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Want to Spot a Deepfake? Look for the Stars in Their Eyes
In an era when the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) images is at the fingertips of the masses, the ability to detect fake pictures – particularly deepfakes of people – is becoming increasingly important. So what if you could tell just by looking into someone’s eyes?
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Detroit Takes Important Step in Curbing the Harms of Face Recognition Technology
In a first-of-its-kind agreement, the Detroit Police Department recently agreed to adopt strict limits on its officers’ use of face recognition technology as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by a victim of this faulty technology.
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How 'Islamic State' Uses AI to Spread Extremist Propaganda
Groups like the “Islamic State” and al-Qaeda are urging followers to use the latest digital tools to spread their extremist message, avoid censorship and recruit.
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In an Era of Dam Removal, California Is Building More
Earlier this year, the federal government finalized $216 million dollars in funding for a controversial dam project south of the Klamath River, adding to the $1 billion in direct grants already pledged to the project known as Sites Reservoir. This would be California’s first major new reservoir in half a century. Proponents say a new reservoir off the Sacramento River is environmentally friendly.
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Germany Foils Russian Plot to Assassinate German Arms Company Chief
German politicians have voiced horror over a report that Russia planned to murder a German arms company boss. US intelligence is said to have uncovered the plot against Rheinmetall chief Armin Papperger.
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Pulp Fiction: People, Not Paper, Are Leaking States Secrets
The intelligence community must embrace emerging information technology and abandon paper-based products. Getting rid of paper, however, would not fix the underlying problem. Instead of restricting paper, the U.S. counterintelligence community must risk a forward posture of machine learning and AI adaptation to detect disclosures and espionage before it happens.
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Hundreds of Tech Companies Want to Cash In on Homeland Security Funding. Here's Who They Are and What They're Selling.
Whenever concerns grow about the security along the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration, the U.S. government generate dollars — hundreds of millions of dollars — for tech conglomerates and start-ups. Who are the vendors who supply or market the technology for the U.S. government’s increasingly AI-powered homeland security efforts, including the so-called “virtual wall” of surveillance along the southern border with Mexico?
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Will China's Economy Ever Overtake the U.S.'s?
China’s ambition to be the world’s largest economy has been dented by COVID-19, the real estate crisis and an aging population. Boosting growth will be the prime focus at a Communist Party meeting.
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Russian Election Meddlers Hurting Biden, Helping Trump, U.S. Intelligence Warns
Russia is turning to a familiar playbook in its attempt to sway the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, looking for ways to boost the candidacy of former President Donald Trump by disparaging the campaign of incumbent President Joe Biden, according to American intelligence officials.
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Anti-Israel Sentiments Emerge as the Strongest Predictor of Belief in Anti-Jewish Tropes Among Students
Belief in classic antisemitic tropes increased on four University of California (UC) campuses after Oct. 7, 2023, as did negative sentiments toward Israel. This change in attitude is happening in a broader context of dramatically increasing antisemitism across the country.
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Businesses Are Harvesting Our Biometric Data. The Public Needs Assurances on Security
Visual data capturing and analysis are particularly critical compared to non-visual data. That’s why its growing use by businesses raises so many concerns about privacy and consent. While the public remains unaware of the extent to which their visual data is being captured and utilized, their information will be vulnerable to misuse or exploitation.
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Some Firms Resisting Pressure to Take Sides in 'Chip War'
New research has revealed why German firms are refusing to join the United States’ tech trade war with China over semiconductor chips, a key component in modern electrical devices.
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More States Consider Voter ID Laws Amid Conflicting Research on Their Impact
36 states require some form of identification to cast a ballot. Voting rights advocates cite research showing that such rules block many legitimate voters — especially young, Black and Latino voters — from the polls. But backers of voter ID laws point to other studies which suggest that the rules have had a minimal effect on voter turnout, partly because Democrats often respond to them by amping up their voter mobilization efforts.
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Nonproliferation Researcher Is Retracing Reactor Steps
Nuclear materials can produce vast amounts of energy. This unique attribute can be harnessed through reactors to provide a reliable, low-carbon electricity source. It can also be used to make weapons.
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Silicon Valley Steps Up Screening of Chinese Employees to Counter Espionage
Leading U.S. technology companies reportedly have increased security screening of employees and job applicants, which experts say is necessary to counter the cyber espionage threat from China. Applicantswith family or other ties to China are thought to be particularly vulnerable to pressure from the Beijing government.
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The long view
Kinetic Operations Bring Authoritarian Violence to Democratic Streets
Foreign interference in democracies has a multifaceted toolkit. In addition to information manipulation, the tactical tools authoritarian actors use to undermine democracy include cyber operations, economic coercion, malign finance, and civil society subversion.
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Trump Aims to Shut Down State Climate Policies
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out legal attack on states’ authority to set climate change policy. Climate-focused state leaders say his administration has no legal basis to unravel their efforts.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.
Twenty-One Things That Are True in Los Angeles
To understand the dangers inherent in deploying the California National Guard – over the strenuous objections of the California governor – and active-duty Marines to deal with anti-ICE protesters, we should remind ourselves of a few elementary truths, writes Benjamin Wittes. Among these truths: “Not all lawful exercises of authority are wise, prudent, or smart”; “Not all crimes require a federal response”; “Avoiding tragic and unnecessary confrontations is generally desirable”; and “It is thus unwise, imprudent, and stupid to take actions for performative reasons that one might reasonably anticipate would increase the risks of such confrontations.”
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”