The Next Web writes: A trio of computer scientists from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York recently published research detailing a potential AI intervention for murder: an ethical lockout. The big idea here is to stop mass shootings and other ethically incorrect uses for firearms through the development of an AI that can recognize intent, judge whether it's ethical use, and ultimately render a firearm inert if a user tries to ready it for improper fire...

Clearly the contribution here isn't the development of a smart gun, but the creation of an ethically correct AI. If criminals won't put the AI on their guns, or they continue to use dumb weapons, the AI can still be effective when installed in other sensors. It could, hypothetically, be used to perform any number of functions once it determines violent human intent. It could lock doors, stop elevators, alert authorities, change traffic light patterns, text location-based alerts, and any number of other reactionary measures including unlocking law enforcement and security personnel's weapons for defense...

Realistically, it takes a leap of faith to assume an ethical AI can be made to understand the difference between situations such as, for example, home invasion and domestic violence, but the groundwork is already there. If you look at driverless cars, we know people have already died because they relied on an AI to protect them. But we also know that the potential to save tens of thousands of lives is too great to ignore in the face of a, so far, relatively small number of accidental fatalities...

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Python programming language, "which has never been more popular, arguably thanks to the rise of data science and AI projects in the enterprise," writes Venture Beat.

To celebrate the historical releases file has been updated to include Guido van Rossum's original 0.9.1 beta release from 1991. (Its ReadMe file advises that Python 0.9 "can be used instead of shell, Awk or Perl scripts, to write prototypes of real applications, or as an extension language of large systems, you name it.")

And meanwhile, VentureBeat interviewed Pablo Galindo, one of the five members of the 2021 Python Steering Council and a software engineer at Bloomberg: VentureBeat: What's your current assessment of Python?

Galindo: Python is a very mature language, and it has evolved. It also has a bunch of things that it carries over. Python has some baggage that nowadays feels a bit old, but the community and the ecosystem has to be preserved. It's similar to how C and C++ are evolving right now. When you make changes to the language, it's quite dangerous [because you can] break things. That's what people are scared of the most.

But even though Python is quite old, there are big changes. The Python 3.1 release for this October will include pattern matching, which is one of the biggest syntax changes that Python has seen in a long time. We can learn from other languages. I think we're happy to say that we are still evolving and adapting. We have a good experience with respecting the importance of backwards compatibility.

VentureBeat: If you could be Python king for a day, what would you change?

Galindo: I would be a horrible King for a day. The first order of business would be to fix all these things that we have acquired over the years in the language. That would require breaking a bunch of things. Obviously, I will not do that, but I think one of the things I really would like to see in the future is for Python to become faster than it is. I think Python still has a lot of potential to become faster. I'm thinking this will be impossible. But one can dream.

VentureBeat: What do you know now about Python today that you wish you knew when you first began using it?

Galindo: I think the most important thing I learned is how many different uses there are for Python. It's important to listen to all these sorts of users when considering the evolution of the language. It's quite surprising and quite revealing to consider how changes or improvements will conflict or will interact with other users of the language.

That's something that when I started I didn't even consider. It would be good if people could be empathetic to us changing the language when we have to balance these things.

Alphabet's Google on Friday fired scientist Margaret Mitchell, she said in a Twitter post, after weeks of being under investigation for moving thousands of files outside the company amid a battle over research freedom and diversity. From a report: Google's ethics in artificial intelligence research unit has been under scrutiny since December's dismissal of scientist Timnit Gebru, which prompted protest from thousands of Google workers. In a statement, Google said, "After conducting a review of this manager's conduct, we confirmed that there were multiple violations of our code of conduct, as well as of our security policies, which included the exfiltration of confidential business-sensitive documents and private data of other employees."

VentureBeat offers more context: In an email sent to management shortly before Mitchell was placed on investigation, Mitchell called Google firing Gebru "forever after a very, very, very bad decision." Mitchell was a member of the recently formed Alphabet Workers Union. Timnit Gebru has previously suggested that union protection could be a key part of protection for AI researchers. Mitchell and Gebru worked together on the Ethical AI team in 2018, eventually creating what's believed to be one of the most diverse divisions within Google Research. Friday's move comes hours after Google told employees it had wrapped up its investigation into the ouster of prominent AI researcher Timnit Gebru. Axios reports on that: The company declined to say what the internal inquiry found, but said it is making some changes to how it handles issues around research, diversity and employee exits. Under its new policies, Google says it will: tie pay for those at the vice president level and above partly to reaching diversity and inclusion goals; streamline its process for publishing research; increase its staff related to employee retention; and enact new procedures around potentially sensitive employee exits.

"I understand we could have and should have handled this situation with more sensitivity," Google AI head Jeff Dean said in a memo on Friday, obtained by Axios, outlining the changes. "And for that, I am sorry." "I heard and acknowledge what Dr. Gebru's exit signified to female technologists, to those in the Black community and other underrepresented groups who are pursuing careers in tech, and to many who care deeply about Google's responsible use of AI. It led some to question their place here, which I regret," Google AI head Jeff Dean, wrote in an internal email on Friday. Commenting on Axios' news, Gebru said: I expected nothing more obviously. I write an email asking for things, I get fired, and then after a 3 month investigation, they say they should probably do some of the things I presumably got fired asking for, without holding anyone accountable for their actions. Editor's note: The story was updated at 22:54 GMT with Google's statement.

Amazon is using AI cameras to monitor drivers of its delivery vans for safety issues — but also a second driver safety app on their phones.

Though it's named Mentor, Mashable reports that "it doesn't seem to be helping..." CNBC talked to drivers who said the app mostly invades their privacy or miscalculates dangerous driving behavior. One driver said even though he didn't answer a ringing phone, the app docked points for using a phone while driving. Another worker was flagged for distracted driving at every delivery stop she made.

The incorrect tracking has real consequences, ranging from restricted payouts and bonuses to job loss. The app gives a safety score which is used to rank drivers and compare them to colleagues.

The App Store description calls this "a little friendly competition!"
CNBC reports that one driver even created a YouTube video showing how Amazon's delivery van drivers could appease the app: by wrapping their cellphone in a sweater and then shoving it in their glovebox.

Otherwise, "If your device moves at all, it's going to count against you."

The BBC reports on "the computers rejecting your job application," noting that applicants are now being screened with AI-scored tests that involve counting dots in boxes and matching emotions to facial expressions: The questions, and your answers to them, are designed to evaluate several aspects of a jobseeker's personality and intelligence, such as your risk tolerance and how quickly you respond to situations. Or as Pymetrics puts it, "to fairly and accurately measure cognitive and emotional attributes in only 25 minutes".

Its AI software is now used in the initial recruitment processes of a number of multinational companies, such as McDonald's, bank JP Morgan, accountancy firm PWC, and food group Kraft Heinz. An interview with a human recruiter then follows if you pass. "It's about helping firms process a much wider pool [of applicants], and getting signals that someone will be successful in a job," says Pymetrics founder Frida Polli...

Another provider of AI recruitment software is Utah-based HireVue. Its AI system records videos of job applicants answering interview questions via their laptop's webcam and microphone. The audio of this is then converted into text, and an AI algorithm analyses it for key words, such as the use of "I" instead of "we" in response to questions about teamwork. The recruiting company can then choose to let HireVue's system reject candidates without having a human double-check, or have the candidate moved on for a video interview with an actual recruiter.

HireVue says that by September 2019 it had conducted a total of 12 million interviews, of which 20% were via the AI software. The remaining 80% were with a human interviewer on the other end of a video screen. The overall figure has now risen to 19 million, with the same percentage split. HireVue first started offering the AI interviews in 2016. Its users include travel services firm Sabre.

Meanwhile, a report from 2019 said that such is the growth in the use of AI that it will replace 16% of recruitment sector jobs before 2029.

Microsoft will connect its cloud computing Azure Space platform to the Spaceborne Computer-2, a Hewlett-Packard Enterprise product promising to "deliver edge computing and [artificial intelligence] capabilities to the International Space Station (ISS)." Space.com reports: Spaceborne Computer-2 will launch to space Feb. 20 aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft that will also deliver tons of other supplies, experiments and food for the station's Expedition 64 astronauts. An Antares rocket will launch the Cygnus NG-15 cargo mission from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Spaceborne Computer-2's mission could last two or three years. Once the computer is up and running in orbit, researchers will be able to use the Azure cloud system to do intensive processing or to transmit results back to the device. The computer is based on HPE's Edgeline Converged Edge system designed to operate in harsh environments.

Growing plants in space, modeling dust storms on Earth to assist with Mars mission planning, and doing ultrasound medical imaging for astronaut health care are some of the many fields that the collaboration will address, the companies said in a press release. "The combined advancements of Spaceborne Computer-2 will enable astronauts to eliminate longer latency and wait times associated with sending data to-and-from Earth, to tackle research, and gain insights immediately for a range of projects," the release added.

The new project builds on the lessons learned from a predecessor proof-of-concept device, called Spaceborne Computer. This flew to the space station for a one-year mission in 2017 to investigate computer reliability in space, amid a harsh environment that includes high radiation and zero gravity. "The goal was to test if affordable, commercial off-the-shelf servers used on earth, but equipped with purposefully-designed software-based hardening features, can withstand the shake, rattle and roll of a rocket launch to space, and once there, seamlessly operate on the ISS," the press release said, adding the predecessor mission was a success. "Additionally, gaining more reliable computing on the ISS is just the first step in NASA's goals for supporting human space travel to the moon, Mars and beyond where reliable communications is a mission critical need," the release noted.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Minneapolis voted Friday to ban the use of facial recognition software for its police department, growing the list of major cities that have implemented local restrictions on the controversial technology. After an ordinance on the ban was approved earlier this week, 13 members of the city council voted in favor of the ban, with no opposition. The new ban will block the Minneapolis Police Department from using any facial recognition technology, including software by Clearview AI. That company sells access to a large database of facial images, many scraped from major social networks, to federal law enforcement agencies, private companies and a number of U.S. police departments. The Minneapolis Police Department is known to have a relationship with Clearview AI, as is the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, which will not be restricted by the new ban.

Amazon has for years been using an app called "Mentor" to monitor and track delivery drivers' behavior on the road. "The app, which Amazon bills as a tool to improve driver safety, generates a score each day that measures employees' driving performance," reports CNBC. From the report: Just like the AI-equipped cameras rolling out to contracted delivery companies, Mentor is framed as a "digital driver safety app" to help employees avoid accidents and other unsafe driving habits while they're en route to their destination. But multiple delivery drivers who spoke to CNBC described the app as invasive and raised concerns that bugs within the app can, at times, lead to unfair disciplinary action from their manager.

The scores generated by the Mentor app are used in more ways than just evaluating an individual's job performance, drivers say. Amazon also looks at the scores, in part, when ranking a delivery partner's status, according to the drivers, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from Amazon. The ranking system for DSPs ranges from "Poor" to "Good" to "Fantastic" to the top tier, referred to as "Fantastic+." A surplus of poor Mentor scores among a delivery partner's workforce can drag down the DSP's ranking, which can potentially jeopardize their access to benefits provided by Amazon, such as optimal delivery routes, the drivers said. The app also features a dashboard for drivers to "see how they stack up against the rest of their team." Mentor's score-based system raises concerns that the app intensifies the pressure of the job, pitting drivers and competing DSPs against each other to an unhealthy degree. Amazon spokesperson Deborah Bass told CNBC in a statement: "Safety is Amazon's top priority. Whether it's state-of-the art telemetrics and advanced safety technology in last-mile vans, driver-safety training programs, or continuous improvements within our mapping and routing technology, we have invested tens of millions of dollars in safety mechanisms across our network, and regularly communicate safety best practices to drivers."

Cyber-security powerhouse Proofpoint has filed a lawsuit this week against Facebook in relation to the social network's attempt to confiscate domain names the security firm was using for phishing awareness training. From a report: The case is a countersuit to a Facebook filing from November 30, 2020, when the social network used a UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution) request to force domain name registrar Namecheap to hand over several domain names that were mimicking Facebook and Instagram brands. Among the listed domain names were the likes of facbook-login.com, facbook-login.net, instagrarn.ai, instagrarn.net, and instagrarn.org.

In court documents filed on Tuesday, Proofpoint said the UDRP should not apply to these domains, which it should be allowed to keep and continue using. Proofpoint argues that UDRP requests should only be used for domains registered in bad faith. The security firm instead says its use of the Facebook and Instagram lookalike domains "has been in good faith and for a legitimate purpose." Proofpoint claims its phishing awareness tests are crucial for the security of its customers, but also for the security of Facebook itself, as the phishing awareness tests teach users to recognize Facebook and Instagram lookalike domains and phishing attacks -- something that Facebook also benefits from, although indirectly.

Qualcomm has unveiled the X65, what it says is the "world's first" 10-gigabit 5G modem. Engadget reports: While that's not hugely faster than the 7.5Gbps of the X60, it promises a speed that was previously reserved for Ethernet and other wired connections. The X65 also boasts some helpful functional improvements, including AI-based antenna tuning that better responds to hand grips. You'll also find better power-saving measures and a newer "Smart Transmit" system that boots upload speeds and overall coverage.

The X65 is currently sampling to customers and should reach shipping devices in 2021, although Qualcomm didn't name customers. Don't count on it reaching many phones, at least not at first. [...] While it will support "premium smartphone experiences," you're more likely to see it used in laptops, fixed 5G broadband or similar areas where a separate modem isn't an issue.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Next Web: Scientists from the University of Copenhagen have developed an AI tool that can predict who'll die from COVID-19 with up to 90% accuracy. It also predicted whether someone who's admitted to hospital with COVID-19 will need a respirator with 80% accuracy. The researchers fed the system health data from almost 4,000 COVID-19 patients in Denmark to train it to find patterns in their medical histories. Unsurprisingly, BMI and age were the most decisive indicators. But the study also showed that males and people with high blood pressure or a neurological disease had an elevated risk. The next most influential health factors were having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. The study paper has been published in the journal Nature.

PCWorld reviews Intel's recently-released benchmarks claiming Apple's M1 isn't faster than their 11th gen Core i7-1185G7 processor, among other things. Here are the claims Intel makes (visit the article to read PCWorld's "take" on each claim): MacBook M1 is slower than Core i7: Intel says in the WebXPRT 3 test, using the same version of Chrome for both the Core i7 system as well as the Arm-native MacBook, Intel takes the lead. The Intel chip was largely ahead in WebXPRT 3, and the x86 chip was nearly three times faster in finishing the photo enhancement test. Intel doesn't just use WebXPRT 3, though. It also shows the Core i7 pummeling the M1 in a PowerPoint-to-PDF export, and in multiple Excel macros by a factor of 2.3x. And yes, Intel used the Arm-native versions of Office for its tests.

Core i7 Crushes M1 in AI: For content creation tasks, Intel showed the Core i7 to be about 1.12x faster than the M1 in performing a 4K AVC-to-HEVC/H.265 file conversion. In this benchmark, they had the MacBook using the M1-native version of Handbrake. But the real destruction happens once you get to Topaz Lab's Gigapixel AI and Denoise AI, with the Intel Core chip crushing the M1 in AI-based noise removal and enlargement. Or maybe "crushing" is too nice a term, as it's more like the Core i7 outpaces the M1 by so much, the M1 wishes it had never been designed.

M1 doesn't support all the features: Intel also gives itself the lead in Adobe Premiere Pro, using the beta M1 native version in Auto Reframe, exporting to H.264 and H.265. They're decent wins, but come on, the code is still in beta for the Mac. That said, Intel points out that important features like Content Aware Fill are outright disabled on the beta version, and that's a concern. If the native version of Photoshop comes out, and there are critical features missing from it, that's a huge problem for Apple (and Adobe).

You can't be faster if you can't run it: For gaming, we see a bit of a back and forth between the Apple M1 and Core i7 in games that actually work on the MacBook. Intel doesn't let it end there, though, and decides to embarrass Apple further by showing the numerous games where the MacBook scores a 0 because game support just doesn't exist. Intel points out that "countless more" games "don't run on the M1," and then for good measure, it rushes Apple's bench with a list 10 more games you can't play on the M1 MacBook: Overwatch, Crysis Remastered, Halo MCC, Red Dead Redemption 2, PUBG, Monster, Hunter World, Doom Eternal, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, Apex Legends, and Rainbow Six Siege.

MacBook wouldn't win Evo certification: You know that fancy Intel Evo program that tries to improve laptop performance in key areas that annoy consumers? Well, Intel pretty much says that if Apple submitted the M1 MacBook to the same program that Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Acer and others go through, it would be rejected. The reason? Intel says the M1 MacBook is too slow in doing things that anger consumers, such as "switch to Calendar" in Outlook, "start video conference Zoom" and "select picture menu" in PowerPoint.

Great battery life?: Perhaps the most shocking claim Intel showed deals with battery life. While performance tests can be cherry picked by those looking to prove an outcome, battery life usually can't be disputed. Apple's official claim gives the M1 MacBook up to 18 hours of battery life using Apple TV app to watch a 1080p video with the brightness set to "8 clicks from the bottom." Apple also claims up to 15 hours browsing 25 "popular" websites with the same "8 clicks" criteria. When Intel pitted a MacBook Air M1 against an Acer Swift 5 with a Core i7-1165G7, however, it found both basically dead even. The MacBook Air came in at 10 hours and 12 minutes, and the Acer Swift 5 lasted 10 hours and 6 minutes. The difference? Intel said it used Safari to watch a Netflix stream with tabs open with the screen set to a relatively bright 250 nits. On the Acer, Safari was subbed out for Chrome, but the brightness and Netflix remained the same. Intel did add that Apple's "8 clicks up" is about 125 nits of brightness on the MacBook Air which is pretty dim.

All kinds of things just don't work on the M1: Intel didn't just get into the performance of the M1. It also said it found the MacBook Pro had serious shortcomings, such as an inability to use more than one display with a Thunderbolt dock. And while the PC can use gaming headsets, eGPUs, a third-party finger print reader, Wacom Drawing tablet and Xbox Controller, Intel said it found the MacBook Pro simply doesn't work with eGPUs, and had multiple issues with other devices. That's just hardware incompatibility. Intel's rap battle with Apple also highlights issues with plug-ins for Ableton, Bitwig Studio, Avid Pro Tools, FL Studio, Motu and many others.

IBM and Palantir have announced a partnership to merge hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), data processing, and operational technology in a new enterprise offering. ZDNet reports: On Monday, the companies said the new solution, Palantir for IBM Cloud Pak for Data, will "simplify how businesses build and deploy AI-infused applications with IBM Watson and help users access, analyze, and take action on the vast amounts of data that is scattered across hybrid cloud environments without the need for deep technical skills." Palantir for IBM Cloud Pak for Data brings together Palantir Foundry, a data integration and analysis platform, and IBM Cloud Pak for Data services, including IBM Watson.

The new enterprise product has been built to reduce data silos and cut out the technical expertise generally required to make use of AI analysis. According to IBM, the offering will be a "no/low-code" platform for deploying AI applications able to process data effectively and quickly, "extend[ing] existing enterprise systems and accelerate their digital transformation." As part of the partnership, Palantir is adopting Red Hat OpenShift for improved technological compatibility in hybrid cloud environments. Palantir for IBM Cloud Pak for Data is expected to be generally availabile in March 2021.

Mark Cuban is getting in on the audio and podcasting hype. From a report: Alongside co-founder Falon Fatemi, he's planning to launch Fireside, a "next-gen podcast platform" that facilitates live conversation, according to an email sent to possible creator partners seen by The Verge. The app idea is similar to the buzzy live audio startup Clubhouse, except with the ability to natively record conversations. A source close to Fireside says the app plans to launch publicly this year. Fatemi, who co-founded and sold the AI customer relations service Node, promises a platform where creators will be able to broadcast, record, and monetize conversations while using Fireside's built-in analytics tools to figure out what content performs best. The app, according to a now-expired engineer job posting, has raised a "multi-million dollar" seed round to get started. The source close to the company says creators will be offered various deals and ways to monetize, and the app won't let just anyone speak publicly. It'll be a highly curated experience.

A Slashdot reader shared an anonymous tip about "new consumer-grade artificial intelligence employed to restore 85 year-old Popeye cartoons, using only the available digital copies as sources for the remastering."

It's eerie to see vintage cartoons like Popeye the Sailor meets Sindbad the Sailor upgraded to high resolution. It's apparently the work of Cartoon Renewal Studios, a group "Dedicated to the loving and careful preservation of classic off-copyright animation" (according to its web site).

There's not much information, but Jim Ames of Cartoon Renewal Studios turned up in an online forum promising "we're restoring ALL the classic cartoons to brilliant 1080 HD so they can be enjoyed forever." I've been dreaming of this project for some time... We will be posting THOUSANDS of off-copyright cartoons digitally remastered and upscaled to 1080 HD. We can process about 50 cartoons a month, at this time... Hoping to scale up to 100 cartoons a month processing capability next month.

We could finish 1000 cartoons in 2021... stay tuned...

Amazon drivers at some U.S. facilities will soon have an extra set of eyes watching them when they hit the road to make their daily deliveries. From a report: The company recently began testing AI-equipped cameras in vehicles to monitor contracted delivery drivers while they're on the job, with the aim of improving safety. Amazon has deployed the cameras in Amazon-branded cargo vans used by a handful of companies that are part of its delivery service partner program, which are largely responsible for last-mile deliveries. The cameras could be rolled out to additional DSPs over time, and Amazon has already distributed an instructional video to DSPs, informing them of how the cameras work. Deborah Bass, an Amazon spokesperson, confirmed to CNBC that the company has begun using the AI-equipped cameras across its delivery fleet. Some details of Amazon's plans were previously reported by The Information. "We are investing in safety across our operations and recently started rolling out industry leading camera-based safety technology across our delivery fleet," Bass said in a statement. "This technology will provide drivers real-time alerts to help them stay safe when they are on the road."

An engineering director and a software developer have quit Alphabet's Google over the dismissal of AI researcher Timnit Gebru, a sign of the ongoing conflicts at the search giant over diversity and ethics. From a report: David Baker, a director focused on user safety, left Google last month after 16 years because Gebru's exit "extinguished my desire to continue as a Googler," he said in a letter seen by Reuters. Baker added, "We cannot say we believe in diversity, and then ignore the conspicuous absence of many voices from within our walls." Software engineer Vinesh Kannan said Wednesday on Twitter that he had left the company on Tuesday because Google mistreated Gebru and April Christina Curley, a recruiter who has said she was wrongly fired last year. Both Gebru and Curley identify as Black. "They were wronged," Kannan said. Google declined to comment, but pointed to previous statements that it is looking to restore employees' trust after Gebru's departure and that it disputes Curley's accusation.

sinij shares a report from CBC.ca: American technology firm Clearview AI violated Canadian privacy laws by collecting photos of Canadians without their knowledge or consent, an investigation by four of Canada's privacy commissioners has found. The report found that Clearview's technology created a significant risk to individuals by allowing law enforcement and companies to match photos against its database of more than three billion images, including Canadians and children.

The commissioners called for Clearview to stop offering its technology in Canada, stop collecting images of Canadians and to delete the photos of Canadians it had already collected in its database. If the company refuses to follow the recommendations, the four privacy commissioners will "pursue other actions available under their respective acts to bring Clearview into compliance with Canadian laws," the statement said. However, the four acknowledged that under current laws, and even under proposed changes to federal privacy laws, their ability to penalize the company or force it to comply with Canadian orders is limited. "What Clearview does, is mass surveillance and it is illegal," federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien told reporters Wednesday. "It is an affront to individuals' privacy rights and inflicts broad based harm on all members of society who find themselves continually in a police lineup." "This is completely unacceptable."

SoftBank Group Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Friday he expects mass production of self-driving vehicles to start in two years. From a report: While in the first year the production of units won't be in millions, in the next several years the cost per mile in fully autonomous cars will become very cheap, Son said, speaking at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum. "The AI is driving for you. The automobile will become a real supercomputer with four wheels." SoftBank has stake in self-driving car maker Cruise, which is majority owned by General Motors, and has been testing self-driving cars in California. It has also funded the autonomous driving business of China's Didi Chuxing.

"Late last week, a website called Faces of the Riot appeared online, showing nothing but a vast grid of more than 6,000 images of faces, each one tagged only with a string of characters associated with the Parler video in which it appeared," reports WIRED, saying the site raises clear privacy concerns: The site's creator tells WIRED that he used simple, open source machine-learning and facial recognition software to detect, extract, and deduplicate every face from the 827 videos that were posted to Parler from inside and outside the Capitol building on January 6, the day when radicalized Trump supporters stormed the building in a riot that resulted in five people's deaths. The creator of Faces of the Riot says his goal is to allow anyone to easily sort through the faces pulled from those videos to identify someone they may know, or recognize who took part in the mob, or even to reference the collected faces against FBI wanted posters and send a tip to law enforcement if they spot someone... "It's entirely possible that a lot of people who were on this website now will face real-life consequences for their actions...."

A recent upgrade to the site adds hyperlinks from faces to the video source, so that visitors can click on any face and see what the person was filmed doing on Parler. The Faces of the Riot creator, who says he's a college student in the "greater DC area," intends that added feature to help contextualize every face's inclusion on the site and differentiate between bystanders, peaceful protesters, and violent insurrectionists. He concedes that he and a co-creator are still working to scrub "non-rioter" faces, including those of police and press who were present. A message at the top of the site also warns against vigilante investigations, instead suggesting users report those they recognize to the FBI, with a link to an FBI tip page....

McDonald has previously both criticized the power of facial recognition technology and himself implemented facial recognition projects like ICEspy, a tool he launched in 2018 for identifying agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency... He sees Faces of the Riot as "playing it really safe" compared even to his own facial recognition experiments, given that it doesn't seek to link faces with named identities. "And I think it's a good call because I don't think that we need to legitimize this technology any more than it already is and has been falsely legitimized," McDonald says.

But McDonald also points out that Faces of the Riot demonstrates just how accessible facial recognition technologies have become. "It shows how this tool that has been restricted only to people who have the most education, the most power, the most privilege is now in this more democratized state," McDonald says.