Category: police

Amazon’s data request portal for police is visible on the web

[ad_1] Investigators need logins for non-urgent requests. However, they only need to “declare and acknowledge” that they’re officers if there’s an emergency. We wouldn’t expect this to be widely abused (you could easily face legal trouble), but it’s theoretically possible to misuse the system. We’ve asked Amazon for comment, although it hadn’t responded to TechCrunch […]

The LAPD has used facial recognition software 30,000 times since 2009

[ad_1] For years, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) hasn’t given a clear answer on whether it uses facial recognition in its policing work. That changed this week. On Monday, the agency told The Los Angeles Times it has used the technology nearly 30,000 times since late 2009.  The LAPD uses the Los Angeles County Regional Identification […]

New York City says it will reassess police use of facial recognition

[ad_1] “Those standards need to be reassessed,” the mayor went on to say. “That’s something I will do with my team and the NYPD.” The question came after NYPD admitted it had used facial recognition to investigate activist Derrick Ingram. Ingram had allegedly used a bullhorn during a June protest to shout into an officer’s ear. Police […]

A security breach opened up access to a genealogy site’s DNA profiles

[ad_1] According to Verogen, the company that recently purchased GEDmatch, no user data was downloaded or compromised. But two days later, the genealogy website MyHeritage alerted users to a phishing scheme that targeted people who used both MyHeritage and GEDmatch. In a statement posted online, the company said it suspects the attackers may have gleaned […]

FBI reportedly uses a travel company’s data for worldwide surveillance

[ad_1] The travel data has also been used to catch people like alleged card scam site operator Alexei Burkov, according to Forbes. Sabre hadn’t responded to requests for comment, while Kher’s counsel and the Justice Department declined comment. Sabre isn’t the only travel data giant (Amadeus and Travelport are the other two), and it has […]

Facial recognition linked to a second wrongful arrest by Detroit police

[ad_1] The perpetrator, who was recorded in footage captured on a phone, doesn’t look like Oliver. For one thing, he has tattoos on his arms, and there aren’t any visible on the person in the video. When Oliver’s attorney took photos of him to the victim and an assistant prosecutor, they agreed Oliver had been […]

European police hacked encrypted phones used by thousands of criminals

[ad_1] Law enforcement agencies began collecting data from Encrochat on April 1st. According to the BBC, the encryption code was likely cracked in early March. It’s not clear exactly how officials hacked the platform, which is now shut down. It’s not unusual for criminals to communicate via encrypted apps and devices. In 2018, the FBI […]

Boston bans police and city use of facial recognition software

[ad_1] The ban comes after software called DataWorks Plus and human error led to the wrongful arrest of a Black man in Detroit. Police arrested Robert Williams after the software incorrectly matched his driver’s license photo to security footage from the scene of a burglary. The incident is the first known instance of a wrongful […]

False facial recognition match leads to a wrongful arrest in Detroit

[ad_1] Many critics of police facial recognition use warn of the potential for racial bias that leads to false arrests, and unfortunately that appears to have happened. The ACLU has filed a complaint against Detroit police for the wrongful arrest of Robert Williams when a DataWorks Plus facial recognition system incorrectly matched security footage against […]

Epic removed police cars from ‘Fortnite’

[ad_1] The broader game industry has endorsed the Black Lives Matter cause, including a message in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and temporary shutdowns of GTA Online and Red Dead Online. Epic appears to be taking a milder approach with Fortnite, acknowledging the outrage without explicitly advocating for a cause. The company previously stressed that […]