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Articles by Michael Thompson

Cops Want to Use DNA for Facial Recognition

by Michael Dean Thompson

Provide a DNA sample, and Parabon NanoLabs’ tech will generate a projected 3D image of a suspect’s face. The process takes advantage of AI trained on the DNA and 3D facial scans of thousands of volunteers. That might sound impressive, at least until compared with the ...

DNA Databases, Privacy Concerns, and Noble Cause Bias

by Michael Dean Thompson

Networked Privacy and DNA

Dana Boyd who was one of the first to describe the idea of Networked Privacy has pointed out that choice is not really individual in the network. That is, the choices we make affect our entire network. That likewise means that harm ...

Push Notifications: Yet Another Secret Surveillance Technique

by Michael Dean Thompson

According to what Cooper Quentin who is a technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation told the Washington Post, the government has promised they will only use this latest tool for the most grievous crimes. We have heard that before. We previously heard that with regard to ...

The FBI Really Doesn’t Want the Public to Know About This Surveillance Device

by Michael Dean Thompson

The American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) successfully sued for access to FBI information regarding cell-site simulators (“CSS”). For years, the FBI has used nondisclosure agreements (“NDA”) to hide their use of CSSs from the public and the courts. Now, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act ...

College and Post-Carceral Job Searches

by Michael Dean Thompson

Every formerly incarcerated person has to deal with additional employment hurdles that impede their opportunities for successful reintegration. A recent study by the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University attempted to determine if Postsecondary Carceral Education (“PSCE”) improved employment opportunities and how race ...

For Signal, Privacy Is Not Merely a Buzzword

by Michael Dean Thompson

Subpoenas based on a phone number served on the messaging app Signal typically receive only two pieces of information: the date the account was created and the last time it was accessed. Sometimes, they receive less. Signal’s website tells its users, “It’s impossible to turn over ...

Dogs Are Sniffing Out Electronics

by Michael Dean Thompson

Cops have found themselves challenged by the decreasing size of electronic devices and the correlated increase in the ease of hiding them. To assist them, they have begun using dogs to sniff out a key chemical used to create the devices, triphenylphosphine oxide, which remains on ...

‘Asian Nazis’ Be Damned: Cops Coveting AI for 2024

by Michael Dean Thompson

 

In 2023, the general public became aware of the impending emergence of Artificial General Intelligence. It was not long after ChatGPT 3.5 became public that Americans began to understand the remarkable technology is spookily powerful while not completely reliable. Infamously, a law firm was reprimanded ...

DOJ Is Charging Founders of Samourai Wallet for Allegedly Laundering Bitcoin

by Michael Dean Thompson

 

Two men, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, have found themselves indicted for Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering and facing up to a quarter of a century of jail time. It is not apparent that the men themselves conspired to launder any money. Rather, they ...

What’s in a Name: ShotSpotter Becomes SoundThinking, But Problems Remain

by Michael Dean Thompson

 

If a technology is repeatedly shown by its own data to do very little to reduce crime or assist in homicide investigations – two functions for which it is purported to be designed – will a name change fix it? ShotSpotter had seen a rapid ...

 

 

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