Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Chinese drone manufacturer DJI has been added to the US economic blacklist. According to the US Government’s Commerce Department, DJI is one of four companies that “enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance.”
The UK Government has just announced that they’re hiring an official photographer. If you need a job and miss travels in these crazy times, it may be a good opportunity for you. The yearly salary is £60,000, and you’ll get to travel and take photos of the UK Government and its ministers.
Earlier this week, the UK Government came under fire over a “crass” campaign photo. It shows a young ballet dancer and a caption reading: “Fatima’s next job could be in cyber (she just doesn’t know it yet). Rethink. Reskill. Reboot.” Atlanta-based photographer Krys Alex shot the original image, and she spoke up about the incident. She says that she was “devastated” when she found out how her photo was used, and that she would have never allowed it.
Coronavirus has hit all of us, but artists and creators are among those who were hit really hard. UK Government decided to hit them even harder in a marketing campaign that completely devaluates their jobs. Not only does it mock artists, but it also uses free photos found on Unsplash, So, it’s no wonder that it faced a strong backlash and it was soon taken down.
Facial recognition is an incredibly useful consumer tool for organizing our burgeoning photo albums. Companies like Google and Apple have slowly integrated machine learning algorithms into their consumer photo products, which allow you to search by keywords without the need for manual tagging, or to simply click on a face to see more photos of that person.
Although facial recognition technology uses artificial intelligence, it’s not always very intelligent. The Government’s facial detection system recently rejected a perfectly appropriate passport photo of a young black man because it thought his mouth was open.
According to the BBC, the US government has issued an alert warning that Chinese-made drones may pose potential cyberespionage risks to American businesses. They say that the warning does not specifically name DJI, however, in September last year, Skylogic Research’s 2018 Drone Market Sector Report lists DJI as having an estimated 74% market share.
This isn’t the first time the US government has aired concerns over DJI products. The US Army dropped DJI drone use citing “cyber vulnerabilities” in September 2017. And they were accused of spying for the Chinese government just a couple of months later.
The Department of Homeland Security has recently listed an ad searching for a photographer. The position is open to the public, and they’re looking for a full-time employee. The salary ranges from $79,720 to $103,639 per year and includes government benefits.
According to BRProud, the US Department of the Interior is proposing to double or almost triple the price of admission to 17 America’s most popular national parks. They say that the prices will double or almost triple the current admission fees during peak season.
The proposals would see the cost of a 7-day car pass increase from $25-30, depending on the park, up to $70. The general public have a couple of days left to offer their input on the proposal.
US Magistrate James Francis, a New York judge, recently made a controversial ruling two months ago that you may want to know about. The decision, made in a case against Microsoft, declared that US search warrants apply to digital information even if its stored overseas.
The ruling was given after Microsoft was ordered to hand over the email account of a user under investigation for drug trafficking – the company’s information was stored overseas in Dublin, Ireland. Microsoft then challenged the authority of the government to seize it from outside United States borders. The US Government responded, stating that (according to the Stored Communications Act) online storage isn’t protected by the fourth amendment.
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