A proposal to install facial recognition cameras in an Indian city draws backlash, a stealthy call for coders has been found on the White House’s website, and Ajit Pai’s final report deserves an eye-roll.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Friday January 22, and I’m your host Alex Coop.
A proposal by police in the Indian city of Uttar Pradesh to set up AI-based cameras in the city’s “hotspots” to detect the expressions of women in distress, is drawing tons of backlash. The move is part of safety initiatives launched by the Lucknow police department, but journalists, policy experts and women’s rights activists are warning the move is a huge misstep. The Lucknow police department says the cameras become active as soon as “the expressions of a woman in distress change.” The hope, police say, is to alert police to the distressed citizen before they even call the police. Yes listener, you are correct – that last sentence does sound ridiculous. [Twitter]
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People have found a hidden call to action within the code of the new White House website. If you pull up the developer tools on your browser while visiting the website, you can spot the hidden message saying “ “If you’re reading this, we need your help building back better.” It then has the text for the United States Digital Service (USDS) job application page. The message was spotted on Twitter by Microsoft employee Isaac Hepworth.
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And finally, in one of his last acts as Federal Communications Commission chairman, Ajit Pai says the FCC’s 6-year-old broadband standards are a-okay. This is in reference to the 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload speeds highlighted in his final report. These speeds haven’t been adjusted since January 2015. The final report offers no guidance or potential benchmarks for the future. It’s certainly worth noting some of Pai’s accomplishments during his tenure as chairman include deregulating the broadband industry and eliminating net neutrality rules.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Alex Coop, thanks for listening!