Surveillance News in the Digital World

• AI companies, including Google and OpenAI, are intensifying their screening of new hires due to the threat of Chinese espionage. more

• MICROSOFT ADMITS THAT MAYBE SURVEILING EVERYTHING YOU DO ON YOUR COMPUTER ISN’T A BRILLIANT IDEA... After announcing a new AI feature that records and screenshots everything you do, Microsoft is now delaying its launch after widespread objections. The company broke the news in a blog post detailing its decision not to ship the feature, dubbed Recall, on new computers so that it can continue to "leverage the expertise" of its Windows Insider Program (WIP) beta-testing community. more

• Zoom wants to make sure you’re paying attention. The company filed a patent application for “scrolling motion detection” in video calls.

• Chinese Spy Tech Driving Junta Internet Crackdown: Justice For Myanmar... China supplied the spy technology and technicians that allowed Myanmar’s junta to intensify its internet surveillance and censorship late last month, Justice for Myanmar (JFM) said on Thursday, warning that China’s increased support for the junta will cost more lives. This support will allow the junta – which has imprisoned more than 25,000 people since the 2021 coup – to identify and jail more people who express dissent. more

• Canada - Public servants uneasy as government 'spy' robot prowls federal offices... A device federal public servants call "the little robot" began appearing in Gatineau office buildings in March. It travels through the workplace to collect data using about 20 sensors and a 360-degree camera, according to Yahya Saad, co-founder of GlobalDWS, which created the robot. "Using AI on the robot, the camera takes the picture, analyzes and counts the number of people and then discards the image," he said. more

FutureWatch - Robot Eavesdropping Microphone Smart Swarms

by Nick Bil

With the help of modern technology, muting distracting voices in video calls has become a simple process. With just a few clicks, you can silence unwanted background noise and side conversations, ensuring that the primary speaker's message remains clear and uninterrupted. This is largely possible due to the sophisticated audio processing algorithms and noise cancellation features built into video conferencing software...

One can take precautions to minimize background noise and encourage attendees to be considerate, but there is no easy technological solution to separate voices cleanly from a shared physical space. That may change in the near future, however, thanks to a swarm of robotic smart microphones that was recently developed by researchers at the University of Washington. The robots autonomously navigate around a room to distribute themselves optimally, then they run onboard deep learning algorithms to identify and track the position of each individual speaker.

The robots are powered by Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 microcontroller, with a Bluetooth Low Energy module added for wireless communication capabilities. By selecting a sufficiently powerful microcontroller, the algorithms can run on-device, sidestepping any privacy concerns associated with sending a stream of audio to a cloud service. A gyroscope and accelerometer provide odometry information, and a pair of micro motors provide for locomotion. A pair of microphones and a speaker are onboard, and the entire system is powered by a rechargeable LiPo battery.

Each of the circular, wheeled robots is about an inch across. After deployment from a charging station, they all travel in different directions, emitting high frequency sounds to communicate with one another and make sure they are spread out as far as possible from one another. These high-pitched chirps also keep the robots from falling off of tables or bumping into other obstacles.

By feeding audio information into a deep neural network, including the delay in time with which a particular voice arrives at microphones in different positions, the team found that it was possible to locate and track individual speakers in space. And the algorithm proved to be accurate enough to distinguish between speakers, even if they had similar sounding voices and were near to one another. Experiments showed that the present system was able to accurately distinguish between nearby individuals 90% of the time. Importantly, this was accomplished without prior information about the individuals, so no initial training session is required to calibrate the device...

And further down the road yet, they plan to explore incorporating noise-canceling technologies into the robots. That addition could allow them to mute noisy areas in physical locations, producing a sci-fi-like cone of silence. more

Time for an espionage sequel to the movie Runaway (1984)?

AT&T Goes to the Dogs... or, Fetch 5GK9

AT&T has partnered with Ghost Robotics to test the many use cases of a fleet of 5G-connected robotic dogs in public safety and first response...

Surveillance
One use case involved robotic dogs with wireless network-connected cameras that were deployed at military bases for patrol. At Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, video feeds in real-time are sent to base personnel who always track activity on the base.

This same robotic dog could be used in commercial use cases either indoors or outdoors to patrol the perimeter of structures such as warehouses, logistics facilities, shopping malls or fleet centers. more

AI News: The Farm Bots Are Here... finally

IL - In a research field off Highway 54 last autumn, corn stalks shimmered in rows 40-feet deep. Girish Chowdhary, an agricultural engineer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, bent to place a small white robot at the edge of a row marked 103. 

 The robot, named TerraSentia, resembled a souped up version of a lawn mower, with all-terrain wheels and a high-resolution camera on each side.

In much the same way that self-driving cars “see” their surroundings, TerraSentia navigates a field by sending out thousands of laser pulses to scan its environment. A few clicks on a tablet were all that were needed to orient the robot at the start of the row before it took off, squeaking slightly as it drove over ruts in the field. more

Farm Bots from 48 years ago,

in your weekend movie,

                      Silent Running...

Spy Tip: How to Break Out of Automated Phone Trees

Tired of Talking to a Voice Robot?
Want to Talk with a Human?
Skip the cue.
Try...

1. Dial O, or try multiple zeros.
2. You can add the # key or the * key before and after a 0.
3. Dial multiples of other numbers 1111, 2222, 3333, 4444, etc.
4. Being silent sometimes works (believe it or not some people still have rotary phones).
5. Speak non-sensible phrases to confuse computer.
6. Try speaking and repeating "Operator" or "Customer Service".
7. If there is a company directory, press just one letter and then try to connect to that person and then may transfer you or give you an inside phone number.
8. Make sure once you get a human, ask for the direct line to call.

 More listings here.

Practice Saying, "Yes Master"...like you really mean it!

ROBOTS spying on your social media profiles could stop you from getting your dream job.

Recruitment AI used by companies to pick out applicants scans your posts for signs you might not be right for the role.

Known as DeepSense, the tool assesses your personality based on your online activity – even if you haven't applied for the role and don't know you're being assessed. The language you use, your photos, how often you post and more is merged into a data profile that tells recruiters your interests, teamwork skills, how extroverted or introverted you are, and even your emotional stability. more

When Mars Attacks, We May Already be Dead

Some of the most popular industrial and consumer robots are dangerously easy to hack and could be turned into bugging devices or weapons, IOActive Inc. said...

These vulnerabilities could allow the robots to be turned into surveillance devices, surreptitiously spying on their owners, or let them to be hijacked and used to physically harm people or damage property...
                    ...or, do the Dobi Boogie!
more

So You Named Your Robot Bedmate, Mata Hari. Cute.

At the Hack in the Box security conference later this week in Singapore,

Argentinian security researchers Lucas Apa and Cesar Cerrudo plan to demonstrate hacker attacks they developed against three popular robots: the humanoid domestic robots known as the Alpha2 and NAO, as well as a larger, industrial-focused robotic arm sold by Universal Robots.

The duo plan to show that they can hack those machines to either change critical safety settings or, in the case of the two smaller bots, send them whatever commands they choose, turning them into surveillance devices that silently transmit audio and video to a remote spy.

"They can move, they can hear, they can see," says Cesar Cerrudo, the chief technology officer of IOActive, where both of the researchers work. Those features could soon make robots at least as tempting a target for spies and saboteurs as traditional computers or smartphones, he argues. "If you hack one of these things, the threat is bigger."...

Privacy invasion presents a more realistic worry... domestic robots contain mobile cameras and microphones whose data a spy could not only intercept, but manipulate and move at will around a target's house.  more