Category: Artificial Intelligence

Denmark helps the USA to spy on Merkle via undersea comms cable

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Business, Communications, Countries, Data Management & Networks, Digital Systems Technology, Europe, Government, Regulation News, Technology, USA

Denmark is not the first country you would usually think of when naming countries likely to be involved in underhand spying affairs, but recent revelations prove otherwise. The nation’s sweet image as one of our friendlier Scandanavian countries with happy people and high standards of living has been abruptly smashed in the global media sphere this week. Recent reports have accused Denmark of collaborating with the United States of America (USA) in order to help spy on European leaders, specifically Germany’s Angela Merkel. 

The National Security Agency (NSA) of the USA is well known for its meddling in spying, politics and international affairs. Edward Snowden famously revealed leaks that proved the NSA was spying on American citizens via their mobile phones and computer microphones and webcams. The story broke and left Snowden being persecuted continually by the NSA to this day. In its goal to ‘defend vital networks’ and ‘save lives’, the NSA takes action through proactive moves to monitor political leaders around the world and follow international geopolitical affairs. 

France and Germany are just some of the bigger European countries to come out and demand answers from Denmark as to the claims made on Danish Public Television in late May 2021. The broadcast focused on the report, commissioned in 2013, that was to investigate Denmark’s role in NSA monitoring of phone calls and other media from Merkle and other European leaders. The report says Denmark acted as an outpost for the US, from which they could wiretap their chosen subjects. It accuses the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) of collaborating with the US based NSA. 
The NSA used cables running under the Danish sea to wiretap the phones of those included in their investigations. The risk of ill-favoured public opinion for the moves seems to have been worth the risk by the Danish authorities, who are believed to prize the political cooperation of the US global power more than the affections of European citizens.

Tom Cruise deep fake goes viral

Artificial Intelligence, Communications, Social Media

Tom Cruise has surprised everyone by going viral online recently – most of all Tom Cruise himself! In a bizarre twist of events, videos of the famous celebrity acting star emerged of him perfecting his golf swing, telling strange stories and even doing magic tricks. And yet it turned out to be a hoax! The videos all came from a single TikTok account playfully called @deeptomcruise, which turned out to be a project set up to raise awareness for the potential of deep fakes. 

Deep fakes have been around in technology since the early 1990s and the beginning of computers. Deepfakes as we know them now however have only begun to expand their reach in the last few years. It wasn’t until 2018 even that deep fake technology moved away from its previous focus on the face and into translating full body movements. 

It was a manipulation of Jimmy Falon’s 2016 Donald Trump sketch on NBC’s The Tonight Show in 2019 when deep fakes really came to the public’s attention. In the original short video clip, the host is seen dressed and acting as Trump in the sketch, while in the 2019 version, digital manipulation has made the whole scene far more convincing. 

Speculation around deep fakes has for a long time suggested we should fear its possibilities for manipulation. Many worry about the implications for fake news and alternative truths that could infiltrate the depths of the internet as a result, all in a time before we are quite sure how to regulate such things. So far however, most deep fakes have been used to subjugate women further with slut shaming and revenge porn. 

The creator of this latest deep fake however says he thinks there is not so much to worry about yet. For right now at least there is a significant skill set and technological understanding necessary to make such convincing fakes.

Pre-symptomatic data from smartwatches hailed as future virus protection

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, General, Health, Politics, Software, Technology, Technology News

Smartwatches have been touted as a future way to identify COVID-19 patients before testing from pre-symptomatic data. Devices such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit smartwatches have been labelled as a potential future warning system for detecting if people have become infected by viruses such as COVID-19 – before even a test would. 

The digitised watches are essentially simply very small computers taking on the form of a watch. Simpler devices such as the Fitbit are closed system items that focus solely on collecting biometric data from their wearer. Apple Watches and other similar brands are more complex, often including phone data, updates on notifications and graphics for their users. 

Wearable smartwatches such as the Fitbit as well as other brands such as Garmin, gather biometrics information on their users which is then used to let them know if they are keeping up with their fitness goals. Information collected can include activities such as exercise measured from the number of steps you take, distance travelled and active minutes. Other data could be focused on how much sleep the user is getting and when they are entering specific sleep stages. Females are also able to record menstrual health data, whilst those interested in weight loss can keep track of their calories burned for the day. 

Smartwatches such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit have the benefit of measuring user data over long periods of time, making it possible for them to identify unusual inputs in the data such as temperature or heart rate, which could be suggestions of an infection. With pre-symptomatic identification of sick patients potential, it could be possible to isolate and prepare treatment for those infected prior to any testing result. 

With global numbers of newly infected cases and deaths from the coronavirus, hopes for ways into the new normal are well received on the global stage. Only time will tell if there can be a technological way forward out of the pandemic that could aid other further spread prevention measures such as vaccination.

CCTV facial recognition and the Hong Kong protests

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Digital Systems Technology, Internet of Things (IoT)

August 24 marked another long day of clashes in Hong Kong between police and protestors.

The nearly three-month long protests generally choose their location based on certain problematic aspects of Hong Kong’s relationship with China. 

That day, the focus opposed police digital surveillance tactics, specifically the city’s installation of ‘smart lampposts’; street lights that come equipped with cameras and sensors. Hong Kong authorities insist the lampposts are only used to monitor weather, traffic, and air quality. 

Police and protestors on Aug 24

After riot police forcibly dispersed an initial gathering of tens of thousands of Hong Kong citizens, groups of protestors broke off and regrouped in different neighborhoods. Several smart lamps were pulled down, dismantled, and occasionally kicked. Police fired projectiles, released tear gas, and wielded batons and riot gear while charging lines of protestors.

Facial recognition already common

Various facial recognition technologies and devices are already common across Hong Kong. They unlock mobile devices, confirm identities at ATMS, and identify individuals in photos based on their social media profile.

Suspicions of increased mainland monitoring

The renewed concern of protestors directly relates to the catalyst for the entire protest movement: the extradition bill that sought to allow Hong Kong citizens to be tried by the mainland Chinese judiciary system.

The general public simply does not trust the new cameras, many of them developed and sold by Chinese companies, to innocuously report weather and traffic data. 

China obviously wants the ability to extradite Hong Kong citizens for crimes committed outside of the mainland. A video surveillance network in which Chinese authorities can monitor individual Hong Kong citizens is a clear path towards building cases against political targets that could facilitate a case for extradition. 

Apple to suspend Siri ‘grading program’ that allows contractors to hear private user info

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Mobile Security

Recently the Guardian reported that, thanks to “Siri,” Apple contractors have access to private conversations and personal information. This includes medical information, criminal behavior and even the sound of people have sex.

According to the report:

“Although Apple does not explicitly disclose it in its consumer-facing privacy documentation, a small proportion of Siri recordings are passed on to contractors working for the company around the world. They are tasked with grading the responses on a variety of factors, including whether the activation of the voice assistant was deliberate or accidental, whether the query was something Siri could be expected to help with and whether Siri’s response was appropriate.”

In other words, whether Apple intended it or not, Siri serves as a covert surveillance tool. Apple stated for the record that the private data “is used to help Siri and dictation … understand you better and recognize what you say.” That, of course, doesn’t change the fact that Apple users’ most private information is being recorded and listened to by strangers.

Unsurprisingly, the Guardian story lit up the internet and Apple found itself defending a frankly indefensible policy. Seeing, owing to a significant backlash, that it is indeed indefensible, Apple has reportedly suspended the program.

“Apple says it will review the process that it uses, called grading, to determine whether Siri is hearing queries correctly, or being invoked by mistake,” TechCrunch reports. “In addition, it will be issuing a software update in the future that will let Siri users choose whether they participate in the grading process or not.”

I’m sure this update will transparently spell out what precisely the “grading process” entails so that users can make a truly informed decision. It definitely won’t be misleading or opaque at all, and there definitely won’t be any fine print …

Here’s the standard issue corporate mumbo jumbo from Apple:

“We are committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy. While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally. Additionally, as part of a future software update, users will have the ability to choose to participate in grading.”

Talk to Siri at your own risk. Or, you know, use the keyboard.