This week, we begin with an article on Clearview AI, a secretive start-up that extracted billions of photos from the public internet to build a facial recognition tool. Next, we analyse how data centre operators can transition to 100 percent renewable energy. The following article addresses how companies can quietly redirect your text messages to hackers for only $16. Then we look at why artificial intelligence, by design, could exclude and push the LGBTQ community to the sidelines. Next is a piece on the State of California banning the use of dark patterns – the tricks used on websites and applications to make you do things that you otherwise didn’t intend to, like buying or signing up for something. Finally, we have a video about Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC), what they are, how they operate and how they thrive in the IPO marketplace.
Your Face Is Not Your Own
In May 2019, an agent at the Department of Homeland Security received a trove of unsettling images. Found by Yahoo in a Syrian user’s account, the photos seemed to document the sexual abuse of a young girl. One showed a man with his head reclined on a pillow, gazing directly at the camera. The man appeared to be white, with brown hair and a goatee, but it was hard to really make him out; the photo was grainy, the angle a bit oblique.
How data center operators can transition to renewable energy
Transitioning to renewable energy use is an important, but not easily achieved, goal. Although the past decade has seen significant improvements in IT energy efficiency, there are indications that this may not continue. Moore’s Law may be slowing, more people are coming online, and internet traffic is growing faster than ever before. As energy consumption increases, data center operators will need to transition to 100 percent renewable energy use 100 percent of the time.
Companies can silently reroute your texts to hackers, sometimes for just $16
There’s a newly discovered attack on SMS messaging that’s almost invisible to victims, and seemingly sanctioned by the telecom industry, uncovered in a report by Motherboard. The attack uses text-messaging management services that are aimed at businesses to silently redirect text messages from a victim to hackers, giving them access to any two-factor codes or login links that are sent via text message.
Why Artificial Intelligence Will Always Fail LGBTQ People
Artificial Intelligence is going to change our world, that’s inevitable. But in what way it changes our world is still up to us. And for LGBTQ people, often marginalised by traditional systems, we need to be wary of how AI could filter us out. Because if we don’t it could tell our story incorrectly, and leave us behind, as the technology expands.
California bans ‘dark patterns’ that trick users into giving away their personal data
If you’ve ever struggled through a maze of online customer service to cancel a subscription or delete an account, you’ve likely encountered “dark patterns” — user interfaces that are designed to trick and frustrate users. The concept was coined in 2010 but is slowly being addressed in US legislation, with California this week announcing that it is banning the use of dark patterns that stop users from opting out of the sale of their personal data.
What is a SPAC? | CNBC Explains
Despite a shaky reputation, special purpose acquisition companies are among the hottest stocks of 2020. CNBC’s Nessa Anwar explains why investors are buying into these blank-check companies.
Source: https://mailchi.mp/zigram/data-asset-weekly-dispatch_22_march_3
