NYC cops now using Chinese “Sky Net” video surveillance systems
This is absolutely scary. Systematic surveillance:
The surveillance tools are identical to those used in Sky Net in China, the largest video surveillance system on Earth, Chinese government research institutes and a company involved in the project said. At a time when China and the United States are locked in a rivalry on several fronts including trade and technology, Hikvision – the world’s largest surveillance technology company, which is state-owned and based in Hangzhou in eastern China – has supplied the equipment and software used by an American force that polices a population of about 8.6 million people. It has been claimed that Hikvision’s system can accurately identify faces regardless of race, whereas some Western-developed technology had previously been more accurate for white people than for black citizens – although the NYPD has not discussed its reasons for using the Chinese technology. The Sky Net programme, now renamed Pingan Chengshi, or Safe Cities, claimed to have connected 170 million cameras across China last year. By 2020, another 400 million units will be installed, it said, casting a watchful eye on every two citizens. Beijing plans to be able to identify anyone, anytime, anywhere in China within three seconds.
(tags: surveillance new-york nyc skynet china cctv hikvision)
Write tests. Not too many. Mostly integration. – kentcdodds
Nice short summary of Kent Dodds’ approach to testing, which I mostly agree with :)
(tags: integration coding testing unit-tests integration-tests system-tests)
One Of The Biggest At-Home DNA Testing Companies Is Working With The FBI
Family Tree reveal that they are providing access to customer-submitted DNA records:
“We are nearing a de-facto national DNA database,” Natalie Ram, an assistant law professor at the University of Baltimore who specializes in bioethics and criminal justice, told BuzzFeed News. “We don’t choose our genetic relatives, and I cannot sever my genetic relation to them. There’s nothing voluntary about that.” Others aired similar concerns. “I would be very against Family Tree DNA allowing law enforcement to have open access to their DNA database,” Debbie Kennett, a British genealogy enthusiast and honorary research associate at University College London said. “I don’t think it’s right for law enforcement to use a database without the informed consent of the consumer.”
(via Antonio Regalado)(tags: biometrics privacy dna family-tree via:antonio-regalado genealogy data-protection fbi us)
remote AC control for a Nissan Leaf using a Google Home
‘OK Google, heat up the car’ – nifty
(tags: ok-google google google-home nissan-leaf cars heating gadgets home)