Washed in blue: living lab Digital Perimeter in Amsterdam
An increasing amount of Dutch government agencies seem to resort to so-called ‘living labs’ and ‘field labs’ in order to test and experiment with technological innovations in a realistic setting. In recent years, these live laboratories have proven to be a useful stepping stone to introduce new technologies into public space. In the last several weeks, EDRi's member Bits of Freedom took a closer look at one of those living labs – the so-called Digital Perimeter surrounding the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam – and were not pleased with what they saw.
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Washed in blue: living lab Digital Perimeter in Amsterdam
An increasing amount of Dutch government agencies seem to resort to so-called ‘living labs’ and ‘field labs’ in order to test and experiment with technological innovations in a realistic setting. In recent years, these live laboratories have proven to be a useful stepping stone to introduce new technologies into public space. In the last several weeks, EDRi's member Bits of Freedom took a closer look at one of those living labs – the so-called Digital Perimeter surrounding the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam – and were not pleased with what they saw.
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EU Parliament adopts the Covid Pass: risks for data protection and new forms of discrimination
At first glance, teh Digital Green Certificate may sound interesting, but upon further reflection, it quickly becomes clear that the proposed system has the potential to divide society and expose certificate holders to far-reaching surveillance by the authorities that issue the documents. Even worse, it exacerbates inequalities and increases social exclusion, shares EDRi's member epicenter.works.
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Initial wins in Italy just two months after the launch of Reclaim Your Face
Last week, the #ReclaimYourFace campaign reached two important milestones at the national level. On Friday April 16th the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) rejected the SARI Real Time facial recognition system acquired by the police saying that the system lacks a legal basis and, as designed, it would implement a form of mass surveillance.
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EU’s new artificial intelligence law risks enabling Orwellian surveillance states
When analysing how AI systems might impact people of colour, migrants and other marginalised groups, context matters. Whilst AI developers may be able to predict and prevent some negative biases, for the most part, such systems will inevitably exacerbate injustice. This is because AI systems are deployed in a wider context of systematic discrimination and violence, particularly in the field of policing and migration.
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EU’s AI law needs major changes to prevent discrimination and mass surveillance
The European Commission has just launched the its proposed regulation on artificial intelligence (AI). As governments and companies continue to use AI in ways that lead to discrimination and surveillance, the proposed law must go much further to protect people and their rights. Here’s a deeper analysis from the EDRi network, including some initial recommendations for change.
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New AI law proposal calls out harms of biometric mass surveillance, but does not resolve them
On 21 April 2021, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a new law on artificial intelligence. With it, the Commission acknowledged some of the numerous threats biometric mass surveillance poses for our freedoms and dignity. However, despite its seemingly good intentions, the proposed law falls seriously short on our demands and does not in fact impose a ban on most cases of biometric mass surveillance – as urged by EDRi and the Reclaim Your Face coalition.
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Regulating Border Tech Experiments in a Hostile World
We are facing a growing panopticon of technology that limits people’s movements, their ability to reunite with their families, and at the worst of times, their ability to stay alive. Power and knowledge monopolies are allowed to exist because there is no unified global regulatory regime governing the use of new technologies, creating laboratories for high-risk experiments with profound impacts on people’s lives.
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Computers are binary, people are not: how AI systems undermine LGBTQ identity
Companies and governments are already using AI systems to make decisions that lead to discrimination. When police or government officials rely on them to determine who they should watch, interrogate, or arrest — or even “predict” who will violate the law in the future — there are serious and sometimes fatal consequences. EDRi's member Access Now explain how AI can automate LGBTQ oppression.
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EU’s AI proposal must go further to prevent surveillance and discrimination
The European Commission has just launched the EU draft regulation on artificial intelligence (AI). AI systems are being increasingly used in all areas of life – to monitor us at protests, to identify us for access to health and public services, to make predictions about our behaviour or how much ‘risk’ we pose. Without clear safeguards, these systems could further the power imbalance between those who develop and use AI and those who are subject to them.
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Evidence shows a European future that is dystopian: #ReclaimYourFace now to protect your city
The latest evidence shows that biometric mass surveillance is rapidly being developed and deployed in Europe without a proper legal basis or respect for our agency as self-determined and autonomous individuals. No one is safe, as our most sensitive data like our faces, eyes, skin, palm veins, and fingerprints are being tracked, traced and analysed on social media, in the park, on the bus, or at work.
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European Commission must ban biometric mass surveillance practices, say 56 civil society groups
On 1 April, a coalition of 56 human rights, digital rights and social justice organisations sent a letter to European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, ahead of the long-awaited proposal for new EU laws on artificial intelligence. The coalition is calling on the Commissioner to prohibit uses of biometrics that enable mass surveillance or other dangerous and harmful uses of AI.
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No faces left to hack: #ReclaimYourFace Now!
We cannot let power-hungry and profit-orientated technologies manipulate our future, take away our dignity and treat us like walking, breathing barcodes. We have the right to exercise our autonomy and self-determination free from abusive practices undermining our agency. The Reclaim Your Face’s ECI empowers Europeans to move and shape the public debate on the use of these AI-powered biometric technologies. The EU has the chance to show that people sit at the center of its values, by taking the lead to ban biometric mass surveillance that endangers our freedoms, democracies and futures.
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