Evan from Fight for the Future writes, "More than 30 civil rights organizations, including Fight for the Future, Color of Change, National Immigration Law Center, and CAIR, have signed an open letter calling for elected officials to investigate Amazon Ring's business practices and put an end to all Amazon-police surveillance partnerships. This is the first major action taken by groups to pressure lawmakers to address these partnerships and the threats they pose to privacy, civil liberties, and democracy. Our elected officials are supposed to protect us, both from abusive policing practices and corporate overreach. These partnerships are a clear case of both. If you're concerned about Amazon's surveillance partnerships, there's a petition you can sign to your local elected officials here."
Civil rights groups call for a stop to Amazon's doorbell surveillance partnerships with cops
Portland, Maine voters nix facial surveillance
Facial surveillance by public officials was already banned in Portland, Maine, and yesterday voters passed a measure allowing citizens who are illegally surveilled with facial recognition to sue the city. According to Bangor Daily News, "citizens would receive $100 per violation, or $1,000, whichever is higher, plus lawyer fees." From TechCrunch: Meanwhile, earlier this week,… READ THE REST
Police have tools to crack encrypted smartphones
Most police have access to tools that can retrieve cleartext data from about 50% of the phones they confiscate, reports The New York Times. Phone-hacking tools typically exploit security flaws to remove a phone's limit on passcode attempts and then enter passcodes until the phone unlocks. Because of all the possible combinations, a six-digit iPhone passcode takes… READ THE REST
How coronavirus restrictions inadvertently lead to mass surveillance
Mashable has a great new piece — in video, and in text — about the intersections between COVID-19 restrictions and surveillance-style privacy invasions. The reporting by Tulika Bose and Jack Morse is smart and nuanced enough that it doesn't veer into anti-masker conspiracy theories, and rather, takes a rational skeptic's approach to the potential abuses… READ THE REST
Become a machine learning aficionado with this training bundle
In the past few days, the U.S. Air Force rolled out new tools fueled by machine learning to help stem the spread of misinformation about COVID. Additionally, the Library of Congress has launched a project on how to use machine learning to better cross-reference all 170 million items in its overflowing archives. Every day, we… READ THE REST
This portable USB charger can get an Apple Watch back to full power on the go
The Apple Watch is a great addition to any tech arsenal–until it runs out of juice, that is. Then, you have to go about the process of recharging. Of course, the Apple Watch only recharges via wireless charging, meaning it can sometimes end up being pretty inconvenient to power up, especially if you're out and… READ THE REST
28 essential items you'll need to survive this winter
We've probably all been holding our breath about this for a while. And now that it's here, we can start getting used to the idea that this winter will be unlike any before it. With COVID's impact on the holidays, we're all expecting some big changes this time around. However, Mother Nature isn't really all… READ THE REST