The 4th Amendment Is Not For Sale, CA ALPR Data, And New EU AI Regs
Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition) Issue 23
T👁️p 3 St👁️ries 👁️f the Week
Policy: Lawmakers propose ban on police buying access to Clearview AI and other data brokers
“A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed banning police from buying access to user data from data brokers, including ones that illegitimately obtained their records — like, its sponsors say, the facial recognition service Clearview AI.
The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act is sponsored by a bipartisan group including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and 18 other members of the Senate. The bill would make law enforcement agencies obtain a court order before accessing people’s personal information through third-party brokers — companies that aggregate and sell information like detailed user location data, surreptitiously gathered from smartphone apps or other sources.” [The Verge]
Watching the Watchers: Data-Driven 2: California Dragnet- New Data Sets Shows Scale of Vehicle Surveillance in the Golden State
“Today, EFF is releasing Data Driven 2: California Dragnet, a new public records collection and data set that shines light on the massive amount of vehicle surveillance conducted by police in California using automated license plate readers (ALPRs)—and how very little of this surveillance is actually relevant to an active public safety interest.” [EFF]
Policy: What to know about the EU's facial recognition regulation – and how to comply
“The European Commission's (EC) proposed Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulation – a much-awaited piece of legislation – is out. While this text must still go through consultations within the EU before its adoption, the proposal already provides a good sense of how the EU considers the development of AI within the years to come: by following a risk-based approach to regulation.
Among the identified risks, remote biometric systems, which include Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), are a central concern of the drafted proposal.” [World Economic Forum, see also The Verge, Wall Street Journal, WIRED}
City Watch
Cameroon - Bafoussam partners with CAMTEL to become the first smart city in Cameroon [Business In Cameroon]
Los Angeles, LA U.S. - 3 key investments in LA Mayor Garcetti’s proposed ‘justice budget’ [Smart Cities Dive]
New York, NY, U.S. - NYC Ends Subway Camera Test After Learning Of Supplier's Link To Chinese Government, Facial Recognition Work [Jalopnik]
Sacramento, CA, U.S. - Sacramento to transform historic train station into people-first mobility hub [Smart Cities Dive]
Singapore - Facial recognition tech in Selarang Park Complex facilitates inmates’ movement [The Straits Times]
Various U.S. Cities - Biden Infrastructure Plan Boosts Broadband and a Lot More [Government Technology]
Various Global Cities - Planet Smart city - a community-first approach to PropTech? [Tech HQ]
Various Global Cities - Smart cities to fuel growth of Asia-Pacific IoT market [Smart Cities World]
Washington, DC, U.S. (Update) - FBI used facial recognition to identify a Capitol rioter from his girlfriend’s Instagram posts [The Verge]
Market Watch
Legal
Mobility: Security News This Week: Signal’s Founder Hacked a Notorious Phone-Cracking Device [WIRED]
Patents/New Tech:
Mobility:
Other:
Public-Private Partnerships
Biometrics: For Vaccine Passports, Less Tech Is Best [NY Times]
Other: How A Chinese Surveillance Broker Became Oracle’s ‘Partner Of The Year’ [The Intercept]
Purchasing Trends
Biometrics:
Banks Turn to Monitoring Technology for Surveillance [MyTechDecisions]
US firms said using Israeli tech for controversial facial recognition [The Times of Israel]
Policy Watch
China - A Professor, a Zoo, and the Future of Facial Recognition in China [Sixthtone]
China - China Pushing Explicitly-Biased Facial Recognition Standards And Local Tech Companies Are Pitching In To Help [TechDirt]
Florida, U.S. - Florida House of Representatives Passes Florida Privacy Protection Act [EPIC]
North Carolina, U.S. - North Carolina lawmakers want to give police even more power to track your phone without a warrant [News & Observer via JTDL]
Texas, U.S. - Texas Department Seeks Second Cyber Insurance Policy [Government Technology]
U.S. Federal - FTC warns it could crack down on biased AI [The Verge, see also EPIC]
U.S. Federal - U.S. Lawmakers Pressure DOJ Over Funding of Predictive Policing Tools [Gizmodo]
Vancouver, Canada - Vancouver Police Drafting Facial Recognition Policy [Find Biometrics, see also Castanet]
Various Global Cities - Facial recognition - Austrian regulations v European approach? [Lexology]
Various Global Cities - How Face Recognition Can Destroy Anonymity [WIRED]
Various Global Cities - Let’s Not Regulate A.I. Out of Existence [OneZero]
Various Global Cities - Not All Tech Regulatory Desires Are Equal: And We Should Stop Pretending They Are [TechDirt]
Various U.S. Cities - The Public Should Have Access to the Surveillance Court’s Opinions [ACLU]
Various U.S. Cities - U.S. Lawmakers Pressure DOJ Over Funding of Predictive Policing Tools [Gizmodo via JTDL]
Waterville, ME, U.S. - Waterville City Council to consider ban on facial recognition software [Press Herald]
Watching the Watchers Watch
California, U.S. (Update) - California County Sheriff Tried Out Facial Recognition Tools [Government Technology]
Various Global Cities - Hunting for Stingrays—the police surveillance tool, not the animal. [Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons via JTDL]
Various U.S. Cities - Inside the rise of real-time police department crime centers [MIT Tech Review via JTDL]
Various U.S. Cities (Update) - Law Enforcement Officials Confirm Clearview’s Facial Recognition Tech Is Mostly Useless [Techdirt]
Various U.S. Cities - Record the Police [Gizmodo]
Various U.S. Cities - You have the right to film police, here's how to do it [Washington Post via JTDL]
Bonus Section…Pets to Watch and Reunite With
🐶🐱: Facial Recognition Technology to Reunite Pets With Owners in Toledo, Charleston, and San Antonio
Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition) documents trends in the surveillance of public space. Curated by Rebecca Williams and Madeleine Smith as part of smart city surveillance research for the Technology and Public Purpose Project at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center.