Still, last year’s pitch was that Astro would make home life more comfortable and entertaining—a sort of adorable, bumbling sidekick. This year, Amazon has recast Astro as a device with a much more serious mission: to provide another set of eyes on our pets, our homes, and our livelihoods. As with any surveillance technology you … Read more
Your Facebook is no longer a naked-to-the-public firehose of information about your family and social life. Your mobile phone is as do-not-track as you’re able to function under. You cover your webcam lens when it’s not in use. In short, you’ve done what you can to mitigate the way the current world seeks to share … Read more
“You think Big Brother’s watching you on the subways?” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a news conference at a Queens subway yard on September 20. “You’re absolutely right.” The proclamation came amid her announcement of a new state program to pay for two cameras in each of the city’s more than 6,400 subway … Read more
Ahead of the deadline to comply with the Indian government’s new data-collection rules, VPN companies from across the globe have pulled their servers out of the country in a bid to protect their users’ privacy. Starting today, the , or CERT—a body appointed by the Indian government to deal with cybersecurity and threats—will require VPN … Read more
We have tested several other outdoor security cameras. These are the ones we like that just missed out on a place above. Reolink Argus 3 Pro for $130: There’s a lot to like with this security camera, not least the affordable price. It offers 2K video, local or cloud storage, two-way audio, a siren, and … Read more
Despite President Biden’s assurances at Wednesday’s United Nations meeting that the US is not seeking a new cold war, one is brewing between the world’s autocracies and democracies—and technology is fueling it. Late last week, Iran, Turkey, Myanmar, and a handful of other countries took steps toward becoming full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization … Read more
Beyond the SCO, Venezuela’s autocratic regime announced in 2017 a smart identification card for its citizens that aggregated employment, voting, and medical information with the help of the Chinese telecom company ZTE. And Huawei, another Chinese telecom corporation, boasts a global network of 700 localities with its smart city technology, according to the company’s 2021 … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Should the EU ban software that can pick a face out of a crowd? A growing political coalition thinks so — and just received heavyweight support from the third largest group in the EU parliament, where a majority is now in favor of banning facial recognition tech that … Read more
NEW YORK — Russia is at war not only with Ukraine, but with the whole EU — and it’s losing, according to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Russian President Vladimir Putin is “using energy as a war tool” because he is threatened by the EU’s values, Sánchez told POLITICO in New York, where more than 150 … Read more