Tag: privacy

Voice Recognition Tech Privacy and Cybersecurity Concerns

by  on  in Technology Development

Thursday, December 10, 2020

A new report released by Global Market Insights, Inc. last month estimates that the global market valuation for voice recognition technology will reach approximately $7 billion by 2026, in main part due to the surge of AI and machine learning across a wide array of devices including smartphones, healthcare apps, banking apps and connected cars, just to name a few. Whether performing a quick handsfree search on your phone or car command while driving, voice recognition technology has enhanced the effortlessness of consumer use. Particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies that may never

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Property tech companies are helping landlords spy on residents, collect their data, and even evict them. Critics are calling it an invasion of privacy that could reinforce inequality.

by  on  in Technology Consultant

"Landlord Tech" shows where tenants have reported the use of surveillance technologies like facial recognition in their buildings. <p class="copyright">Anti-Eviction Mapping Project</p>
“Landlord Tech” shows where tenants have reported the use of surveillance technologies like facial recognition in their buildings.

Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

  • Landlords are increasingly using facial recognition software and other surveillance technologies to track tenants’ movements and collect their data.

  • The companies selling “proptech” claim their products make residents safer, but some say flaws and biases mean they’re really just accelerating gentrification and invading people’s privacy.

  • Researchers with the AI Now Institute built an interactive map to let tenants report if their buildings have deployed new tools to surveil them and educate people about the issues with proptech.

  • One of

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Google to Ban Tracking Technology Ads, Boost Data Privacy

by  on  in Technology Development

Alphabet’s GOOGL division Google continues to take initiatives to enhance search results by curtailing bad ads in a bid to strengthen its search platform.

This is evident from its latest decision of changing its policy to prohibit advertising for unauthorized tracking technology such as spyware and others that aim to gather information about a person or organization without their knowledge.

Notably, advertisements for such technology and software are already in violation of the company’s Enabling Dishonest Behavior policy.

The new policy will impose further restrictions on advertisements for GPS trackers, cameras and recorders that target spying and tracking someone

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California police partnerships with Amazon Ring raise alarms about racial bias, privacy

by  on  in Techology Advancement

As nationwide protests force a deep examination of police tactics and funding, technology companies say they are re-evaluating their relationship with law enforcement as well. Amazon has halted police use of its facial recognition technology for one year and the website Nextdoor has stopped forwarding tips to police.

Now, privacy groups and activists are scrutinizing the relationships between Amazon and local police departments that allow law enforcement to request access to video recordings from doorbell cameras installed in private homes.

Amazon’s expanding network of law enforcement “partners” for its Neighbors app remains intact, an arrangement that critics say is designed

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Blind voters fear loss of privacy with shift to mail voting

by  on  in Techology Advancement

ATLANTA (AP) — Not that long ago, Ann Byington had to squeeze into a voting booth with a Republican poll watcher on one side and a Democrat on the other reading her voting choices out loud so her ballot could be marked for her and the selections verified.

Blind since birth, Byington welcomed the rise in recent years of electronic voting machines equipped with technology that empowered her and others with disabilities to cast their ballots privately and independently.

But now, as election officials plan a major vote-by-mail expansion amid fears of voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic, Byington

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