African governments, large corporates, and tech entrepreneurs have embraced the West’s vision of a universal identity system. With support from the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) programme, governments across Africa have foisted elaborate and expensive biometric ID schemes on citizens and residents with little pushback from civil society. Both the World Bank and digital … Read more
More than 1.4 million residents of Illinois started receiving checks for up to $397, as compensation for a $650 million class action lawsuit settled against Facebook. According to plaintiffs, the social media platform illegally used facial recognition data — gathered without consent — to prompt users to tag their friends in photos.
Mastercard is rolling out a controversial programme that will allow shoppers to pay at the till with a mere smile or wave of the hand, as it tries to secure a slice of the $18bn (£14.4bn) biometrics market.While face recognition technology has long raised eyebrows among civil rights groups, the payments giant said it was … Read more
Google’s Advanced Technology and Products division has spent the past year exploring how computers can use radar to understand our needs or intentions and then react to us appropriately. Radar’s electromagnetic waves pick up precise gestures and movements by which the technology itself cane take a few more cues from us.
Aldi has opened its first checkout-free store, which allows customers to complete their shopping without scanning a single product, or having to go through a checkout. To enter the ALDI supermarket in London, customers must first install the Aldi Shop&Go app and create a corresponding account. Access to the supermarket can be obtained via the … Read more
UK privacy regulator ICO plans to fine facial recognition company Clearview AI €20 million for violating UK privacy law. Clearview collected photos from Facebook, LinkedIn and other websites for training a facial recognition system. This system contains a database of ten billion collected images, according to the ICO. This allows police services to identify unknown … Read more
In its latest ambitious digital policy announcement, the European Union has proposed creating a framework for a “trusted and secure European e-ID” (aka digital identity) — available to all citizens, residents and businesses to make it easer to use a national digital identity to prove who they are in order to access public sector or … Read more
The European Parliament wants a permanent ban on the use of automated facial recognition in public areas and at border crossings. Parliament also wants a ban on private facial recognition databases, social scoring systems of citizens and behavioral data-based ‘predictive policing’. A resolution calling for this was passed with 377 votes in favour, 248 against … Read more