Free Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Feb 17, 2019

On  @SamHarrisOrg said:
"Welcome to the panopticon...
China becomes an episode of Black Mirror"
and shared this article:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-18/china-social-credit-a-model-citizen-in-a-digital-dictatorship/10200278

to which my response was:
"Give it 5-10 years, then we'll have it too, but with better marketing, but effectively similar.
IIRC Eindhoven has a system (in pilot?) 'similar' as shown in the head picture (Person of Interest style) ... for a snitch city project. Fighting crime and/or terrorism will be used too"

Leave no dark corner

Dandan Fan's every move will soon be watched and judged by her government, and she's happy about that. "Social credit" will unite Big Brother and big data to coerce more than a billion people.

ABC News
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Feb 19, 2019

It looks like (especially) Barcelona and Amsterdam at least have some sensible approach wrt 'smart cities':
https://decorrespondent.nl/8977/zo-voorkomen-we-dat-onze-steden-veranderen-in-laboratoria-voor-techbedrijven/130639713578-4459edc3
(dutch)

Toronto OTOH, holy shit.
https://theintercept.com/2018/11/13/google-quayside-toronto-smart-city/

“The genesis of the thinking for Sidewalk Labs came from Google’s founders getting excited thinking of ‘all the things you could do if someone would just give us a city and put us in charge’” - Eric Schmidt

Toronto is getting everything you'd expect when you collaborate with Google:
a dystopian nightmare

Zo voorkomen we dat onze steden veranderen in laboratoria voor techbedrijven

In Amsterdam en Barcelona wordt een nieuw soort slimme stad gebouwd. Een waar burgers – niet de techbedrijven – aan zet zijn.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉

Came to that article from The Intercept from https://theintercept.com/2019/01/28/google-alphabet-sidewalk-labs-replica-cellphone-data/ which was linked in the article from De Correspondent.

"No Google data is used." claims Bowden from Sidewalk Labs
Further down the article:
"data is sourced from 'Android Phones and Google apps.'" and "based off of Google data."
Who would've thought Google is lying ...

Relevance for this thread:
'Smart Cities' is better marketing.

If you're not careful like Barcelona & Amsterdam, you'll get your panopticon.

Google’s Sidewalk Labs Plans to Package and Sell Location Data on Millions of Cellphones

Google's sibling company Sidewalk Labs offers planning agencies the ability to model an entire city's patterns of movement.

Feb 19, 2019 at 5:26pmWeb
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Feb 24, 2019

https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/amazon-teams-government-deploy-dangerous-new

"With Rekognition*, a government can now build a system to automate the identification and tracking of anyone. If police body cameras, for example, were outfitted with facial recognition, devices intended for officer transparency and accountability would further transform into surveillance machines aimed at the public."

police body cameras for officer transparency and accountability = better marketing

* Amazon service for facial recognition.

Amazon Teams Up With Government to Deploy Dangerous New Facial Recognition Technology

Amazon, which got its start selling books and still bills itself as “Earth’s most customer-centric company,” has officially entered the surveillance business. The company has developed a powerful and dangerous new facial recognition system and is actively helping governments deploy it. Amazon calls the service “Rekognition.” 

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Feb 24, 2019

That blog post is linked from https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/jeff-bezos-protests-the-invasion-of-his-privacy-as-amazon-builds-a-sprawling-surveillance-state-for-everyone-else/

"In a separate advisory, the ACLU said of this face-recognition software that Amazon’s “marketing materials read like a user manual for the type of authoritarian surveillance you can currently see in China.”"

Well, this is a surprise ... it turns out I was way too optimistic with my 5-10 years 😕

Lots of Americans seem to love Amazon and Jeff Bezos as he is a self-made billionaire.
Mass surveillance is indeed quite lucrative :-(

Jeff Bezos Protests the Invasion of His Privacy, as Amazon Builds a Sprawling Surveillance State for Everyone Else

One of the world's greatest privacy invaders just had his privacy invaded.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 10, 2019

Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff emailed out the company’s new mission:
use consumer electronics to fight crime.
“We are going to war with anyone that wants to harm a neighborhood”

Ring is a company now owned by Amazon.

https://theintercept.com/2019/02/14/amazon-ring-police-surveillance/

"Ring products come with access to a social app called Neighbors that allows customers to not just to keep tabs on their own property, but also to share information about suspicious-looking individuals and alleged criminality with the rest of the block."

Amazon’s Home Surveillance Chief Declared War on “Dirtbag Criminals” as Company Got Closer to Police

Video and internal emails show how Amazon's Ring has blurred line between private innovation and public law enforcement.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 10, 2019

“The Neighbors App is the new neighborhood watch that brings your community together to help create safer neighborhoods”

That's better marketing for you.

"A Ring video that appears to have been produced for police reveals that the company has gone out of its way to build a bespoke portal for law enforcement officers who want access to the enormous volume of residential surveillance footage generated by customers’ cameras."

This site is called the Ring Neighborhoods Portal

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 10, 2019

"Not only does this portal allow police to view Ring customers on a handy, Google-powered map, but it also makes requesting customer surveillance video a matter of several clicks."

"Police can select the homes they’re interested in, and Ring takes it from there, creating an auto-generated form letter that prompts users to provide access to their footage."

Technically, you can deny that request ...

“the portal blurs the line between corporate and government surveillance”

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 10, 2019

I wonder what you can do if you would combine Rekognition with Ring products ...

Wonder no more. Amazon has already filed a patent which combines those 2 technologies.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/amazons-disturbing-plan-add-face-surveillance-yo-0

"Amazon is dreaming of a dangerous future, with its technology at the center of a massive decentralized surveillance network, running real-time facial recognition on members of the public using cameras installed in people’s doorbells."

Given the 3rd party doctrine, this is scary as hell 😮

Amazon’s Disturbing Plan to Add Face Surveillance to Your Front Door

Recently, a patent application from Amazon became public that would pair face surveillance — like Rekognition, the product that the company is aggressively marketing to police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — with Ring, a doorbell camera company that Amazon bought earlier this year.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 10, 2019

On https://twitter.com/ring you can see a whole lot of feel-good videos made by Ring's products.

Great marketing.

It also shows you in various posts how much of the neighborhood is being monitored. Constantly.
And cameras which watch the inside of people's house.

I thought Amazon's Echo/Alexa was bad...

To quote  escottkey1

"I'm making the point that surrendering your privacy to corporate surveillance devices isn't being treated as seriously as it should be."

Ring (@ring) | Twitter

Die neuesten Tweets von Ring (@ring). Simple, proactive whole home security. Bringing homeowners peace of mind since 2012. #AlwaysHome. Santa Monica, CA

Twitter
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 11, 2019

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/these-documents-reveal-the-governments-detailed-plan-for

“CBP is solving a security challenge by adding a convenience for travelers”

That's better marketing.

h/t  ChristopherA

This one is good too:
“By partnering with airports and airlines to provide a secure stand-alone system that works quickly and reliably, which they will integrate into their boarding process, CBP does not have to rebuild everything from the ground up as *we drive innovation across the travel experience*.”
(emphasis mine)

The US Government Will Be Scanning Your Face At 20 Top Airports, Documents Show

“This is opening the door to an extraordinarily more intrusive and granular level of government control.”

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 23, 2019

https://theintercept.com/2019/03/20/rodrigo-duterte-ibm-surveillance/

“further enhance public safety operations in the city”

That's better marketing.

Let's not forget that 'public safety operations' in Duterte's mind is killing everyone you don't like, without trial of course.

"IBM’s installation, known as the Intelligent Operations Center, promised to enhance authorities’ ability to monitor residents in real time with cutting-edge video analytics, multichannel communications technology, and GPS-enabled patrol vehicles."

Inside the Video Surveillance Program IBM Built for Philippine Strongman Rodrigo Duterte

Law enforcement in Davao City familiar with the IBM program said the technology had assisted them in carrying out Duterte’s controversial anti-crime agenda.

The Intercept
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 23, 2019

IBM is also involved with the NYPD "to keep this city safe"

https://theintercept.com/2018/09/06/nypd-surveillance-camera-skin-tone-search/

"IBM’s first major urban video surveillance project was with the Chicago Police Department and began around 2005"

"By 2012, according to the internal IBM documents, researchers were testing out the video analytics software on the bodies and faces of New Yorkers, capturing and archiving their physical data as they walked in public or passed through subway turnstiles."

IBM Used NYPD Surveillance Footage to Develop Technology That Lets Police Search by Skin Color

New York City served as IBM’s “primary testing area” for developing software that enables police to search surveillance video footage for skin color.

The Intercept
Show threadSosthène the ZealotMar 23, 2019
@FreePietje wow, I didn't know they had exprimented this early in the US. Looks like there's really not much difference with China at this point.
I wonder what's the situation in Europe, could it be that our relative backwardness will preserve us a little longer from this kind of shit?
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 24, 2019

@Sosthene It either started or massively accelerated (my guess) in 2001 as then the mantra became 'with any means necessary'.
In the article NDAs are mentioned as 'safeguards'. Safeguards from the public finding out that is :-/

In the early days, 'progress' was hampered by technology: low quality cameras, low CPU power and bandwidth to transport all those video streams.
That no longer applies.
Are you familiar with a TV series 'Hunted'? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunted_(2015_TV_series)
(since 2016 in .nl; 2018 in .fr)

Hunted (2015 TV series) - Wikipedia

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 24, 2019

@Sosthene
I find that absolutely amazing ... and scary as hell.
It gives you a glance at what is currently possible.
Conclusion: if you can manage to stay off the grid entirely, thus give up any sense of a normal life, you have a chance of not getting caught. A Dutch marine managed to do that and won the first (Dutch) season. Another marine did get caught in another season.

The only thing holding it back is policy in which .eu has an advantage. But for how long?
I'm not optimistic about that.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 24, 2019

China already has what I think CBP wants to achieve:

https://twitter.com/mbrennanchina/status/1109741811310837760
(it's on archive.org but so far the video doesn't load here, which is important)

"Wow! China Airport face recognition systems to help you check your flight status and find the way to your gate. Note I did not input anything, it accurately identified my full flight information from my face!"

Some respond "hell no!"
Others:

Matthew Brennan on Twitter

“Wow! China Airport face recognition systems to help you check your flight status and find the way to your gate. Note I did not input anything, it accurately identified my full flight information from my face! https://t.co/5ASdrwA7wj”

Twitter
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Jun 11, 2019

“CBP is solving a security challenge by adding a convenience for travelers”

Yeah. About that. Oepsie.
CBP didn't solve a security challenge, but created another one.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/10/us-customs-border-protection-says-photos-travelers-into-out-country-were-recently-taken-data-breach/

(source: https://twitter.com/geoffreyfowler/status/1138176279222444032)

Who could've possibly predicted that?
So if you could be so kind to get a new face (and renew all the documents that contained your old one), that'd be great.

- The Washington Post

Show threadkekcoinJun 12, 2019

@FreePietje The advantage of rampant data collection and security breaches leaking said data combined with the ever-accelerating machine-learning generation of indistinguishable-from-real footage using said data is that there will be mandate to move away from using such clearly unreliable methods of authentication.

Oh who am I kidding, the people who vacuum up the government budgets to build said systems will conveniently neglect to mention that.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Apr 12, 2019

NYT made a visualization of the above (but they forgot to add Rekognition into the mix):
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/10/opinion/internet-data-privacy.html

I like their title:
"It's time to panic about privacy"

Opinion | It’s Time to Panic About Privacy

We claim to want it, companies claim to provide it, but we all just accept that, well, you have no privacy online.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Jun 21, 2019

Amazon was recently granted a patent that they, without irony, label "Surveillance as a Service", in which their delivery drones get a 'secondary' task of surveillance.

home security = better marketing

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18700451/amason-delivery-drone-surveillance-home-security-system-patent-application

I'm glad to see some notice a rather disturbing trend as well: https://qz.com/1648875/amazon-receives-us-patent-for-surveillance-as-a-service/

OTOH, others feel it's important to point out that not all patents become reality and that Amazon's drones are not yet operational.
While true, I still call those imbeciles.

Amazon patents ‘surveillance as a service’ tech for its delivery drones

Amazon has patented a piece of “surveillance as a service” technology that would see its delivery drones used for a home security service between package deliveries. The patent was filed back in June 2015.

The Verge
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Jun 21, 2019
Inspiration for this came from https://twitter.com/KimZetter/status/1141769068158083072
Kim Zetter on Twitter

“Amazon is becoming the new Panopticon. This isn't just surveillance of the homes that want it, but of their neighbors, too. And this would create another dataset - like Amazon Echo - for law enforcement and lawyers to obtain. https://t.co/VtzImuuSYc”

Twitter
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Jun 25, 2019

"Americans aghast by reports of China’s use of 'social credit scores' to determine a citizen’s 'trustworthiness' are mostly unaware that many U.S. businesses are already using strikingly similar creations"

"encompasses tactics used by employers and landlords to deny applicants jobs and housing, respectively"

“That American corporations are mimicking the actions of an authoritarian government to score and treat consumers differently is disturbing”

https://gizmodo.com/the-surveillance-scores-companies-use-to-rip-you-off-mi-1835812385

ThisIsFine.jpg

The 'Surveillance Scores' Companies Use to Rip You Off Might Be Totally Illegal

The next time you go to buy toilet paper online, an algorithm may decide to charge you $5 more than your neighbor. You’d probably never know. But even if you did, there’s no way for you to find out why.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Oct 8, 2019

I so wish I didn't see this coming :-/
https://mastodon.social/@torproject/102927113306066491

Ring has recently began (afaik, I don't watch a lot of tv) advertising in The Netherlands. It made me sick as I'm absolutely sure of their horrible intend. I doubt anyone else (besides ppl on here) cares about it 😢

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Dec 1, 2019

Headline is crap "Police catches teenagers thanks to smart doorbell", but the comments contain a wealth of information wrt #privacy and those doorbells/cameras installed by private individuals:
https://tweakers.net/nieuws/160418/politie-pakt-jongens-op-dankzij-beelden-slimme-deurbel.html

It's all in #Dutch though.

The article also contains a link to https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2019/03/28/digitale-deurbel-maakt-straten-veiliger

Yep, that's an article on our national government's website, titled
"Digital doorbell makes streets safer"

That's better marketing for you :-/

So not just ads, but active implementation :-(

Show threadhtimSxelAOct 8, 2019
@FreePietje ugh, I agree it’s no surprise, it’s just following the current ad-driven internet meta. This is a pretty egregious and potent example of privacy erosion though :(
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Jan 29, 2020

Amazon engineer Max Eliaser on Ring, an Amazon company:

"The deployment of connected home security cameras that allow footage to be queried centrally are simply not compatible with a free society. The privacy issues are not fixable with regulation and there is no balance that can be struck. Ring should be shut down immediately and not brought back."

source: https://medium.com/@amazonemployeesclimatejustice/amazon-employees-share-our-views-on-company-business-f5abcdea849

Amazon Employees Share Our Views on Company Business

“Amazon participates in the global economy, where it has a substantial impact on many issues. Expecting its employees to maintain silence…

Show threadSteven RooseJan 31, 2020
@FreePietje Thanks for the find. I hope the general public will find back its respect for privacy in the near future. It will be needed.
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Feb 1, 2020
@stevenroose I hope so too.
I really do wonder what more is needed for people to realize that they really should care and change their (purchasing) behavior accordingly.
All I see now is indifference and hopelessness.
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 5, 2020

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/02/citizen-app/

"The app’s description:
'Keep Your Community Safe: Report incidents right when they happen to protect the people around you.'”

That's better marketing.

"User-powered crime reporting has been rife with racism, panic, and concerns users might bring about personal harm — issues not just for Citizen’s predecessor app Vigilante but also for platforms like Amazon’s Ring ... and Nextdoor,"

h/t https://mastodon.social/@torproject/103771100032707071

Citizen App Again Lets Users Report Crimes — and Experts See Big Risks

The revived video feature could foment racism, increase invasive surveillance, and stoke panic, the experts say.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Mar 5, 2020

"'apps like Citizen can increase fear of crime even as crime rates hit historic lows across the country', said Sarah Lustbader of The Appeal, a publication focused on criminal justice.
'It makes people afraid enough to feel like they need it, but it also, it seems to me, reduces your quality of life because it just makes you fearful all the time,' That fear, in turn, 'could exacerbate tensions and maybe even create more actual harm between people.'"

The same is true for Ring's products.

Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Aug 9, 2022

#Amazon keeps on building a/their dystopian future, now with robot vacuum cleaners:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-05/amazon-s-irobot-deal-is-about-roomba-s-data-collection

"... the real value resides in those robots’ ability to map your house. As ever with Amazon, it’s all about the data."

#CoolAndNormal

Amazon’s Roomba Deal Is Really About Mapping Your Home

In buying iRobot, the e-commerce titan gets a data collection machine that comes with a vacuum.

Bloomberg
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Aug 22, 2022

Nice to see The Atlantic being critical about #Amazon.

Learned about it through this toot, which I completely agree with:
https://social.platypush.tech/@blacklight/108860664455538233

Fabio Manganiello (@[email protected])

By simply taking over the company that makes the most popular product in the industry, #Amazon can buy its way 5o the top and grow its monopoly without actually having to out-innovate and out-compete its rivals. Amazon represents everything that is wrong with today's rotten, degenerate and decadent #capitalism where healthy competition and wide choice for the customer has been replaced by a few monopolies that have grown even more powerful than governments and regulators. And it's good that even traditionally liberal news outlets like the Atlantic are acknowledging the problem. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/amazon-roomba-irobot-acquisition-monopoly/671145/?utm_source=feed

Mastodon
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Dec 6, 2019

"Technically, you can deny that request ..."

Ring got you covered, or more accurately, got the police covered:
https://mastodon.social/@torproject/103261414179907895

Reminds me of "The cloud is just someone else's computer" 🤔

Normally I like decentralization, but not when it comes to spying, where normal people contribute to a global surveillance system. I assume it's unknowingly, but that's what better/deceptive marketing does to you/society.

And now you know why I toot-ed so much about Ring (and Amazon)

Show threadSosthène the ZealotFeb 19, 2019
@FreePietje just wait next time they'll come back with a better marketing
Show threadFree Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Feb 19, 2019
@Sosthene haha, yeah. He probably assumed he would be able to get away with it. Troubling thing is, that he usually indeed would have.
The Intercept (and De Correspondent) tend to do some actual journalistic work instead of just copy-n-pasta a press release.