Free Republic

Self-driving cars could be more likely to hit and kill black people due to flaws in the software used to detect objects, researchers have warned. In a pre-publication scientific paper, researchers from the University of Georgia found that computer vision systems are better at detecting people with lighter skin tones.

The Trump re-election campaign’s wireless open access proposal was a poorly vetted scheme possibly intended to score political points. It was squelched almost immediately after it became public, as shocked White House staff members complained that it contradicted the administration’s support for competing wireless networks. The twist? Open access wireless is actually a terrific idea. Some forward-thinking Democrats and public interest advocates have been pushing it for decades. The concept, promoted by Republican operatives such as Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove, is for a network supporting fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology to operate on a wholesale basis. Carriers such as AT&T,...

There’s been no end to the complaints on the left (and portions of the right as well) about President Trump’s use of tariffs to attempt to craft better trade deals for the United States. The results have been a mixed bag thus far, with some efforts delivering results (see: Mexico and Canada) and others seeming to fall short (the auto industry is a good example there). But some of the greatest consternation on display around punditry panels has been caused by the President’s aggressive stance toward China, arguably our largest trading partner. Trump’s complaints about their habitual theft of...

A Florida mom and pediatrician warned parents to better monitor their children’s internet activity after she found a disturbing clip that appeared to encourage children to harm themselves, inserted into gaming videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids. Dr. Free Hess, from Gainesville, Florida, found the 9-second-long suicide instructions sandwiched between clips of the Nintendo game Splatoon last week and shared it online to caution other parents. "Remember kids, sideways for attention, longways for results," a man said while demonstrating the cutting motion on his arm. "End it." The man, identified by CBS News as YouTuber Filthy Frank, has over 6.2...

Virtually everything that you do online and offline is being monitored, tracked or recorded by someone. Could you imagine what life would be like if the government compiled all of that information into a giant database and used it to punish those that had engaged in politically-incorrect behavior? Here in the United States, Internet censorship has escalated dramatically, but over in China the government is cracking down on a much wider array of online and offline activities. If you fail to make a credit card payment, get into an argument in public or say the wrong thing on social media,...

A group of Microsoft workers is demanding the company cancel a contract supplying the U.S. Army with HoloLens headsets that they say would turn real-world battlefields into a video game. Microsoft's head-mounted HoloLens displays use augmented reality, which means viewers can see virtual imagery superimposed over the scenery in front of them. A letter signed by more than 50 Microsoft employees Friday and circulated on an internal messaging board said the technology could help soldiers spot — and kill — adversaries on the battlefield....

In early February, Google announced that its home security and alarm system Nest Secure would be getting an update. Users, the company said, could now enable its virtual-assistant technology, Google Assistant. The problem: Nest users didn't know a microphone existed on their security device to begin with. The existence of a microphone on the Nest Guard, which is the alarm, keypad, and motion-sensor component in the Nest Secure offering, was never disclosed in any of the product material for the device.

A top Iranian official says his country possesses the chemical and technical abilities to produce a nuclear weapon, the Washington Free Beacon reported citing Farsi language remarks that were independently translated for the news site. The translation quoted Ahmad Khatami, a senior member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, which has close ties to the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He noted in recent remarks that the ability to possess a nuclear missile “is vital for Iran to confront the U.S. and its allies,” as noted in Farsi language comments made over the weekend.

Your smart lightbulb is probably storing your wifi password in the clear, ready to be recovered by wily dumpster-divers; Limited Results discovered the security worst-practice during a teardown of a Lifx bulb; and that's just for starters: the bulbs also store their RSA private key and root passwords in the clear and have no security measures to prevent malicious reflashings of their ROMs with exploits, network probes and other nasties.

Full tile: Jeff Bezos Protests the Invasion of His Privacy, as Amazon Builds a Sprawling Surveillance State for Everyone Else IF BEZOS WERE the political victim of surveillance state abuses, it would be scandalous and dangerous. It would also be deeply ironic. That’s because Amazon, the company that has made Bezos the planet’s richest human being, is a critical partner for the U.S. Government in building an ever-more invasive, militarized and sprawling surveillance state. Indeed, one of the largest components of Amazon’s business, and thus one of the most important sources of Bezos’ vast wealth and power, is working with...

Editor's note: This column was authored by Lindsay Marchello. Remember the firestorm that surrounded the Covington controversy? People were convinced that a group of white Catholic teenagers harassed and mocked a Native American activist, but the truth turned out to be much more complex. Unfortunately, things are only bound to get worse. As the Covington Affair makes clear, our outrage culture isn’t ready for deep fake technology. But, it doesn’t matter—it’s almost here anyway.Deep fakes are manipulated videos that can produce fake, hyper-realistic images and audio of people, that are almost impossible to tell apart from reality. It’s what film director...

Rhino Hide will provide Advanced Building Technologies with $7 million of bulletproof linings for Border Patrol. Rhino Hide... is a mixture that's pumped into the interior of wall sections where it hardens and become bulletproof. ABT is contracting with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide between 2,000-3,000 mobile structures for border patrol agents working on the Southern U.S. border. The structures would be used for border patrol to operate drones out of or possibly sleep in.

Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives floated the idea on Wednesday of ending a partial government shutdown by giving President Donald Trump most or all of the money he seeks for border security with Mexico but for items other than a physical wall. Representative James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, told reporters that Democrats could fulfill Trump's request for $5.7 billion for border security with technological tools such as drones, X-rays and sensors, as well as more border patrol agents. Representative Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, also said Democrats would be discussing "substantial sums of additional...

Technology executives are telling Jim Cramer off camera that they support the Trump administration's hawkish approach to trade with China, the CNBC host says. The "Mad Money" host lists the pro-trade-war arguments he's hearing. "If we're ever going to do anything about China, this is the perfect time," he says. -- Technology executives are telling CNBC's Jim Cramer that they're willing to endure short-term pain from the U.S.-China trade war in favor of the long-term payoff. "When I went out to San Francisco last week, I heard the same thing from a surprising number of people in the tech industry...

A new unclassified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency is warning of technological gains against the U.S. military that include pulling ahead of the Pentagon in the development of key weapons systems, particularly China. “China is building a robust, lethal force with capabilities spanning the air, maritime, space and information domains which will enable China to impose its will in the region,” wrote DIA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, in a preface to the report. In a briefing to reporters at the Defense Department on Tuesday, a senior Pentagon official said that in terms of ballistic and cruise missile technology,”...

I left my home in China in 1949, nearly 70 years ago. I thought I would just be studying in the United States before returning to China. But events beyond my control – the Communist victory over the Nationalists soon after I arrived in the US, the escalation of the cold war, and the Korean war – kept me in the US. I quickly built a life in America, became an American citizen, and pursued my own version of the American dream. All the while, China was morphing into a country I would hardly recognise when I was first able...

youtube crashed, dang it.

The Border Patrol on Wednesday (19 Dec) unveiled a new mobile video surveillance system along the U.S.-Mexico border in California that can look into the mountains with infrared scopes in the day and at night. “It’s game-changer for them,” ...“One agent who goes on patrol can multiply his vision many many miles.” The camera systems are carried on Ford F-150 pickup trucks outfitted with surveillance towers. Five of the vehicles will be used by border agents along San Diego’s southern border beginning Friday (21 Dec).

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) is pleased to announce that winners have been selected for its 2019 Ferry Design Competition. The awards will be presented at WFSA’s Ferry Safety and Technology Conference, which will be be held in Bangkok February 20?22, 2019. In the contest, student teams were tasked with designing a passenger ferry for the Pasig River, the locus of commercial and public activities in Manila. Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, executive director of WFSA, noted that navigational challenges included low bridges and waterborne vegetation and debris. The first prize of $5000 will be awarded to a team from the...

Technology is now evolving at such a rapid pace that annual predictions of trends can seem out-of-date before they even go live as a published blog post or article. As technology evolves, it enables even faster change and progress, causing the acceleration of the rate of change, until eventually it will become exponential. Technology-based careers don’t change at that same speed, but they do evolve, and the savvy IT professional recognizes that his or her role will not stay the same. The IT worker of the 21st century will constantly be learning, out of necessity if not desire. What...