Month: November 2019

The New York City Automated Decision Systems Task Force released their final report this week. Some members of the task force took to Twitter after its release to raise concerns about some of the viewpoints underrepresented in the report. This summer the AI Now institute published comments from many of the committee members on the report.

Senate Democratic leaders released a set of privacy principles and high-level guidelines for potential future legislation.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear Oracle v. Google, the multibillion-dollar copyright case on whether the interfaces in the Java programming language are fair use.

Researchers at the Duke Kunshan University have released a dataset for use in training machine learning systems to detect violence.

(Compiled by Student Fellow David Stein.)

According to the Intercept, the NYPD maintained until very recently a fingerprint database gathered from people charged as juveniles, in violation of state law.

Microsoft has announced that it will extend California’s privacy protections under the new California Consumer Privacy Act to the rest of the United States.

Following a Wall Street Journal article which revealed “Project Nightingale”, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) announced that it has partnered with Ascension, the second largest healthcare system in the United States. This will provide the company access to the health information of millions of patients across 21 states. In response, the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services initiated an investigation to ensure that the partnership is in compliance with HIPAA. There is similarly a question as to the implications this partnership would have for Google’s plans to acquire FitBit.

A Federal District Court in Massachusetts ruled earlier this week that searches of electronic devices at the border without reasonable suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment.

A recent New York Times opinion piece offered the idea of a public option in AI to facilitate competitive entrance to the market.

The New York Times reported on the Trump administration’s push for new rules that will limit the scientific research the EPA can use to determine public health regulations. In particular, the article details “a new draft of the Environmental Protection Agency proposal, titled Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science, [which] would require that scientists disclose all of their raw data, including confidential medical records, before the agency could consider an academic study’s conclusions.” This measure would significantly impact regulation which is based on research results gathered from, for example, health records subject to confidentiality agreements. The draft, if it is adopted, could also apply retroactively to regulation currently in place.

Manual Override, an exhibit currently showing at the Shed at Hudson Yards, showcases works by artists engaging with and critiquing emerging technology.

(Compiled by student fellow Stav Zeitouni)

Chair of the Federal Election Commission Ellen L. Weintraub published an opinion piece in Washington Post in response to twitter’s ban of political ads. Instead of a total ban, the Commissioner argues for a strategy that would focus on preventing microtargeting.

PRG member Albert Cahn published two new op-eds. In an NBC News piece, Dr. Cahn examines privacy impact of electronic monitoring — a class of body-worn devices that are increasingly used to replace prison confinement as well as accompany bail and probation releases. Dr. Cahn’s recent Daily News article discusses a recent move by NYPD to give commissioner discretion on releasing body camera footage to the public.

IBM has put out a proposal for federal regulation of Facial Recognition technology, echoing similar calls from Microsoft, Amazon, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The document introduces a differentiation between Detection, Authentication, and Matching as types of Facial Recognition tasks. The proposal advocates against blanket bans on the technology, citing possible benefits. 

Democratic Reps. Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren introduced a new Online Privacy Act that would establish an agency to enforce user privacy laws.

The New York Times addresses legal implication ensuing from a sweeping warrant granted to a police officer for searching the full GEDmatch database with over a million users. 

An agency hired by Google reportedly sent its contractors to target the homeless people in Atlanta as part of an effort to collect more racially diverse facial scans.

(Compiled by Student Fellow Margarita Boyarskaya)

On Oct 24, Two U.S. senators have reintroduced legislation to stop U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s growing practice of searching or seizing travelers’ electronic devices at U.S. ports of entry, including land borders and airports. (Law360)

Germany’s government commission published a set of recommendations for how data and algorithmic development should happen in the age of artificial intelligence. (U.S. News)

After suing NSO for exploiting 1,400 WhatsApp users, Facebook deleted the accounts of NSO Group workers. (Wall Street Journal) (Arstechnica)

As a government agency seeks approval of a facial recognition system, it says one use for it could be verifying the age of people who want to view pornography online. (NY Times)

Seventy percent of campaign websites reviewed in an audit failed to meet security and privacy best practices, according to the 2020 U.S. Presidential Campaign Audit by the Online Trust Alliance (OTA). (Security Magazine)

(Compiled by Student Fellow Grace Huang)