01/22/18 Morning links

Techdirt: Report shows US law enforcement routinely engages in parallel construction. This should be a huge story, but a quick Google search shows that only a handful of websites are covering it.  Basically, police use illegal surveillance methods to gather evidence in criminal cases.  But for the evidence to be admissible in court, the methods used must be legal.  So the cops have to concoct a fake narrative as to how they gathered the evidence.  It’s lying to the judge and the jury, and it obscures just how prevalent illegal tactics are used in criminal cases.  And it is probably very difficult to detect.  This story is more proof that police departments need to be restrained by independent oversight committees.

Telecoms: Microsoft gets support of privacy groups in battle against US

and more from Gizmodo: Nearly everyone backs Microsoft in landmark email privacy case…except the DOJ

Computer Weekly: European Parliament votes to restrict exports of surveillance equipment.  Europe getting it right.  It’s important to note that the bill would specifically prohibit the export of surveillance to Third World tyrants who have no Constitutional restraints on abusing their citizens.  The US, however, has no qualms whatsoever about selling weapons and surveillance tech to any tin-pot dictators.

Zero Hedge: Wikileaks’ Assange keeps warning of AI censorship, and it’s time we started listening.  Assange is warning of the coming automated Surveillance State, and yes, we should listen.

SWNS: A history of CCTV surveillance in Britain. Brits live under the most omnipotent Surveillance States in the West, with the story noting that the country has more CCTV cameras per person than any other country in the world. 2.2 billion pounds are spent each year on these surveillance devices.

Information Age: The evolution of artificial intelligence

Maybe we should force Zuckerberg to submit to a Turing test. Or the Voight-Kampff: Phys: Facebook to train 65,000 in French jobs scheme

 

Author: S. Smith