It has become increasingly conventional to open a workshop or conference with an acknowledgment of the country, as an appropriate gesture of recognition for the traditional owners of the land hosting the event. During and post-pandemic, with the prevalence of virtual events, it is quite likely that someone, somewhere, will be connecting from land no longer “belonging” (in a purely base, legalistic sense) to the traditional keepers. Therefore, the acknowledgment of the country serves a significant purpose in raising awareness and drawing attention to a deep injustice that persists to this day, with the hope that it will one day be redressed [1]. An honest appraisal of history, and an understanding of where wealth was extracted and privilege established, is an important prerequisite to establishing a more equitable world, as opposed to fabricating a “war on woke” on those that have the temerity to challenge an orthodox, white-washed account of colonial exploitation, oppression or atrocities (see [2], [3]). [...] Source: The Digital Transformation and Modern Indentured Servitude | IEEE Technology and Society
Representativeness and face-ism: Gender bias in image search | New Media & Society
Implicit and explicit gender biases in media representations of individuals have long existed. Women are less likely to be represented in gender-neutral media content (representation bias), and their face-to-body ratio in images is often lower (face-ism bias). In this article, we look at representativeness and face-ism in search engine image results. We systematically queried four search engines (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex) from three locations, using two browsers and in two waves, with gender-neutral (person, intelligent person) and gendered (woman, intelligent woman, man, intelligent man) terminology, accessing the top 100 image results. We employed automatic identification for the individual’s gender expression (female/male) and the calculation of the face-to-body ratio of individuals depicted. We find that, as in other forms of media, search engine images perpetuate biases to the detriment of women, confirming the existence of the representation and face-ism biases. In-depth algorithmic debiasing with a specific focus on gender bias is overdue. Source: Representativeness and face-ism: Gender bias in image search | New Media & Society
Microsoft Plans to Eliminate Face Analysis Tools in Push for ‘Responsible A.I.’ | The New York Times
The technology giant will stop offering automated tools that predict a person’s gender, age and emotional state and will restrict the use of its facial recognition tool. For years, activists and academics have been raising concerns that facial analysis software that claims to be able to identify a person’s age, gender and emotional state can be biased, unreliable or invasive — and shouldn’t be sold. Acknowledging some of those criticisms, Microsoft said on Tuesday that it planned to remove those features from its artificial intelligence service for detecting, analyzing and recognizing faces. They will stop being available to new users this week, and will be phased out for existing users within the year. The changes are part of a push by Microsoft for tighter controls of its artificial intelligence products. After a two-year review, a team at Microsoft has developed a “Responsible AI Standard,” a 27-page document that sets out requirements for A.I. systems to ensure they are not going to have a harmful impact on society. [...] Source: Microsoft Plans to Eliminate Face Analysis Tools in Push for ‘Responsible A.I.’ – The New York Times
Fascist Fashion: How Mainstream Businesses Enable the Sale of Far-Right Merchandise | Bellingcat
Fascist fashion items can help promote and provide funds for extremist groups. In some instances, it appears, their sale relies upon key services provided by prominent businesses that have policies against promoting racist organisations and hateful content. [...] Source: Fascist Fashion: How Mainstream Businesses Enable the Sale of Far-Right Merchandise – bellingcat
Russia Is Taking Over Ukraine’s Internet | WIRED
Russia is also trying to control mobile connections. In recent weeks, a mysterious new mobile company has popped up in Kherson. Images show blank SIM cards—totally white with no branding—being sold. Little is known about the SIM cards; however, the mobile network appears to use the Russian +7 prefix at the start of a number. Videos reportedly show crowds of citizens gathering to collect the SIM cards. “The Russian forces realize they're at a disadvantage if they keep using Ukrainian mobile networks,” says Cathal Mc Daid, the chief technology officer at mobile security company Enea AdaptiveMobile Security. The company has seen two separatist mobile operators in Donetsk and Luhansk expanding the territory they are covering to newly occupied areas. Who controls the internet matters. While most countries place only limited restrictions on the websites people can view, a handful of authoritarian nations—including China, North Korea, and Russia, severely limit what people can access. [...] Source: Russia Is Taking Over Ukraine’s Internet | WIRED
Government-sponsored repression launched across borders leaves democracies struggling to respond – Coda Story
There was a time when dissidents or independent journalists could find safety across national borders when faced with persecution by state agents. But exile is not what it used to be, and authoritarian governments are not deterred in the same ways they once were. What was once a brazen act, like attacking a dissident living in a faraway country, has become commonplace. And the tools available to repressive governments have been transformed to include tactics like deportation, surveillance, abuse of multilateral institutions, detention, or digital harassment. An umbrella term has emerged to describe how governments are locating their citizens across national borders: “transnational repression.” In a recent example in the United States, as a federal indictment outlined, the government of Iran targeted Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, coercing her relatives and using surveillance tactics to attempt to kidnap and transport her to a country that would cooperate with her extradition to Iran. In another recent case, a U.S. citizen was arrested on charges of spying on Uyghur and Tibetan activists with the aim of silencing their criticism of the Chinese government. Transnational repression has been especially trained on Uyghurs and journalists. [...] Source: Government-sponsored repression launched across borders leaves democracies struggling to respond – Coda Story
Individual and collective coping with racial discrimination: What drives social media activism among Asian Americans during the COVID-19 outbreak | New Media & Society
What drives racial minorities to partake in social media activism for racial justice? Answers to this question are vital and urgent, particularly in view of growing anti-Asian hate crimes amid the current pandemic. Motivated to address this question, we draw insights from the transactional model of stress and coping, the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS), and social media activism literature. We propose an integrative model that delineates the psychological antecedents and processes leading Asian Americans to cope with racial discrimination and engage in social media activism. Results of an online survey among 400 Asian Americans supported the proposed model, highlighting a perception-motivation-coping-activism effect chain. Our study advances the three bodies of literature—coping, STOPS, and social media activism—in the context of racial discrimination concerning an understudied minority group: Asian Americans. It also renders meaningful insights to organizations, groups, and governments that seek to support this community. Source: Individual and collective coping with racial discrimination: What drives social media activism among Asian Americans during the COVID-19 outbreak – Weiting Tao, Jo-Yun Li, Yeunjae Lee, Mu He, 2022
Tech Talk: Data Brokers — Talking Tech w/ Greg Nojeim & Dhanaraj Thakur | Center for Democracy and Technology
CDT’s Tech Talk is a podcast where we dish on tech and Internet policy, while also explaining what these policies mean to our daily lives. You can find Tech Talk on Spotify, SoundCloud, iTunes, and Google Podcasts, as well as Stitcher and TuneIn. We have another exciting show for you this week! CDT recently released a report, Legal Loopholes and Data for Dollars, exploring the data broker ecosystem, which is estimated to be worth about $200 billion dollars , and examining how law enforcement- and intelligence agencies have been evading legal requirements by purchasing data from brokers. Here to talk about this report and what can be done to prevent the illegal sale of sensitive information is Greg Nojeim Senior Counsel and Director of the CDT Security and Surveillance Project, and Dhanaraj Thakur, Research Director for CDT. Source: Tech Talk: Data Brokers — Talking Tech w/ Greg Nojeim & Dhanaraj Thakur – Center for Democracy and Technology
Public Agencies’ Use of Biometrics to Prevent Fraud and Abuse: Risks and Alternatives – Center for Democracy and Technology
One unexpected consequence of the COVID pandemic has been to accelerate public agencies’ reliance on biometric technology to verify identities. The pandemic increased the number of people seeking and qualifying for benefits and led to an expansion of benefits available in order to offer assistance to those struggling with the wave of job loss and other economic and social difficulties. These expanded benefits also led to a significant increase in attempted fraud, both of traditional individual fraudulent actors and of organized crime and nation-state actors engaging in large-scale fraud. The issue of fraud in pandemic-related benefits even drew the attention of the Biden administration, which released a fact sheet on steps to combat fraud and identity theft in connection with pandemic relief programs. Additionally, the increase in benefits led to challenges in delivering services in an efficient way, as existing systems were not designed for the volume of applicants. This led to long wait times for individuals looking to receive benefits. [...] Source: Public Agencies’ Use of Biometrics to Prevent Fraud and Abuse: Risks and Alternatives – Center for Democracy and Technology
Google Urged to Stop Tracking Location Data Ahead of Roe Reversal | WIRED
More than 40 Democratic members of Congress called on Google to stop collecting and retaining customer location data that prosecutors could use to identify women who obtain abortions. "[W]e are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google's current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care. That's because Google stores historical location information about hundreds of millions of smartphone users, which it routinely shares with government agencies," Democrats wrote Tuesday in a letter led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). The letter was sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Specifically, Google should stop collecting "unnecessary customer location data" or "any non-aggregate location data about individual customers, whether in identifiable or anonymized form. Google cannot allow its online advertising-focused digital infrastructure to be weaponized against women," lawmakers wrote. They also told Google that people who use iPhones "have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions Americans using Android devices." [...] Source: Google Urged to Stop Tracking Location Data Ahead of Roe Reversal | WIRED