News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

UK Govt Quietly Backs Facial Recognition Tech to Supposedly Stop Theft

British government officials reportedly drew up a secret scheme to put pressure on privacy regulators to allow private businesses to be allowed to use facial recognition cameras in a supposed push to crack down on crime.

A report from The Observer revealed that in a backroom meeting on March 8th, policing minister Chris Philp and top Home Office officials met with the facial recognition camera manufacturer Facewatch to come up with a plan to lobby the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to allow high street shops, supermarkets, and other stores to be able to deploy facial recognition tech to deter shoplifting and other crimes.

The minutes of the meeting, which were provided to the sister paper of The Guardian, showed that Philp and Facewatch founder Simon Gordon talked about “retail crime and the benefits of privately owned facial recognition technology” and sought to make reduce privacy protections to allow shops to utilise the technology. Philp was also said to be considering “a speech to bring the benefits of FR [facial recognition] to the fore”.

Defending the utility of the dystopian tech, Gordon told the paper: “We provide each individual business with a service that will reduce crime in their stores and make their staff safer.

“Every store has 10 to 20 people who just constantly steal from that store. And the store knows who they are. They’ve been preventing theft for years – this isn’t a new thing. All this is doing is using new technology to stop it.
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The advocacy manager of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, Mark Johnson said: “The Home Office must urgently answer questions about this meeting, which appears to have led officials to lean on the ICO in order to favour a firm that sells highly invasive facial recognition technology.

“Government ministers should strive to protect human rights, not cosy up to private companies whose products pose serious threats to civil liberties in the UK.”

Facebook Blocks News Stories in Canada over Big Media Bailout Bill

Engadget reports that Facebook has begun blocking news content in Canada, a decision that will affect both domestic and international news organizations. Starting August 1 users in the country will no longer be able to view or share news links or see videos and photos posted by publishers and broadcasters. The change is expected to take a few weeks to be fully implemented across the country.

According to a Facebook statement, “News links and content posted by news publishers and broadcasters in Canada will no longer be viewable by people in Canada. We are identifying news outlets based on legislative definitions and guidance from the Online News Act.” The decision also extends to content shared by international news organizations, making them invisible on Facebook and Instagram in Canada.

The move comes in response to the Canadian legislators passing the Online News Act, a law that requires platforms like Facebook and Instagram to negotiate revenue-sharing agreements with news organizations. The legislation aims to address the collapse in advertising revenue that news outlets have struggled with over the last two decades, a problem exacerbated by the growth of online services.
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The CBC has highlighted that Facebook and Google together account for approximately 80 percent of digital advertising revenue. In a related move, Google has also announced plans to stop users in Canada from accessing links to news stories across several of its products in response to the legislation.

Facebook’s Creepy Recording Ray-Ban Sunglasses Flop with Users

The Wall Street Journal reports that less than 10 percent of the Ray-Ban Stories smart sunglasses that have been purchased since their September 2021 introduction have been actively utilized by owners, signaling a failure for Facebook’s ambitious foray into the field of smart glasses. Although the company sold 300,000 wearables by the end of February, only approximately 27,000 people used them on a regular basis.

The Ray-Ban smart glasses, which allow users to take photos and listen to music with the frames of their glasses, have faced a series of challenges. According to a company document from February, the device has experienced a 13 percent return rate. According to the WSJ, the top drivers of poor user experience were “issues with connectivity, problems with some of the hardware features including battery life, inability for users to import media from the devices, issues with the audio on the product and problems with voice commands for the smart glasses.”

Despite the initial setbacks, Facebook (now known as Meta) is not backing down. The company is planning to release the second generation of its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses either in the fall or next spring. The new version is expected to come with improved battery life and better cameras, and will be available on more models of Ray-Ban’s frames.

The company’s Reality Labs division, responsible for the Ray-Ban Stories, has accumulated an operating loss of nearly $8 billion in the first six months of 2023. However, Facebook executives see the sunglasses as a predecessor to augmented-reality glasses, which they hope to release in the coming years.

Feds Investigate Elon Musk’s Tesla
over Steering Wheels that Freeze Up

The Verge reports that claims of loss of steering control in Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles are being investigated by the NHTSA, potentially affecting about 280,000 vehicles. The investigation comes after the NHTSA received 12 complaints alleging loss of steering control and power steering in the vehicles.

Five individuals filed complaints alleging an inability to steer the vehicle, while seven others reported a loss of power resulting in steering difficulties. One complaint detailed the situation, stating, “Vehicle steering lost power steering and the steering is stuck in straight position only while driving. Vehicle can travel only straight line forward or backward and cannot turn. Powering off and on did not help resolve the issue. Had to get the car towed to Tesla service.”

This is not the first time Tesla has come under scrutiny for vehicle defects. The company is currently subject to several other defect investigations, including one looking into reports that steering wheels on Model Y SUVs have fallen off while the vehicle was being driven. Additionally, NHTSA has received over 800 reports of “phantom braking” problems, leading Tesla to issue an over-the-air software update to 1.1 million vehicles in China in response to a braking and acceleration problem.

Although the latest investigation is over hardware problems, Tesla’s “self driving” technology has more than its own share of problems. Internal leaks have revealed the astonishing extent crashes related to Musk’s “Autopilot.”

Comrade Elon’s Slump: Tesla’s July Sales in China Crater 31%

Teslarati reports that recent data reveals that the sales for Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai-made vehicles in July 2023 represents a 31.38 percent decline from the 93,680 vehicles sold in June 2023, making it the lowest monthly result for Tesla China this year.

The report also provided a detailed overview of Tesla China’s figures for the year, listing 66,051 for January, 74,402 for February, 88,869 for March, 75,842 for April, 77,695 for May, and a a high water mark of 93,680 cars sold for June. Cumulatively, Tesla China has sold 540,824 Giga Shanghai-made vehicles from January to July 2023, marking a 67.45 percent improvement year-over-year.

China-based BYD, which leads the country in sales of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), posted a 61 percent year-over-year increase to 261,105 vehicles in July 2023, 18,169 of which were exported to foreign territories.

Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai, the electric vehicle maker’s largest factory by volume, currently has an estimated annual output of over 750,000 vehicles. This figure surpasses the estimated annual capacity of 650,000 vehicles at Tesla’s Fremont Factory, the company’s oldest plant.

Biden White House Wanted Facebook to ‘Change the Algorithm’
Boost New York Times Content over Right-Wing Media

In the latest round of disclosures, which Rep. Jordan is calling “The Facebook Files,” Biden White House digital strategy director Rob Flaherty can be seen suggesting Facebook change its algorithm to promote corporate establishment media including The New York Times over competitors, including Tomi Lahren and the Daily Wire.
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“If you were to change the algorithm so that people were more likely to see NYT, WSJ, any authoritative news source over Daily Wire, Tomi Lahren, polarizing people,” said Flaherty. “You wouldn’t have a mechanism to check the material impact?”

This is the latest release in Rep. Jordan’s Facebook Files, a cache of communications between Facebook and the Biden White House which were only obtained after the Judiciary Committee brought considerable pressure to bear on the tech company, including a threat to hold Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress.

It’s not the first time that Flaherty’s name has come up. More emails between Biden’s point man on digital strategy and Facebook officials have been released through Missouri v. Biden, showing Flaherty pressuring Facebook to spy on and censor users on WhatsApp, a supposedly encrypted private messaging platform.
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In an email to Facebook officials disclosed through the lawsuit, Flaherty asked how Facebook could prevent “misinformation” on WhatsApp if they couldn’t see people’s messages.
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In another email, Flaherty tore into Facebook for not reducing the spread of “vaccine-skeptical” content.

Claiming Fake News, Russia Fines Apple $4,400
For Not Taking Down Ukraine War Content

A justice of the peace in a magistrate’s court, which handles administrative violations and low-level criminal cases, found Apple guilty of failing to delete podcasts and apps that spread false information about the conflict, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has enacted an array of measures to punish any criticism or questioning of the military campaign.

Some critics have received severe punishments. Opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced this year to 25 years in prison for treason stemming from speeches he made against Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

China Limits Export of Drones That Could Be Used for ‘Non-Peaceful Purposes’ in Ukraine

Beijing said it was concerned with the “increasing risk” that its drones could be used for “non-peaceful purposes” in the Ukraine war.

“The risk of some high-specification and high-performance civilian unmanned aerial vehicles being converted to military use is constantly increasing,” the Ministry of Commerce said in its statement Monday.

The ministry noted that “since the crisis in Ukraine, some Chinese civilian drone companies have voluntarily suspended their operations in conflict areas.”

The Ministry of Commerce walked a tightrope between preserving its close partnership with Russia and insisting it has remained absolutely neutral in the Ukraine conflict. The statement angrily rejected last week’s U.S. intelligence report that said China has surreptitiously shipped “more than $12 million in drones and drone parts to Russia” during the war.

“The moderate expansion of drone control by China this time is an important measure to demonstrate the responsibility of a responsible major country,” the statement said.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, export restrictions will be imposed on drones that can fly beyond line-of-sight from their operators, stay aloft for more than 30 minutes, or carry payloads that can be dropped.

China’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday quoted drone manufacturers insisting they have never designed any military products and “strongly opposes” the use of their drones for non-peaceful purposes, so the new export restrictions should not affect their business at all.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce insisted that the export controls “do not target any country or region,” and were only a modest expansion of existing policies that should allow Chinese manufacturers to “still export their products for legitimate civilian uses after following the necessary procedures.”
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The Global Times uncritically relayed Russia’s claim that “25 Ukrainian drones tried to attack Crimea on Sunday night,” and that Ukraine deliberately launched a missile against Russian “civilian infrastructure” on July 28.