in-vehicle geospatial analytics.<ol start="5"><li>Autonomous surveillance towers</li></ol>CBP uses these towers to scan the landscape for people. Anduril has been providing them since 2018. They come equipped with software designed to distinguish people from animals and store images of human faces.<ol start="6"><li>Drones</li></ol>CBP has used large and small drones to surveil remote areas of land, and even the sea, for evidence of migrants. General Atomics, AeroVironment, FLIR Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Anduril have all provided CBP with surveillance drones.<ol start="7"><li>E3 portal</li></ol>This software sends files of fingerprint scans, pictures of faces, and iris images - captured by separate pieces of hardware - to both "ICE's case management system for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and to the DHS-wide IDENT database," the report said. <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/biometrics">According to the Department Homeland Security</a>, the automated biometric identification system stores "260 million unique identities and processes more than 350,000 biometric transactions per day."<ol start="8"><li>HART biometric database</li></ol>According to the report, the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) System is a database of biometric data such as face images, DNA profiles, iris scans, fingerprint scans, and audio files, called "voice prints," that's hosted on Amazon Web Services and being developed by Northrop Grumman. It will eventually "replace the automated biometric identification system (IDENT) currently used by DHS," the report said.<ol start="9"><li>Biometric facial comparison</li></ol>This is a face-matching tool that CBP uses at the US border and entry ports like airports. A camera takes a picture of a traveler and compares it with a passport or other form of ID. CBP says it stores comparison photos of US citizens in IDENT for <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy-pia-cbp030-tvs-november2018_2.pdf">15 years</a>.<ol start="10"><li>CBP One application</li></ol>This is a mobile app on which Border Patrol agents can collect biometric and other personal information on migrants and asylum seekers. Data that can be logged in to the app includes phone numbers, employment and family information, marital status, people traveling together, permanent address abroad, and destination in the US, as well as a photograph to be run through CBP biometric records, the report said.<ol start="11"><li>Mobile-phone hacking</li></ol>Using services from the Israeli company Cellebrite, Canada's Magnet Forensics, and the US company Grayshift, CBP can search mobile phones and other devices for information about a person. Grayshift and Cellebrite can sometimes unlock phones. US border agents don't need warrants to search people's devices, according to a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-privacy/u-s-border-agents-do-not-need-warrants-to-search-digital-devices-court-rules-idUSKBN2AA2AL">2019 court ruling</a>, and border agents searched more than 40,000 devices in 2019, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-privacy/u-s-border-agents-do-not-need-warrants-to-search-digital-devices-court-rules-idUSKBN2AA2AL">Reuters reported</a>.<ol start="12"><li>Vehicle forensic kits</li></ol>These are pieces of software designed to extract personal information stored in cars, including call logs and navigation histories. CBP has paid Berla Corp., which partnered with the Swedish mobile-forensics company MSAB, for this service.<ol start="13"><li>Venntel location tracking</li></ol>Venntel, a subsidiary of the data broker Gravy Analytics, sells licenses to CBP <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/ice-dhs-cell-phone-data-tracking-geolocation">and other DHS entities</a> that allow them to use consumer cellphone data to track migrants and asylum seekers. A DHS document <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/ice-dhs-cell-phone-data-tracking-geolocation">leaked to BuzzFeed News</a> said it was possible to "combine" the consumer location data "with other information and analysis to identify an individual user."<ol start="14"><li>Intelligent computer-assisted detection</li></ol>ICAD is a system of underground sensors and cameras that "detects the presence or movement of individuals" and sends data back to CBP. Border Patrol agents then seek out the people captured on ICAD, ask these people for their biographic data, and store this information, according to the report.

Here are the 14 most important pieces of surveillance technology that make up the US 'digital border wall,' according to immigrant-rights groups

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Nonprofit groups are monitoring <a href="https://www.axios.com/facial-recognition-retail-surge-c13fff8d-72c6-400f-b680-6ae2679955d4.html?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&amp;stream=topp;stream=top">major retailers using facial recognition</a> software in their stores. </li><li>Macy's is among the six stores that <a href="https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/stores/#scorecard">Fight for the Future</a> reports is using the technology. </li><li>Several companies including Walmart and Target told the nonprofit they don't use facial recognition.</li></ul><keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="retail">Retail</keyword> stores across the country are using facial recognition systems in their stores, leading to pushback by groups who say the technology is an invasion of privacy, <a href="https://www.axios.com/facial-recognition-retail-surge-c13fff8d-72c6-400f-b680-6ae2679955d4.html?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&amp;stream=topp;stream=top">Axios reported</a> on Monday. Last week, <a href="https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/stores/#scorecard">Fight for the Future</a> launched an advocacy campaign against companies using facial recognition, which is often used for security purposes. The software can scan and store the faces of employees and customers - usually with the goal of preventing shoplifting and fraud. "Your face should not be scanned, stored, or sold just because you walk into or work at a store," <a href="https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/stores/#scorecard">Fight for the Future</a> wrote. "Retailers across the country that are exploring this invasive technology should know that prioritizing profit over privacy is wrong."Proponents of the technology said facial images are not linked to personal data and that the systems can lead to improved shopping experiences, such as contactless payments. The pandemic increased its adoption by retailers as a way to help manage stores with fewer employees, Axios reported. According to the advocacy campaign's website, Macy's, <keyword id="6354427" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="apple">Apple</keyword>, Lowe's, Albertsons, Ace Hardware, and H.E.B grocery are six retailers that use the technology. However, spokespeople from Apple and Lowe's told Insider that they do not use facial recognition in stores. "Macy's uses facial recognition in conjunction with other security methods in a small subset of stores with high incidences of organized retail theft and repeat offenders," a Macy's spokesperson told Insider.Walmart, Kroger, Home Depot, Target, Costco, CVS, Dollar Tree, and Verizon told Fight for the Future that they do not use facial recognition and do not plan on using it in the future. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facial-recognition-must-overcome-biases-biometrics-commissioner-says-2021-5">Demonizing facial recognition use by police makes no sense, according to the UK's new surveillance watchdog</a>Brenda Leong, director for artificial intelligence and ethics at the Future of Privacy Foundation, <a href="https://www.axios.com/facial-recognition-retail-surge-c13fff8d-72c6-400f-b680-6ae2679955d4.html?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&amp;stream=topp;stream=top">told Axios</a> that stores could potentially use facial recognition to monitor employee productivity, identify loyal shoppers, and measure how long shoppers stay in the store. 50 investors managing over $4.5 trillion targeted tech companies Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba, and Huawei with calls to develop facial recognition in a more ethical way, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/investors-call-ethical-approach-facial-recognition-technology-2021-06-07/">Reuters reported</a> in June. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facial-recognition-racial-bias-federal-study-2019-12">Recent studies</a> have shown facial-recognition systems are less accurate in identifying nonwhite and female faces, raising concerns over <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-man-facial-recognition-technology-crime-2020-12">racial bias.</a>In 2019, 18-year-old <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teen-sues-apple-1-billion-false-arrest-facial-recognition-2019-4">Ousmane Bah sued Apple for $1 billion</a>, saying its facial recognition led to his false arrest. The tech giant has denied claims that it uses facial recognition in Apple stores. Spokespeople from Macy's, Albertsons, Ace Hardware, and H.E.B grocery did not respond in time to Insider's request for comment.

The 4 retail stores you probably shop at that use facial-recognition technology

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The $650 million settlement is one of the largest-ever from a <keyword id="6355135" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Privacy">privacy</keyword> <keyword id="6377259" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lawsuit">lawsuit</keyword> in the US.</li><li>The suit claimed <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> violated an Illinois law prohibiting collection of biometric data without consent.</li><li>About 1.6 million claimants will receive a payout of at least $345, the lawsuit said. </li></ul>A federal judge has approved a settlement in which Facebook will pay $650 million to users who sued the <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword> company over its tagging feature.The settlement, which is one of the largest-ever from a privacy lawsuit, was a "landmark result," said US Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California in his Friday order. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-illinois-400-dollar-lawsuit-settlement-check-details-facial-recognition-2020-9">About 1.6 million people who joined</a> the lawsuit will receive a payout of at least $345, the lawsuit said. "Overall, the settlement is a major win for consumers in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-tracking-permission-apple-privacy-update-changes-2021-2">hotly contested area of digital privacy</a>," wrote Judge Donato. "The standing issue makes this settlement all the more valuable because Facebook and other big tech companies continue to fight the proposition that a statutory privacy violation is a genuine harm."The class-action case was first filed in Illinois in 2015. Facebook users claimed the company had violated the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act, which prohibits a private entity from collecting, storing, or using biometric identifiers or information without prior notification and written consent.The lawsuit claimed Facebook created and stored a face template for Illinois users starting in June, 2011, as part of its feature to promote tagging - or identifying - individuals in photos. "The class members alleged that Facebook collected and stored their biometric data - namely digital scans of their faces - without prior notice or consent," the settlement order said.Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the finalization of the lawsuit. The social media giant <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49291661">had fought the suit</a>, saying it had always disclosed its facial recognition technology. It also said users had the option to turn it off. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-privacy-agreement-ftc-does-little-to-constrain-it-2019-7">This isn't the first time</a> Facebook has received pushback for its facial-recognition feature. In 2019, Facebook began requiring users to opt-in to use their facial-recognition tool, after the FTC fined the company $5 billion for its role in the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-hit-with-regulations-in-ftc-settlement-full-list-2019-7#4-facebook-must-establish-implement-and-maintain-a-comprehensive-data-security-program-4">as previously reported by Insider.</a>Facebook originally tried to settle the Illinois lawsuit for $550 million, but the judge presiding over the case rejected that offer.

Judge approves $650 million settlement of Facebook privacy lawsuit linked to facial photo tagging

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Chinese man has been jailed for stealing money from his ex, per reports.</li><li>Reports say that he used his ex's fingerprint and opened her eyelids to unlock her phone.</li></ul>A Chinese man has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after he stole money from his ex-girlfriend by using her fingerprint and lifting her eyelids open to unlock her cellphone while she slept, according to reports.The 28-year-old man, identified only as Huang, went to the woman's apartment in December 2020 while she was feeling unwell, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chinese-man-used-facial-recognition-to-steal-18-000-from-sleeping-ex-girlfriend-zhc9nh2p">The Times</a> reported.He then cooked a meal for the woman, identified only as Dong, and laced it with drowsy cold medicine, lulling her into a deep sleep, per The Times.Once she was asleep, Huang used his ex-girlfriend's finger to unlock her Huawei phone, according to court documents seen by the local state-run <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword>paper Nanning Evening News.He then lifted Dong's eyelids to unlock her Alipay app — a Chinese online payment platform — using facial recognition software, the newspaper said.After this, according to The Times, he changed her password and withdrew 154,000 yuan ($24,155) from Dong's digital wallet to pay off his gambling debts.The next morning, according to <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/epxzja/facial-recognition-theft-alipay-china">Vice News</a>, Dong recognized unusual transactions and made a report to the police. Huang had already fled to another city, the media outlet said, but police found and arrested him in April this year.In addition to his prison sentence, Huang was fined 20,000 Chinese yuan ($3,137).A district people's court in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, near the Vietnam border, found him guilty of <keyword id="11976925" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="theft" source="Orion">theft</keyword> by using secret methods to steal another person's property. A spokesperson for Alipay told Yishou Video that compensation would be offered in the rare event of theft and encouraged users to turn on multiple locks to protect their accounts.

A man opened his ex-girlfriend's eyelids while she slept to unlock her phone and steal $24,000, reports say

Outrage over police brutality has finally convinced Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM to rule out selling facial recognition tech to law enforcement. Here's what's going on.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> will reportedly require drivers and riders to wear masks or face coverings before they can use its ride-hailing service. It'll be a requirement in several countries, including the US.</li><li>According to CNN Business, which spoke to an unnamed source, Uber is also developing technology that can verify whether or not drivers are wearing masks.</li><li>The mandatory requirement is expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks, the publication said.</li><li>The ride-hailing giant withdrew its 2020 guidance last month and warned of a $2.2 billion writedown, as the coronavirus-induced lockdowns in place across many countries have hit its core business.</li><li>Uber did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Uber will reportedly require drivers and riders to wear masks or face coverings in several countries, including the US, with the requirement expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks.<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/03/tech/uber-drivers-riders-face-masks/index.html">According to CNN Business</a>, which spoke to an unnamed person familiar with the matter, Uber is also developing technology that can verify whether or not drivers are wearing masks. Uber is also examining ways to hold riders accountable, the publication added.It isn't clear how effective the requirement will be without detailed instructions about what masks riders and drivers should wear. While clinical masks are effective at reducing the transmission of the virus, <a href="https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus-public-wearing-masks/">the science is less clear</a> on homemade fabric masks.The introduction of this new safety requirement comes at a tough time for the ride-hailing giant, as it looks to claw back some of the business it's lost as a result of the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic.It withdrew its 2020 guidance last month and warned of a $2.2 billion writedown, as the coronavirus-induced lockdowns in place across many countries have hit its core ride-hailing offering, <a href="https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2020/Uber-Announces-Results-for-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2019/">which comprised over 80% of the firm's adjusted net revenue</a> in the fourth quarter of 2019.Independently of the <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> crisis, Uber has also been hit by reports of driver unrest in California as a result of the state's recently-introduced gig-worker law.In April, driver advocacy group Rideshare Drivers United <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-2-billion-writedown-withdraws-guidance-2020-4?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">reported that more than 2,500 Uber and Lyft drivers in California have filed wage claims against the companies since February</a>, claiming they're owed at least $630 million in back wages.Uber did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-uber-masks-passengers-drivers-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

Uber may require drivers and passengers to wear masks in the US

<ul class="summary-list"><li>On Wednesday, Amazon announced it would suspend <keyword id="11098" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="police">police</keyword> use of its controversial facial-recognition technology, Rekognition, for one year.</li><li>Amazon last week put out a statement against police brutality and systemic racism, but advocates pointed out Amazon works with many police departments and that studies have shown Rekognition is biased against Black people and other people with darker skin.</li><li>Amazon still plans to sell Rekognition to groups that help rescue human-trafficking victims.</li></ul>Amazon announced Wednesday that it would suspend police use of its controversial facial-recognition technology for one year after advocates and workers <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-workers-accuse-company-hypocrisy-george-floyd-statement-2020-6">slammed the company for supporting the George Floyd protesters while still promoting its technology to police</a>.<keyword id="141088" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon-Web-Services">Amazon Web Services</keyword> has sold its facial-recognition software, called Rekognition, to police departments across the country, but numerous studies have found bias in the software that disproportionately targets Black people and other people with darker skin. Last week, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-companies-racism-law-enforcement-agencies-ice-george-floyd-protests-2020-6">Amazon made statements</a> against police brutality and systemic racism amid protests against police brutality that erupted after the killing of Floyd.This rang hollow to many advocates, as <keyword id="291131" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="AWS">AWS</keyword> had still been working with police departments despite studies showing that Black people are more likely to be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-report-graphs-show-baltimore-police-disproportionately-target-african-americans-2016-8">stopped, searched</a>, or <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/08/police-officer-shootings-gun-violence-racial-bias-crime-data/595528/">killed by police</a>. A study led by MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini in 2019 showed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/technology/amazon-facial-technology-study.html">Rekognition had difficulty in identifying gender in faces with darker skin and female faces</a>.The <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/amazons-face-recognition-falsely-matched-28">American Civil Liberties Union found in 2018 the software incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress</a> with people who have been arrested for a crime and that false matches were disproportionately of people of color, including six members of the Congressional Black Caucus.Amazon still plans to allow organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics to use Amazon Rekognition to help rescue human-trafficking victims, it said. The company also said it advocated for governments to add stronger regulations governing how facial-recognition technology could be used. AWS declined further comment when Business Insider asked in what ways the company was advocating with the government."We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested," an <a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/policy/we-are-implementing-a-one-year-moratorium-on-police-use-of-rekognition">Amazon blog post</a> said.Amazon's move follows <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ibms-ceo-says-it-will-stop-offering-facial-recognition-software-2020-6">IBM's decision</a> to stop selling facial-recognition software and call for a "national dialogue" on the way the technology is used for law enforcement. Several advocacy groups, including the ACLU and MediaJustice, had already <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aclu-amazon-investors-to-stop-firm-selling-rekognition-to-law-enforcement-2019-5">called on Amazon to stop selling the software to law enforcement</a>. Amazon still works with more than 600 police departments across country to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lawmakers-letter-amazon-ring-police-partnerships-terms-of-service-2020-2">enable officers to request video footage from people's Ring devices in the area of a suspected crime</a>. On Tuesday, police pinned to the ground and arrested a Black Amazon delivery driver who authorities said parked the wrong way in Warren, Michigan, and the officers' department uses Ring, <a href="https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/witnesses-say-warren-police-arrest-amazon-driver-for-parking-on-street-the-wrong-way">FOX 2 Detroit reported</a>.In the past, AWS CEO Andy Jassy dismissed employees' concerns about selling Rekognition to law enforcement. He said the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aws-ceo-andy-jassy-dismissed-employee-concerns-about-rekognition-2018-11">company's terms of service would prevent its software from being used for bad purposes</a>, though in a recent interview, he said the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-rekognition-police-use-unknown-2020-2">company wasn't aware of how police are using it, or even how many police departments have access</a>.Do you work at AWS? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at <a href="mailto:rmchan@businessinsider.com">rmchan@businessinsider.com</a>, Signal at 646.376.6106, Telegram at @rosaliechan, or Twitter DM at <a href="https://twitter.com/rosaliechan17">@rosaliechan17</a>. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Other types of secure messaging available upon request.

You Searched For "facial recoginition" and got 11 results

A social media app just for 'females' intentionally excludes trans women and some say its face-recognition AI discriminates against women of color, too

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The IRS will start using facial recognition this summer — and you'll have to send off a selfie if you want to pay your taxes online

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A Harvard freshman made a social networking app called 'The FaceTag.' It's sparked a debate about the ethics of facial recognition.

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"The worst facial-recognition company in the world": Surveillance-technology vendors quietly complained about Clearview AI at a top surveillance conference recently

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Here are the 14 most important pieces of surveillance technology that make up the US 'digital border wall,' according to immigrant-rights groups

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The 4 retail stores you probably shop at that use facial-recognition technology

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Judge approves $650 million settlement of Facebook privacy lawsuit linked to facial photo tagging

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A man opened his ex-girlfriend's eyelids while she slept to unlock her phone and steal $24,000, reports say

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Outrage over police brutality has finally convinced Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM to rule out selling facial recognition tech to law enforcement. Here's what's going on.

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Uber may require drivers and passengers to wear masks in the US

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Amazon just announced that it's going to suspend police use of its controversial facial-recognition technology for one year

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