Albert Fox Cahn

Earlier this week, 23andMe admitted that an October hack was dramatically worse than the company initially admitted, affecting 6.9 million people, not the 14,000 it first reported. 23andMe followed up with an early Christmas present for users: a terms of service update that would force people to give up the right to sue the company. The stolen data includes full names, genetic information, and more, but despite the sensitivity of the information, some consumers responded with a shrug. As one TikTok user commented on a…

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is seeking approval from the FTC to implement facial age estimation technology to stop kids skirting parental controls. If the industry’s self-regulating body gets its way, kids and their parents may need to get used to taking selfies to sign up for games. David Byrne on New Tech and AI | Gizmodo InterviewIn a recent application submitted by the ESRB, digital identity firm Yoti, and youth digital media company SuperAwesome, the three organizations jointly asked the FTC for…

New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has admitted it uses cameras equipped with AI software to scan riders believed to have jumped subway turnstiles without paying fares. The MTA, which says it collects the scans “as a counting tool” plans to expand the system to more than two dozen more stations by the end of the year.“Dungeons & Dragons is My Nerdy Obsession” | First FandomsAn MTA official speaking with Gizmodo said the tools are only intended for “research purposes” but civil liberties groups fear…

Brooklyn resident Fabian Rogers knew he had to act in 2018 when his penny-pinching landlord suddenly attempted to install a facial recognition camera in the entrance of a rent-stabilized building he’d called home for years. Under the new security system, all tenants and their loved ones would be forced to submit to a face scan to enter the building. The landlord, like many others, tried to sell the controversial tech as a safety enhancement, but Rogers told Gizmodo he saw it as a sneaky attempt to jack up prices in a…

The New York Police Department introduced a four-legged robotic canine to its force this week and the New York Fire Department has reportedly also put in orders for two of the robotic dogs at a mere $75,000 each, Fox5 reported. The remote-controlled dog was created by the Hyundai-owned company, Boston Dynamics, and will be deployed in dangerous areas that could pose a threat to police officers, fire department employees, and civilians alike.Cops Pull Over Self-Driving CarNew York City Mayor Eric Adams introduced the…

Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly used a little-known administrative subpoena more than 100,000 times over six years to request information from schools, abortion clinics, and newspapers, all without first procuring warrants from judges. Pentagon Employees Too Horny to Follow RulesThe massive database of subpoenas, first revealed by Wired, is just the latest example of ICE and other federal agencies finding creative loopholes to sidestep privacysafeguards. Though details of the requests remain obscure,…

Clearview AI, the shady US facial recognition firm whose surveillance tech is used by at least 2,400 law enforcement agencies, says police have run nearly a million searches using its service. The company’s database of images scraped from social media sites now reportedly numbers around 30 billion, a staggering 50% increase from figures reported just last year. Despite repeated fines and years of pushback from civil liberties organizations, the figures suggest business is still booming for Clearview.Should Facial…

Image shows a face being detected outside a subway. Screenshot: ACLUNew documents revealed by the ACLU and shared with Gizmodo show the lengths FBI and Pentagon officials went to develop “truly unconstrained” facial recognition capable of being deployed in public street cameras, mobile drones, and cops’ body cameras.The goal of the project, code-named “Janus” after the Roman god with two opposing faces, was to develop highly advanced facial scanning tech capable of scanning people’s faces across a vast swath of public…

Photo: Carl Court (Getty Images)Airbnb users who themselves may have done nothing wrong can be banned from renting vacation spots if they are deemed “closely associated” with another user who has already been banned. The short-term rental company says the plan is intended to bolster safety on the platform, but tech advocacy groups speaking with Gizmodo questioned the “half-baked” policy’s accuracy and said it appeared difficult, if not impossible, to enforce fairly.Airbnb would not say how long the ban by association…

Photo: Astrid Stawiarz (Getty Images)An attorney working for a law firm taking legal action against MSG Entertainment claims she was spotted by the company’s facial recognition security system while attending a Rockettes show with her daughter and was ultimately denied entry. The case, one of the first of its kind according to a privacy expert speaking with Gizmodo, sheds light on an underreported practice of private companies using biometric identification systems to carry out retaliatory policy prescriptions amid a…