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Articles on Surveillance

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A police officer examines a damaged car after thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously across Lebanon on Sept. 17, 2024. AP Photo/Hussein Malla

Pagers and walkie-talkies over cellphones – a security expert explains why Hezbollah went low-tech for communications

Smartphones may be indispensable to modern life, but they’re also perfect tools for spying on their owners. Anyone looking to avoid being tracked – like, say, militant groups – tends to ditch them.
Facial recognition researcher, Joy Buolamwini, stands with a white mask. Her film, ‘Coded Bias,’ shows how AI tools are not good at recognizing faces of colour. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

AI used by police cannot tell Black people apart and other reasons Canada’s AI laws need urgent attention

Two new laws with major implications for how AI is used in society are being considered in Canada. Both lack protections for the public from the harms of AI, including racial profiling by police.
The Chinese government has made extensive use of existing AI technologies, including for surveillance. Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

China leans into using AI − even as the US leads in developing it

In the AI game, China has bet on strategic use over innovation, tightening its grip domestically and extending its reach internationally.
A bank of video monitors allows the police department in Albuquerque, N.M., to keep an eye on surveillance cameras throughout the city. AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan

Real-time crime centers are transforming policing – a criminologist explains how these advanced surveillance systems work

As police departments across the US and the world adopt real-time crime centers, there’s a need for better public understanding of how these centers work.
AI-powered chatbots with romantic and sexual roleplay features are growing in popularity. (Shutterstock)

Computer love: AI-powered chatbots are changing how we understand romantic and sexual well-being

Artificial intelligence technologies are changing how users experience intimate romantic and sexual connections. These technologies bring many positive benefits, but there is a dark side.
Police drag away a tent from a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Irvine on May 15, 2024. Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images

Who gets to decide what counts as ‘disorder’?

Framing dissent and poverty as a menace to public order can threaten fundamental rights, particularly when it’s used to justify the deployment of predictive technology.
The E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C., houses the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. AP Photo/ Evan Vucci

Section 702 foreign surveillance law lives on, but privacy fight continues

Privacy advocates lost out when Congress reauthorized Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without major reforms. But the renewal fight returns in 2 years.
Protesters barricade a street in reaction to postponement of the presidential election in Dakar, Senegal on 9 February. Cem Ozdel/Anadolu via Getty Images

2024 Senegal election crisis points to deeper issues with Macky Sall and his preferred successor

Attempts to postpone Senegal’s election indefinitely reflect deeper governance problems within Macky Sall’s administration, and the shortcomings of his chosen heir, Amadou Ba.
The Chinese government may access the data collected by Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi and other operators. How are citizens coping with this constant digital surveillance? (Shutterstock)

Digital surveillance is omnipresent in China. Here’s how citizens are coping

State surveillance of citizens is growing all over the world, but it is a fact of daily life in China. People are developing mental tactics to distance themselves from it.
Several popular messaging apps, including Messenger, Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp, use end-to-end encryption. Open Rights Group/Flickr

Are private conversations truly private? A cybersecurity expert explains how end-to-end encryption protects you

End-to-end encryption provides strong protection for keeping your communications private, but not every messaging app uses it, and even some of the ones that do don’t have it turned on by default.

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