The Prometheus League
Breaking News and Updates
- Abolition Of Work
- Ai
- Alt-right
- Alternative Medicine
- Antifa
- Artificial General Intelligence
- Artificial Intelligence
- Artificial Super Intelligence
- Ascension
- Astronomy
- Atheism
- Atheist
- Atlas Shrugged
- Automation
- Ayn Rand
- Bahamas
- Bankruptcy
- Basic Income Guarantee
- Big Tech
- Bitcoin
- Black Lives Matter
- Blackjack
- Boca Chica Texas
- Brexit
- Caribbean
- Casino
- Casino Affiliate
- Cbd Oil
- Censorship
- Cf
- Chess Engines
- Childfree
- Cloning
- Cloud Computing
- Conscious Evolution
- Corona Virus
- Cosmic Heaven
- Covid-19
- Cryonics
- Cryptocurrency
- Cyberpunk
- Darwinism
- Democrat
- Designer Babies
- DNA
- Donald Trump
- Eczema
- Elon Musk
- Entheogens
- Ethical Egoism
- Eugenic Concepts
- Eugenics
- Euthanasia
- Evolution
- Extropian
- Extropianism
- Extropy
- Fake News
- Federalism
- Federalist
- Fifth Amendment
- Fifth Amendment
- Financial Independence
- First Amendment
- Fiscal Freedom
- Food Supplements
- Fourth Amendment
- Fourth Amendment
- Free Speech
- Freedom
- Freedom of Speech
- Futurism
- Futurist
- Gambling
- Gene Medicine
- Genetic Engineering
- Genome
- Germ Warfare
- Golden Rule
- Government Oppression
- Hedonism
- High Seas
- History
- Hubble Telescope
- Human Genetic Engineering
- Human Genetics
- Human Immortality
- Human Longevity
- Illuminati
- Immortality
- Immortality Medicine
- Intentional Communities
- Jacinda Ardern
- Jitsi
- Jordan Peterson
- Las Vegas
- Liberal
- Libertarian
- Libertarianism
- Liberty
- Life Extension
- Macau
- Marie Byrd Land
- Mars
- Mars Colonization
- Mars Colony
- Memetics
- Micronations
- Mind Uploading
- Minerva Reefs
- Modern Satanism
- Moon Colonization
- Nanotech
- National Vanguard
- NATO
- Neo-eugenics
- Neurohacking
- Neurotechnology
- New Utopia
- New Zealand
- Nihilism
- Nootropics
- NSA
- Oceania
- Offshore
- Olympics
- Online Casino
- Online Gambling
- Pantheism
- Personal Empowerment
- Poker
- Political Correctness
- Politically Incorrect
- Polygamy
- Populism
- Post Human
- Post Humanism
- Posthuman
- Posthumanism
- Private Islands
- Progress
- Proud Boys
- Psoriasis
- Psychedelics
- Putin
- Quantum Computing
- Quantum Physics
- Rationalism
- Republican
- Resource Based Economy
- Robotics
- Rockall
- Ron Paul
- Roulette
- Russia
- Sealand
- Seasteading
- Second Amendment
- Second Amendment
- Seychelles
- Singularitarianism
- Singularity
- Socio-economic Collapse
- Space Exploration
- Space Station
- Space Travel
- Spacex
- Sports Betting
- Sportsbook
- Superintelligence
- Survivalism
- Talmud
- Technology
- Teilhard De Charden
- Terraforming Mars
- The Singularity
- Tms
- Tor Browser
- Trance
- Transhuman
- Transhuman News
- Transhumanism
- Transhumanist
- Transtopian
- Transtopianism
- Ukraine
- Uncategorized
- Vaping
- Victimless Crimes
- Virtual Reality
- Wage Slavery
- War On Drugs
- Waveland
- Ww3
- Yahoo
- Zeitgeist Movement
-
Prometheism
-
Forbidden Fruit
-
The Evolutionary Perspective
Category Archives: Technology
Ulrich spring exhibition explores the pros and cons of technology – Wichita State Sunflower
Posted: January 27, 2020 at 12:17 am
Emojis, vintage cartoons, paintings from inside machines and digitally distorted landscapes line the walls of the Ulrich Museum of Arts spring exhibition opening. The pieces span from the early 20th century to today, emphasising the idea that technologies have long been the subject of prophets-of-doom and utopianists alike.
This is a campus where technology is seen as an economic driver, the way of the future, Ulrich curator Ksenya Gursthein said. This artwork responds to that, sharing some of its ideals, but looking at it critically.
New York artist Zoe Beloffs installation explores technology constructed to manipulate emotions. Starting with World War I photographs used for military training, Beloff leads viewers to a series of commentaries on smart objects, like the Amazon Echo, which collect untold amounts of data from consumers to more effectively advertise.
Beloffs greatest achievement here is a powerpoint-esque parody of Silicon Valley optimism called internet of Things, or ioT. The video looks like something Innovation Campus visionaries watched in earnest when conceiving Braeburn Square as taking on a life similar to Bradley Fair, according to a Sunflower article in 2017.
Beloffs work is peppered with QR codes, which draw viewers into the work as they lean in to automatically bring up artist statements.
In one of these statements about a cartoonish cutout called Predator Drone, Beloff writes, The Predator drone is an extremely smart object designed to track and to kill people. But are not all the smart objects predators, preying on our desires only to take our money?
Predator Drone is particularly prescient, as drone strikes have been carried out by the U.S. Airforce from the Mcconnell Airforce Base in Wichita. The use of military drones is often criticized by journalists and human rights groups for causing untraceable civilian casualties and instilling a general sense of terror .
In Digital Palimpsest, Chicago-based educator and artist A.P. Vague, a WSU alumnus, looks at what happens when the tools we use to communicate in the digital era malfunction. The centerpiece is an audio-visual blend, with disparate sounds and rhythms interrupting each other, represented as warping waves projected on the wall.
This experiment is bracketed by a series of half destroyed, blown-up photographs, which vary from landscapes bathed in overwhelming light to the totally abstract.
At the heart of this work are questions about how we trust images, Gurshtein writes in the Digital Palimpsest pamphlet. These questions dont have easy or definitive answers.
The spring exhibitions focus on technology has an ongoing film series as well, curated by Beloff. The next showing, at 6 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 7, at The LUX, is a group of short films titled Its Gonna Blow Gadgets Go Mad.
Read the rest here:
Ulrich spring exhibition explores the pros and cons of technology - Wichita State Sunflower
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on Ulrich spring exhibition explores the pros and cons of technology – Wichita State Sunflower
Ask the Builder: Plumbing technology has come a long way – The Spokesman-Review
Posted: at 12:17 am
This is the first column in a series in which Id like to share with you how technology has helped improve building products. Ive worked in the residential construction industry for decades. In that time, Ive gotten a firsthand perspective on new products.
Not all of them have worked out so well, and sometimes it takes several permutations until a manufacturer gets it right. The same thing goes for techniques. Early in my career, I spent years taking apart 100-year-old houses and was able to see how the old-school craftsmen built.
Some of their methods are far better than the way things are done today. Ill share much of that with you in this series that will unfold as the year progresses.
Today Id like to dive into plumbing. Its a system that causes consternation with many consumers because repairs can be costly. You might imagine that not much has changed in plumbing, given that pipes and fixtures are pretty simple, but youd be wrong.
Lets start with simple advancements in drainage and water supply piping. Go back in time, and plumbers used cast iron, galvanized iron and copper for drain lines.
In rare instances, theyd have to use a lead pipe to make certain drains work. The old cast iron was susceptible to leaks and cracks because of how it was made. Galvanized iron pipes would corrode and start to choke off with deposits causing clogs.
Todays cast iron is spun cast and has a uniform wall thickness. You create leakproof joints in seconds with rubber gaskets and stainless-steel band clamps. Its the perfect material to use for vertical stacks in your home to prevent noise caused by water cascading down large-diameter vertical pipes.
The plastics industry exploded in the 1960s, and codes permitted plastic drainpipes. Plastic drain lines perform well; Ive installed miles of it. Not long ago, it experienced another technology jump when it was made lighter than the first-generation plastic. You can buy foam-core plastic drain pipe now.
Water supply lines many years ago were made using galvanized iron. These would suffer from corrosion and choke off, too. Copper became the standard, but here, too, plastic muscled its way into the marketplace. Imagine installing plastic water lines in a new home that have no joints or fittings.
Its installed much like an electric cable. Thats what I did at my daughters new home. The only joints are in the mechanical room at a distribution manifold and the shut-off valve under a sink or where the pipe connects to a shower or tub valve.
I installed all the water supply lines to four bathrooms, a kitchen and five outdoor hose bibs in less than four hours. Using traditional copper with hundreds of fittings, I might have gotten part of one bathroom done in that same amount of time.
Copper water lines also have seen tremendous technological advancements. In a recent column, I shared with you the new fittings that require no solder. You can create a leak-proof joint in less than five seconds using fittings that contain a rubber O-ring. You cant imagine how much time these save. The best part is you never have to wonder if a soldered joint will leak.
Accessory plumbing products also have seen changes. For years, the plumbing vent pipe flashing up on your roof has been made with a standard rubber that gets destroyed by the sun in just a few years and then starts to leak. You can now buy a vent-pipe flashing that has a superior siliconized rubber boot that might not be destroyed by the sun for five or more decades.
Water supply lines that connect sink faucets, toilet tanks and washing machines to the water supply have seen changes. Not very long ago, plumbers had to bend soft copper tubes to make connections. Washing machines used old rubber hoses. Now you as a DIYer can use flexible hoses protected by braided stainless steel wire to make leakproof connections in seconds.
Faucet manufacturers continue to make improvements with the cartridges that control the water flow when you turn a handle. I remember years ago having to change rubber washers inside faucets to stop drips.
It used to take skill to change a washer to stop a faucet leak. Now you can stop faucet drips without calling a plumber. With the plethora of how-to videos on the internet, you can switch out a faucet cartridge faster than you might read this column.
My advice to you, if using a brand-new product, is to read the installation instructions and be sure everything is being done correctly. Also, keep in mind that the first generation of new products might not have all the bugs worked out.
If youre installing a product thats going to be hidden behind walls or under slabs, think about using one that has been around for several years so you dont become a statistic. Go with proven technology in these situations.
Subscribe to Tim Carters free newsletter and listen to his podcast at askthebuilder.com.
See the article here:
Ask the Builder: Plumbing technology has come a long way - The Spokesman-Review
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on Ask the Builder: Plumbing technology has come a long way – The Spokesman-Review
Edwards sees both sides of technology – The Cross Timbers Gazette
Posted: at 12:17 am
Tyson Edwards
For Marcus High School senior Tyson Edwards, technology can be a double-edged sword.
A running back on the Marauders football team that reached the regional round of the playoffs this season as well as an AP student, Edwards said that technology has raised the expectations for todays youth.
The most difficult part about being a young person today is the pressure to achieve, especially with all the technological innovations that we have today, Edwards said. Not only are we supposed to be well-rounded individuals by playing sports and taking in extracurricular activities, but we are also supposed to maintain our grades and have extra time on top of that.
On the flip side of that, however, the Flower Mound teen said that technological advancement can be a great force for good.
As technology has advanced over time, I am able to interact and do a lot more things that teens werent able to do before, Edwards said. Society today brings a great sense of community and room for growth that I have been able to cherish
Edwards, 17, carries a 4.8 weighted grade point average at Marcus High School and said the best thing about his Alma Mater is sense of community.
The camaraderie I was able to build with my teammates and the relationships I was able to develop within my four years of high school is something that will last forever, Edwards said.
Edwards, who is also a member of the Black History Club and associated with a Christian organization called Young Life outside of school, plays baseball at Marcus High School as well.
The Highland Village teen said he also enjoys serving as coach of our schools powder puff team, and said he believes he is very fortunate to have grown up where he did.
Being a part of such a special community like Flower Mound opens doors for many great opportunities, Edwards said.
Edwards is undecided on where he will attend college, but said he plans to major in business or economics.
Edwards Favorites
Favorite Subject: Math
Person who most inspires you: Parents
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Movie: Mission Impossible
Favorite TV Show: Blacklist
Book Currently Reading or Last Book Read: 1984 by George Orwell
Favorite Musical Group or Performer: Youngboy
Nominate your favorite high school student for this monthly feature brought to you byTexas Health Presbyterian Hospital Flower Moundby emailing[emailprotected].
Here is the original post:
Edwards sees both sides of technology - The Cross Timbers Gazette
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on Edwards sees both sides of technology – The Cross Timbers Gazette
New technology transforms the beauty industry – Fort Wayne’s NBC
Posted: at 12:16 am
(NBC News) - The face of the cosmetic industry is changing, with new DIY devices that could let you skip a visit to the spa or salon.
"More brands are interested in making those advanced treatments accessible to at-home users, says Rio Viera-Newton with The Strategist.
Dyson, a company known for household appliances, is making waves with high-tech hair care
Dyson products like the Airwrap Styler use high pressure and high-velocity air instead of extreme heat, measuring airflow temperature 40 times per second to minimize damage to the hair.
Dyson also uses low-heat technology in its Supersonic Hairdryer. But these products have a hefty price tag of 400-dollars and up.
New technology is also taking skincare to the next level. The FOREO UFO is a $280 smart facial device with custom treatments.
After your facial, you can hide imperfections with Opt an inkjet printer for your skin. The handheld device treats and covers dark spots for a photoshop effect. The Opt comes out this summer for $600.
Like other new technology, the cost of those gadgets is expected to come down as more competitors enter the market.
Read more: HERE
See the original post here:
New technology transforms the beauty industry - Fort Wayne's NBC
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on New technology transforms the beauty industry – Fort Wayne’s NBC
How This Father-And-Son Team Invented St. Louis’ Latest Smart Technology – St. Louis Public Radio
Posted: at 12:16 am
The streets of downtown St. Louis are looking brighter and more energy efficient thanks to technology developed by Hazelwood-based Labyrinth Technologies. The local company developed a custom lighting solution as part of a$4 million Downtown STL Inc. projectto brand downtown and improve public safety.
On Fridays St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske learned more about Downtown STLs process of upgrading the streetlights throughout 360 square blocks. Once completed, the project will have made St. Louis one of the largest smart cities in the U.S., second only to San Diego, according to Downtown STL.
Joining the discussion were Downtown STL CEO Missy Kelley and the father-and-son team that helped develop the smart technology: Ted Stegeman, CEO of Labyrinth Technologies, and his 23-year-old son, John, the companys chief technology officer.
The initiative includes the installation of more than 2,300 curved, colorful light strips with "smart technology. The system of different sensors that collect data is referred to as the Internet of Things and can be programmed to look like a rainbow, a waterfall, a lava flow, an American flag, or blue and gold for the Blues hockey team.
The light strips are more energy efficient compared to the current sodium-halogen lights and will eventually be capable of added features such as cameras, gunshot detectors, weather sensors and pedestrian counters. And, if a bulb goes out, the city will instantly know via its mesh network grid.
A robotics team initially influenced the infrastructure for the invention of the light strips. John Stegeman started a FIRST (for inspiration and recognition of science and technology) tech challenge team during his time at John Burroughs School. He honed his technology skills and eventually worked on a project at the St. Louis Science Center. There, he worked on a NASA exhibit, building and designing Mars rovers all before the age of 18.
That built a lot of the core technology and background more than anything for how [the smart city lights] would work, because that particular exhibit involves wireless communication, long-distance data stuff and communicating between computers, he said.
So when I was asked by my dad [how to make the lights work], because he needed someone to help figure out this project, [I used] some of the information from there to help build this technology.
Ted Stegeman added: We're sort of a techie family. So we grew up building things and doing those kind of experiences, and the kids just sort of followed right along with them."
Listen to the full conversation to learn more about what the smart lights are capable of, how they aim to improve public safety in the city and plans for spreading this technology elsewhere:
St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. The engineer is Aaron Doerr, and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.
Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org.
Read more here:
How This Father-And-Son Team Invented St. Louis' Latest Smart Technology - St. Louis Public Radio
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on How This Father-And-Son Team Invented St. Louis’ Latest Smart Technology – St. Louis Public Radio
New sanitary technology is available in WNC | Business – The Mountaineer
Posted: at 12:16 am
New sanitizing technology is available to local schools, medical facilities, office buildings and other commercial or residential needs through WNC Sterile Solutions, said business owner Brandon Firestine.
Firestine said his company has entered into an exclusive contract with a Florida-based company called Durisan to distribute and service Western North Carolina with a patented sanitizing solution that is water-based, organic, non-chemical and EPA-approved.
Our germicidal fogging solution kills 99.9 percent of all bacteria, viruses, and germs on contact, mechanically, not chemically, Firestine said. This sanitizing continues to protect for up to 30 days. There is no other product on the market today that mechanically kills, and provides ongoing protection.
Firestine said WNC Sterile Solutions, which is based out of Lake Junaluska, began providing the germicide to the community on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
To use a product that is people friendly, planet friendly and pet friendly is something the entire community can be proud of, Firestine said. While WNC Sterile Solutions is the exclusive service provider in all of WNC, we are currently focused on supporting Haywood County businesses and residents at this time.
For more information, go online to https://wncsterilesolutions.com.
Excerpt from:
New sanitary technology is available in WNC | Business - The Mountaineer
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on New sanitary technology is available in WNC | Business – The Mountaineer
Rules have to catch up with technology – Examiner Enterprise
Posted: at 12:16 am
Battery technolgy on an industrial scale that can supply instant power for consumers across entire regions of the country has arrived in Oklahoma. The technology presents new opportunities to supply reliable power to grids, but rules that will govern its future use still need to be developed.
Regulators are going to have to catch up with developers who are installing cutting-edge battery storage technology in Oklahoma to boost the amount of power available on the regions grid.
Developers of the Skeleton Creek project, which will go live in stages over the next two years, discussed that issue and other interesting facts about their plans as part of a renewable energy conference held this week in Oklahoma City.
Questions that must be resolved include defining how to establish nameplate capacities for battery storage projects and then how to use them to meet regional power demand needs that are ever-changing as more wind and solar capacity is added to grids.
Currently, natural gas-fired generating stations are a preferred way to supply that balancing power, but batteries could change that over time.
NextEra is building the Skeleton Creek project, expected to generate about 1.8 million megawatt hours of energy annually, in Garfield, Alfalfa and Major counties. When it opens, it will be the largest facility of its type in the world.
Its power will be bought by Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, which supplies energy to both the grid operated by the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and to 21 distributive cooperatives across Oklahoma and parts of New Mexico it serves.
In 2018, it generated about 6 million megawatt hours of power, while its customers consumed nearly 13 million megawatt hours during the same period. It sells power to and buys power from the SPPs open market.
The SPPs grid covers all or parts of 13 states between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River valley between the Red River on Oklahomas south border and the U.S./Canadian borders.
Phased deployment
Skeleton Creek will become operational in phases.
The first piece, Skeleton Creek Wind, will be able to generate 250 megawatts of energy when it comes online this year.
Skeleton Creek Solar will be able to generate 250 megawatts of energy. It will come online in 2023 along with Skeleton Creek Energy, which will have the ability to store and furnish 200 megawatts of energy for four hours on a full charge.
Currently, there are very few regulations that cover the battery technology. But Casey Moye, a project director with NextEra, and Phillip Schaeffer, the principal resource planning engineer with
Western Farmers, remarked the SPP found itself in similar circumstance when large-scale wind projects were just beginning to get built.
Over time, SPP and its members developed and adopted rules enabling the technology to effectively be implemented into the system, and both men said they expect the same will happen again.
For now, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued an order that requires the SPP and other regional grid operators to develop rules to define nameplate capacities for storage projects (an important issue, as investment tax credits that help make them affordable are tied to that number).
The question of how much capacity is appropriate for battery storage products is still being debated across much of the country, Schaeffer said, adding that questions about how it will be used still must be resolved.
Many grid operators would prefer to just turn on a natural gas plant when a need for more power exists and to not have to deal with a new technology.
Moye and Schaeffer discussed the Skeleton Creek project in a breakout session that was part of the annual energy conference hosted by the
Oklahoma Association of Energy Engineers and the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Council.
Renewables key
Participants in other breakout sessions during the conference gathered to talk about other renewable energy technologies and programs.
This years conference, titled 2020, enVISION the Future, was held this week in Oklahoma City.
Tom Korpal, president of the engineers association and a district energy services leader for Trane, a subsidiary of Ingersoll Rand, helped open the conference by telling how his company is working to address global climate change and how far it hopes to get in the next decade.
Things will be more complex in 2030, Korpal said, noting current projections estimate the middle class will continue to grow and that urbanization trends will continue.
To meet those needs, energy engineers will be increasingly turning to using renewable sources of power.
It is about how we can interconnect our networks and build cities of the future in a sustainable manner, he said.
Opening session attendees also heard from Matthew Ellis, part of a team that is building electric vehicle charging stations across the southwest for Francis Solar.
Ellis told how his company successfully built and deployed a network of more than 250 fast chargers at about 110 locations across Oklahoma during the past few years and its future plans.
Our goal is to replicate this across surrounding states, he said.
Read the original post:
Rules have to catch up with technology - Examiner Enterprise
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on Rules have to catch up with technology – Examiner Enterprise
Goodyear to launch bicycle tires with graphene technology – Graphene-Info
Posted: at 12:16 am
Famous tire and rubber company Goodyear has launched two new bicycle tyres, Eagle F1 and Eagle F1 Supersport utilizing graphene technology and weighing just 180g for a 23mm model.
The new Eagle F1 is an ultra-high-performance all-round road tire and the Eagle F1 Supersport, which is even lighter, is aimed at the upper echelons of competition and will be suited to road racing, time trial and triathlon where speed trumps all other requirements.
In the tire world, Vittoria has become well-known for adding the wonder material to its tires for several years, and Goodyear has followed suit with its new rubber compound.
Goodyear has developed a proprietary compound enhanced with graphene and next-generation amorphous (non-crystalline) spherical Silica to create what it labels Dynamic:GSR. The result of this is said to be a rubber that is able to deliver low rolling resistance, improved grip in the dry and wet and long-term durability.
The Eagle F1 comes in five width options from 23 to 32mm, while the Eagle F1 Supersport comes in three widths from 23 to 28mm.
To produce the new tire Goodyear has invested in its own factory in Taiwan and has developed a process that allows much greater control over the construction of the tire. It didnt share too many details, but it believes this enhanced precision contributes to significant weight savings.
Currently the new Eagle F1 and F1 Supersport are only available as clincher tube-type tires, but a tubeless tire is reportedly in the pipeline for a launch later this year.
The new tires will cost from 45 and be in shops in February.
Link:
Goodyear to launch bicycle tires with graphene technology - Graphene-Info
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on Goodyear to launch bicycle tires with graphene technology – Graphene-Info
Met police to begin using live facial recognition cameras in London – The Guardian
Posted: at 12:16 am
The Metropolitan police is to start using live facial recognition (LFR) cameras linked to powerful computers on Londons streets despite scepticism from experts over how efficient the system is and widespread concerns over civil liberties.
The Met rejected claims the scheme was a breathtaking assault on rights and claimed that 80% of people surveyed backed the move. It said the system would launch next month and would be aimed at catching serious criminals and tracking down missing persons.
However, some of its central claims came under fire from the expert it hired to scrutinise two years worth of trials. The Met said the system was 70% effective at spotting wanted suspects and falsely identified someone as wanted in one in a thousand cases. But Prof Pete Fussey an expert on surveillance from Essex University who conducted the only independent review of the Mets public trials on behalf on the force found it was verifiably accurate in just 19% of cases.
Fussey told The Guardian: I stand by our findings. I dont know how they get to 70%.
The Met said it would deploy the technology overtly and only after consulting communities in which it is to be used.
It said the cameras would be linked to a database of suspects uploaded using the latest intelligence. If the system detects someone who is not on the database, their information will be deleted in seconds. But if it generates an alert because the person is wanted, an officer will speak to them.
Using facial recognition linked to databases of suspects is potentially the next big leap for law enforcement, as big as the introduction of fingerprints, and police have been working on it for years. The security services are also hugely interested.
Nick Ephgrave, an assistant commissioner at the Met, said: As a modern police force, I believe that we have a duty to use new technologies to keep people safe in London. Independent research has shown that the public support us in this regard.
The Guardian understands the system is less effective at night-time and works best with good daylight. The Met said its system was less effective at scanning dense crowds.
The Met has made promises to the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, after an independent ethics review raised concerns over its earlier trials of facial recognition software. The system will not be linked to other official databases. It is not designed to allow the authorities to scan every corner of London or allow them to be confidently capable of tracking anyone down.
However, civil liberties groups immediately vowed to challenge the rollout in the courts, possibly before the Met can even deploy the system.
Silkie Carlo, the director of Big Brother Watch, called the move an enormous expansion of the surveillance state and a serious threat to civil liberties in the UK.
This is a breathtaking assault on our rights and we will challenge it, including by urgently considering next steps in our ongoing legal claim against the Met and the home secretary.
What is facial recognition?
This is a catch-all term for any technology that involves cataloguing and recognising human faces, typically by recording the unique ratios between an individuals facial features, such as eyes, nose and mouth.
Why is it in the news?
After a trial of the technology, London's Metropolitan police have said they willstart to use it in Londonwithin a month. On Friday, the force said it would be used to find suspects on watchlists for serious and violent crime, as well as to help find children and vulnerable people. Scotland Yard said the public would be aware of the surveillance, with the cameras being placed in open locations and officers handing out explanatory leaflets.
How is it used in policing?
The technology greatly improves the power of surveillance. At the simple end, a facial recognition system connected to a network of cameras can automatically track an individual as they move in and out of coverage, even if no other information is known about them. At the more complex end, a facial recognition system fuelled by a large database of labelled data can enable police to pinpoint a person of interest across a city of networked cameras.
Why is it controversial?
Facial recognition frequently sparks two distinct fears: that it will not work well enough, or that it will work too well.
The first concern highlights the fact that the technology, still in its infancy, is prone to false positives and false negatives, particularly when used with noisy imagery, such as that harvested from CCTV cameras installed years or decades ago. When that technology is used to arrest, convict or imprison people, on a possibly faulty basis, it can cause real harm. Worse, the errors are not evenly distributed; facial recognition systems have regularly been found to be inaccurate at identifying people with darker skin.
But the technology will improve, meaning the second concern is harder to shake. This is the fear that facial recognition inherently undermines freedom by enabling perfect surveillance of everyone, all the time. The fear is not hypothetical; already, Chinese cities have proudly used the technology to publicly shame citizens for jaywalking, or leaving the house in their pyjamas.
Alex HernTechnology editor
Allan Hogarth, from Amnesty International UK, said: The Mets decision to introduce facial recognition technology poses a huge threat to human rights.
This technology puts many human rights at risk, including the rights to privacy, non-discrimination, freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
This is no time to experiment with this powerful technology that is being used without adequate transparency, oversight and accountability.
Parliament has yet to bring in guidance balancing the potential security benefits of live facial recognition versus safeguards, which have been put in place for police use of fingerprints and DNA.
A spokesperson for the campaign group Liberty said: This is a dangerous, oppressive and completely unjustified move by the Met. Facial recognition technology gives the state unprecedented power to track and monitor any one of us, destroying our privacy and our free expression.
South Wales police already use live facial recognition. Last year, after a series of court cases, judges ruled in favour of the technology. The Met believe it paved the way for Fridays announcement, but a warning came from the office of the biometrics commissioner, Prof Paul Wiles: This is a step-change in the use of LFR by the UK police, given that the technology will be deployed fully operationally rather than on a trial basis.
Although the court found South Wales use of LFR to be consistent with the requirements of the Human Rights Act and data protection legislation, that judgment was specific to the particular circumstances in which South Wales police used their LFR system.
Ephgrave said the technology would not be used indiscriminately and that its initial use would be limited. The Met will begin operationally deploying LFR at locations where intelligence suggests we are most likely to locate serious offenders, he said. Each deployment will have a bespoke watch list, made up of images of wanted individuals, predominantly those wanted for serious and violent offences.
Khan endorsed the decision, but said it would be under constant review: New technology has a role in keeping Londoners safe, but its equally important that the Met are proportionate in the way it is deployed and are transparent about where and when it is used in order to retain the trust of all Londoners.
City Hall and the Ethics Panel will continue to monitor the use of facial recognition technology as part of their role in holding the Met to account.
The Labour mayor is up for re-election this year and is facing a challenge from the Liberal Democrats trying to outflank him from the left. They branded the scheme as Khans mass surveillance roll out.
Read this article:
Met police to begin using live facial recognition cameras in London - The Guardian
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on Met police to begin using live facial recognition cameras in London – The Guardian
The Week In Technology, Jan. 27-31, 2020 – Aviation Week
Posted: at 12:16 am
The Week In Technology, Jan. 27-31, 2020 | Aviation Week Network
/themes/custom/particle/dist/app-drupal/assets/awn-logo.svg
The Week In Technology, Jan. 27-31, 2020 is part of our Aviation Week & Space Technology subscription.
Subscribe now to read this article, plus receive critical analysis into emerging trends, technological advancements, operational best practices and continuous updates to policy, requirements and budgets.
Already a subscriber to AWST or an AWIN customer? Log in with your existing emailand password.
Subscribe
Log in
Credit: Eviation Aircraft
Eviations Alice catches fire; Boeing teams on ducted fans; Boom plans XB-1 flights; SkyDrive readies eVTOL; Bell demos cargo drone.
As a subscriber to one of Aviation Week Networks market briefings, your searches only provide you with access to articles from within that product.
To find out about obtaining additional data including the most comprehensive details on organizations, fleets, personnel and programs click here or call +1.561.279.4661.
As a subscriber to one of Aviation Week Networks market briefings, your searches only provide you with access to articles from within that product.
To find out about obtaining additional data including the most comprehensive details on organizations, fleets, personnel and programs click here or call +1.561.279.4661.
As a subscriber to one of Aviation Week Networks market briefings, your searches only provide you with access to articles from within that product.
To find out about obtaining additional data including the most comprehensive details on organizations, fleets, personnel and programs click here or call +1.561.279.4661.
As a subscriber to one of Aviation Week Networks market briefings, your searches only provide you with access to articles from within that product.
To find out about obtaining additional data including the most comprehensive details on organizations, fleets, personnel and programs click here or call +1.561.279.4661.
Go here to read the rest:
Posted in Technology
Comments Off on The Week In Technology, Jan. 27-31, 2020 – Aviation Week