The company's timing really couldn't be worse.

Amazon claims Rekognition can now detect fear

Fear Factor

Amazon claims its Rekognition software can now detect fear on a person's face, as well as provide a better estimate of their age.

Amazon Claims Rekognition Can Now Detect Fear

The facial recognition tech has also gotten better at estimating ages, Amazon says.

Surveillance Detection Scout

Kain released the source code for the tool at Def Con, an annual hacker convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This Tesla surveillance hack can tell you if you're being followed

Tesla Stalkers

Hacker and IT security analyst Truman Kain has created a surveillance tool that can tell you in real-time if you're being followed while driving your Tesla.

This Tesla Surveillance Hack Can Tell You if You’re Being Followed

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't following you.

The lights make the protests look like something out of science fiction.

Hong Kong protesters use lasers to block facial recognition tech

Lighting Up

Hong Kong protesters are reportedly shining high-powered laser beams at surveillance cameras to confuse facial recognition technology.

Hong Kong Protesters Use Lasers to Block Facial Recognition Tech

By confusing the cameras, they're protecting their identities.

Is a quicker pint worth submitting to a face scan?

This AI scans faces to let bartenders know who's next in line

No Cutting

DataSparQ invented AI Bar to help bartenders know who's next in line and fairly serve drinks on time using AI and facial recognition.

AI Bar Uses Facial Recognition For Bartenders To Serve In Order

Leave it to the Brits to use AI to try to improve queueing.

This AI Scans Faces to Let Bartenders Know Who’s Next in Line

The city of Oakland votes to ban facial recognition

No Thanks

Oakland, California's city council just voted unanimously to ban all municipal uses of facial recognition tech within its borders.

The City of Oakland Votes to Ban Facial Recognition

That makes it the third U.S. city to do so.

Tech workers and immigration activists call on Amazon to stop facilitating government surveillance as ICE cracks down on marginalized populations.

Protesters interrupt Amazon event to decry its work with ICE

Surveillance State

Protests broke out at an Amazon AWS Summit in New York City on Thursday. Tech workers and immigration activists demanded the company stop helping ICE.

Protesters Interrupt Amazon Event to Decry Its Work With ICE

"Amazon Rekognition is primed for abuse in the hands of governments."

You don't need to be suspected of a crime to have your photo scanned.

The FBI is scanning DMV photos of law-abiding Americans

Easy Access

Officials from the FBI, ICE, and other government agencies are using facial recognition tech to scan databases of DMV photos.

The FBI Is Scanning DMV Photos of Law-Abiding Americans

"It’s really a surveillance-first, ask-permission-later system."

"I think customers expect that their bets are being watched, it's just whether the casino operator knows how to make use of the data."

Chinese casinos use AI, facial recognition to spot suckers

Hit On 20

Casinos in China are using artifiical intelligence and facial recognition tools to track and cater to gamblers who are more likely to make riskier bets.

Chinese Casinos Use AI, Facial Recognition to Spot Suckers

Algorithms learn to figure out which high rollers will part with the most cash.

The technology "does not perform as well on people of color compared to whites, on women compared to men, or young people compared to older people."

Police body camera maker decides against using facial recognition

Cop Cam Crisis

The biggest supplier of police body cameras and software called Axon just called it quits on using AI-powered facial recognition systems for its devices.

Police Body Camera Maker Decides Against Using Facial Recognition

There's a growing backlash against using facial recognition for law enforcement.

"In practice, we don't usually get any further than a sort of reference face, such as 'a European male.' That's not much use to a forensic investigator."

Terrifying AI matches DNA to facial recognition databases

Guess Who

Engineers built a new tool that matches DNA samples to a specific face from a database that could be linked to the specific genes found in the sample.

/Facial Recognition