🤖 The death of privacy

Good morning and welcome to the latest issue of neonpulse!

In today’s issue we’re focusing on how government agencies are using AI technology, and the implications that this has on our privacy.

Let’s get into it!

AI And The Death of Privacy

In a turn of events reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984", a number of American government agencies have begun using AI to monitor the thoughts and movements of people around the world.

Echoing Orwell's prophetic vision of a society under constant surveillance, various US government agencies are now using AI technology from Babel in order to keep tabs on “public sentiment and potential security threats,” an eerily vague statement that doesn’t provide much clarity on exactly how the technology is being used.

So how does this all work?

By scraping the internet, including web forums, social media sites, and even the dark web, Babbel is able provides government agencies with your date of birth, address, usernames, email address, phone number, social media content, images, IP address, Social Security number, driver’s license number, and even your employment history…

But that’s not even the scary part.

Because Babel has access to nearly everyone’s cell phone location data…

Not only can government agencies see where you spend your time…

But by seeing which phones are in close proximity to yours…

They also know who you’re spending your time with.

And before you start to think this type of technology would only be used by a group like the CIA to track terrorists…

Documents were leaked that showed that Babbel subscriptions were purchased by the FBI, the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Air Force, the Army, Special Operations Command, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the State Department…

Meaning any U.S. citizen could be under surveillance, by multiple government agencies, for any reason, at any time.

Wondering how any of this could be legal?

Great question.

Because the government agencies are purchasing this data, and not collecting it themselves, the agencies claim that this is a grey area of the law that doesn’t require them to get a warrant.

And when the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol was asked by Congress exactly who gave them permission to buy this data, they simply refused to say.

And despite the potential benefits to national security of a technology like this, critics worry about the potential for a complete invasion of privacy, arguing that such a powerful tool is ripe for misuse.

“The U.S. government simply has no legitimate reason to collect and retain such sensitive information on this immense scale,” said Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, speaking out of concerns that technology like this could have a negative impact on people’s willingness to engage in free speech.

Even people within the U.S. government are concerned, with Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio stating that he has “real concerns based on the FBI’s history, and based on the fact that we don't know how they're using it and who they're going after,” leading him to call for an investigation into the FBI’s use of the system.

And while I’m hopeful that this type of AI surveillance will not become pervasive around the world, given that this type of surveillance is not technically illegal, I’m not confident that it’s going away any time soon.

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And now your moment of zen

That’s all for today folks! We hope you enjoyed today’s newsletter, and we’ll see you bright and early tomorrow!