amnesty international

Dubai, Feb 23, 2024 -Online retailer Amazon said Friday it had paid $1.9 million to more than 700 contracted workers in Saudi Arabia as reimbursements for unlawful recruitment fees, among other alleged violations.In October, Amnesty International accused Amazon of a range of abuses against workers in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, prompting the US-based multinational to launch an investigation.Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Product…

New Delhi: An investigation by Amnesty International, in partnership with The Washington Post, has suggested the Indian government has repeatedly used the Pegasus spyware to target prominent journalists in India. In response, the government has described the report as “half facts, fully embellished”.The report published Thursday said that the organisations had “unearthed shocking new details about the continued use of NSO Group’s highly invasive spyware Pegasus to target prominent journalists in India, including one who…

India's government has recently targeted high-profile journalists with Pegasus spyware, Amnesty International and The Washington Post said in a joint investigation published Thursday.Created by Israeli firm NSO Group and sold to governments around the world, Pegasus software can be used to access a phone's messages and emails, peruse photos, eavesdrop on calls, track locations, and even film the owner with the camera. Amnesty said journalists Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire and Anand Mangnale of The Organized Crime and…

By all accounts, the European Union’s AI Act seems like something that would make tech ethicists happy. The landmark artificial intelligence law, which enjoyed a huge legislative win this week, seeks to institute a broad regulatory framework that would tackle the harms posed by the new technology. In its current form, the law would go to some lengths to make AI more transparent, inclusive, and consumer-friendly in the countries where it’s in effect. What’s not to like, right?Zillow Says You’ll Buy Your Next House With……

People in Pakistan are facing significant, ongoing restrictions to their internet access following political protests and the arrest of the country’s former prime minister. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) confirmed that it intentionally cut off mobile internet service beginning Tuesday, according to Geo News—a Pakistani outlet. The blackout has continued into Wednesday, and mobile internet will remain “suspended for an indefinite period” on instruction from the interior ministry according to a second Geo…

The Israeli military is increasingly deploying experimental new facial recognition software to monitor Palestinians and “supercharge segregation” in the West Bank, according to a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday. Amnesty found that Israeli authorities are using a little-known advanced surveillance tool called “Red Wolf” to monitor and restrict Palestinian residents’ movements across key checkpoints in the region. Palestinians on the ground described the state’s vast and growing web of facial…

Sixteen organisations including Amnesty International, Access Now and Human Rights Watch issued a joint statement against the latest amendments to the Information Technology (IT) Rules of 2022, under which the government proposes to set up a fact-checking unit for government news, saying it would “censor journalism and severely jeopardise freedom of expression”. “India’s new IT Rules amendment effectively empowers the government to be the judge and the jury on online content pertaining to itself. Fake, false and…

Leading global human rights organization Amnesty International is defending its choice to use an AI image generator to depict protests and police brutality in Colombia. Amnesty told Gizmodo it used an AI generator to depict human rights abuses so as to preserve the anonymity of vulnerable protestors. Experts fear, however, that the use of the tech could undermine the credibility of advocacy groups already besieged by authoritarian governments that cast doubt on the authenticity of real footage.Warning! Microsoft Wants…

Photo: U.S. Army Spc. Jaaron TolleyThe U.S. The Department of Defense has peeked into the future, and it sees a world rife with automated weapons of war. In its first update since 2012, DoD’s guidance overseeing the development, testing, and use of autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons warned of artificial intelligence’s “increasing role” in wars to come. More than a decade has passed since the Pentagon last updated its policy directive on these weapons, titled “Autonomy in Weapons Systems,” but that changed this week. …

Photo: Getty Images (Getty Images)Facebook and its parent company Meta are being sued for allegedly allowing toxic, violence-inciting content to flourish in communities in Ethiopia, where a civil war has left hundreds of thousands dead in recent years. The lawsuit, filed by two Ethiopian researchers, accuses the tech giant of helping to fuel violence in the region through indifference—a lack of effective content moderation controls. The suit claims that the tech giant’s recommendations systems—algorithmic encouragement…