The Weekly Weird #35

Trump Censorship Syndrome, Meta messes with Texas (and loses), not an oeuf at the Olympics, the Orb arrives in Austria, the NFL gets in your face, Romanian citizenship goes biometric

Hello again and welcome once more to your weekly window onto the Garden of Dystopian Delights, also known as the modern world.

As Rammstein once sang, “kurz ist die zeit,” so let’s get to it!

Trump Censorship Syndrome

Presidential candidate, bullet dodger, and fake tan enthusiast Donald Trump is in the news again (as if he’s ever out of it) for a fight with Meta/Facebook and Google over censorship, perceived and actual.

First, the actual. An Associated Press photo of Trump with his fist aloft, bloodied and surrounded by Secret Service agents immediately after being shot at on July 13, was marked as “altered” by Facebook when shared by the account ‘End Wokeness’, and the user was threatened with being “deplatformed.”

The New York Post quoted Meta spokesperson Dani Lever:

Yes, this was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed and we apologize for the mistake.

From Fox Business:

The altered image Lever referenced featured the Secret Service members surrounding Trump smiling. USA Today and AFP United States previously fact-checked the images as "altered," though it confirmed the accuracy of the original image.

Moving to the perceived censorship, the plot thickened as users came forward with screenshots showing that Meta AI, the chatbot run by Facebook’s parent company, “referred to the attempted assassination as “fictional” when prompted to provide details about the tragic event.”

In the image used by the Post, Meta AI doesn’t use those exact words, but it claims ‘it’s difficult to say if [Trump] was ever “almost assassinated.”’

More from Fox Business:

Backlash against Meta and Facebook come as concerns over Big Tech companies taking part in election manipulation to help Democrats. On Monday, Google users were surprised to find the website’s autocomplete feature omitting references to the July 13 assassination attempt.

A screenshot from the New York Post gave an example:

More from Fox Business:

A Google spokesperson later told FOX Business that there was no "manual action taken on these predictions."

"Our systems have protections against Autocomplete predictions associated with political violence, which were working as intended prior to this horrific event occurring," the spokesperson wrote. "We’re working on improvements to ensure our systems are more up to date."

Trump responded to the news with characteristic perspective and equanimity.

The problem appears to have been fixed now. I took the screenshot below on Wednesday 31 July.

Google commented on the ‘fix’ to Associated Press:

“We’re rolling out improvements to our Autocomplete systems to show more up-to-date predictions,” Google told The Associated Press in a statement. “The issues are beginning to resolve, and we’ll continue to make improvements as needed. As always, predictions change over time and there may be some imperfections. Autocomplete helps save people time, but they can always search for whatever they want, and we will continue to connect them with helpful information.”

Delving deeper into the question of whether or not this was by design:

“It’s very plausible that there’s nothing nefarious here, that it’s other systems that are set up for neutral or good purposes that are causing these query suggestions to not show up,” said Michael Ekstrand, an assistant professor at Drexel University who studies AI-powered information access systems.

Towards the end of the AP article, “Thorsten Joachims, a professor at Cornell University who researches machine learning for search engines,” makes a point that struck me (emphasis mine):

Joachims noted that the demographics of Google’s user base could impact the results of such a study if they skewed toward one side of the political aisle or another and therefore searched more for their preferred candidates. In other words, the way the system works would make it difficult to probe the system.

Isn’t that a perfect phrase to describe the way that automated systems, software, and algorithms have become the mediators of what we see and hear?

If there is something truly dystopian in this situation, it is less the idea that a large company put their thumb on the scales for a particular candidate or party, and more that, as a whole, the information we search for and consume passes through a system of plumbing so complex, subterranean, iterative, and unaccountable, that it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that anything is as it seems.

Meta Messes With Texas (And Loses)

More woe for Meta this week, as reported by Biometric Update:

Meta has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to the state of Texas to settle the lawsuit against it for using its discontinued facial recognition tag suggestions feature, and the settlement has been approved by the court.

The case was brought against Meta under Texas’s 2022 Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier (CUBI) Act “for its decade-long unlawful capture, disclosure, and storage of the biometric identifiers of tens of millions of people.”

From Keller Postman, the law firm acting for the State of Texas:

The suit alleges that Meta used its facial-recognition technology on its social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, in ways that violated the State’s privacy and consumer-protection laws.  This litigation marks the first enforcement action under Texas’s biometric privacy statute, and presents novel issues of law.

Specifically, Texas alleges that, for over a decade, Meta captured records of face geometry from tens of millions of Texans without their informed consent, all to Meta’s commercial gain. It did so through features on Facebook (such as Tag Suggestions) and Instagram, through a stand-alone application, Moments, and through a feature on Facebook Messenger, Photo Magic. The State also alleges that Meta engaged in related deceptive trade practices, deceiving Texans as it built and improved its technology through use of their most private and sensitive information.

The text of the settlement is available online, and demonstrates that $1.4 billion sounds like a lot more when it is spelt out in capitalised words: “One Billion Four Hundred Million Dollars”. That’s gotta sting. Five Hundred Million Dollars of that amount is due within thirty days, so Zuckerberg better start looking down the back of the sofa.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was as jubilant as you would expect:

“After vigorously pursuing justice for our citizens whose privacy rights were violated by Meta’s use of facial recognition software, I’m proud to announce that we have reached the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State,” says Attorney General Paxton. “This historic settlement demonstrates our commitment to standing up to the world’s biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans’ privacy rights.”

Describing the settlement as “a watershed moment in the area of biometrics,” attorney David J. Oberly expanded on the future implications for privacy now that the precedent has been set:

“More than that, the Meta settlement illustrates the outsized legal risks and liability exposure that companies face in connection with the growing patchwork of biometrics laws that currently exist around the country. Until now, CUBI has largely flown under the radar, which can be attributed predominantly to the fact that civil penalties are the exclusive remedy available for non-compliance with the Texas law. No longer will that be the case, as Meta’s eye-popping settlement—and the clear and unequivocal warning that it provides regarding the tremendous monetary and reputational risks that companies face for failing to align their compliance programs with Texas’s biometrics statute—will put CUBI front and center on the minds and agendas of in-house legal teams and corporate executives across all industries, especially given that penalties of up to $25,000 can be imposed per each instance of non-compliance.”

Is this a harbinger of future circumspection on the part of the data harvesters of the world?

There is always hope.

Not An Oeuf At The Olympics

It’s “sun’s out, puns out” at the Paris Olympics this week as athletes rebelled against inadequate supplies of meat and eggs at the main restaurant in the Olympic Village.

The BBC ran with the headline “Not an oeuf: Athletes report eggs shortage in Olympic village” while the Guardian ran with the baffling and lexically tortuous “Not en-oeuf: catering staff forced to ration eggs at Olympic Village in Paris”.

It’s worth noting the difference in tone implied by the headlines as well. The BBC describes a fact, the Guardian indicates some form of foul play or coercion, perhaps from evil athletes wanting to consume enough calories to have the energy to compete.

A brief overview of the virtuous cause of the egg-shaped trouble, from the Guardian:

There is a strict quality charter for all food being served to athletes at the Paris Games. A quarter of all ingredients are being sourced in a 250km radius from Paris, and 20% will be certified organic. All the meat, milk and eggs served will be from France, and a third of the food will be plant-based.

Nearly two-thirds of the 500 dishes on offer are vegetarian, including beefless bourguignon and “not-dogs”, containing onions and pickled cabbage with honey-mustard sauce.

L’Equipe reported on the controversy, using phrasing that implied surprise at the temerity of athletes for demanding food (English translation by Google):

Six days after its official opening, more and more athletes flock to the Olympic village, increasing pressure on the food supply and supply chain. According to our information, some athletes complained about the amount of food offered, considered insufficient Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, or the speed of replenishment of certain foods.

It appears that while planning a socially sensitive, climate-aware menu of mainly vegetarian dishes, nobody thought to check on what athletes actually eat: protein, in the form of meat and eggs. Shocker.

According to Dpa, “Germany's men's hockey team has slammed the "catastrophic" catering at the Olympic Village in Paris, saying they have had to queue for long times while the food provided wasn't enough and of poor quality,” complaints they made before thrashing the French 8-2, presumably because the locally sourced vegetarian virtue victuals didn’t give the home team enough energy.

The Guardian added that “Team GB are believed to have brought in their own chefs and hired an entire catering college in Clichy to produce meals for athletes after reports of raw meat being served in the Olympic Village.”

From Business Insider:

Andy Anson, the CEO of the British Olympic Association, told The Times last Thursday that the UK team resorted to flying in another private chef to Paris because of a lack of protein and because of raw meat being served at the Olympic Village.

He said that the Paris Olympics were running low on chicken and egg options and that athletes were choosing to eat packed meals prepared at the UK performance lodge.

All this is a thumb in the eye to the French, who pride themselves (mostly with good reason) on being world leaders in turning butter and cream into food.

The Wall Street Journal, explaining how “the food options in the Olympic Village—which are billed as more sustainable and eco-friendly—have come under fire,” started their article on the kerfuffle as follows:

The Paris Olympics were supposed to be a culinary dream. 

The self-proclaimed global capital of gastronomy—with its endless cafés, bistros, boulangeries, and Michelin stars—was ready to remind the world just why it deserved every gold medal in the kitchen.

Who could have foreseen that athletes came to the Olympics to win, not to pose for NGO photo ops holding “beefless bourguignon” and “not-dogs”?

All snark aside, for a fascinating rebuttal of the cliché that sporting dominance requires animal protein, check out the documentary The Game Changers, featuring the ever-Conan Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Orb Arrives In Austria

Like the mythical Spear of Destiny, Worldcoin, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s creepy identity token that we’ve written about in Weirds past, has made it to Austria.

From The Block:

The Worldcoin Foundation announced the launch of World ID orb verifications in Austria on Wednesday, increasing access to its “proof of humanness” technology in Europe.

Using an object referred to in hushed tones as The Orb, and doubtlessly wielded only by an elite class of berobed samurai-a-likes, Worldcoin has begun scanning the Viennese to prove they are human to the internet.

The eyeball-scanning orbs are available at multiple locations in the Austrian capital of Vienna, enabling anyone over 18 to join the 6.3 million people the Worldcoin Foundation claims are already participating in the Worldcoin network by verifying their World ID.

So Austria joins Germany and a few other European countries in welcoming an intrusive surveillance technology deemed a step too far by Kenya, a country in which mass transit is cashless and M-Pesa digital payments are the norm.

Cool.

The NFL Gets In Your Face

From August 8, Wicket’s facial authentication will be used for “biometric credentialing” at all its stadiums for all 32 NFL teams.

The company’s officially registered catchphrase? YOUR FACE IS YOUR TICKET.

“Facial authentication touchpoints that delight users” has to be a new low in breathless marketing language hyping this technology.

What’s that you ask? Is there a promotional video underscored by uplifting off-the-shelf corporate library music? Is a bear Catholic?

From Sports Business Journal:

The system is designed to shore up vulnerabilities in the current way people prove they’re permitted to be in a certain part of the system, including illicit transfers of credentials, fraudulent credentials and poor human enforcement of the restrictions separating one part of the venue from another.

From Stadium Tech Report:

What’s not yet known is how the Wicket system will be set up internally at stadiums. Early versions of Wicket systems have simply used Apple iPads mounted on poles to provide a place for facial recognition via the iPad cameras. Recently, entry technology companies including Axess have been busy integrating Wicket software into their entry hardware, so it’s possible that teams could end up using that method to host the Wicket system.

The STR article is from July 29, so with the roll-out scheduled for August 8, it seems a little late to be confused over how exactly it will be set up.

“Apple iPads mounted on poles” it is then…

Romanian Citizenship Goes Biometric

From Romania Insider:

The Romanian government has introduced biometric measures for the certification of citizenship as part of its efforts to join the Visa Waiver Program. 

According to Mihai Constantin, the government spokesperson, the new measures involve the use of digital photographs and fingerprinting for applicants seeking Romanian citizenship. 

"The adoption of biometrics will enhance the security and efficiency of the citizenship process," Constantin stated, quoted by Hotnews.ro. 

The changes also include replacing the current paper-based citizenship certificates with highly secure electronic cards storing personal and biometric data. 

Biometric Update further quoted Constantin as saying: “The measures adopted through an emergency ordinance aim both at the introduction of biometrics into the procedure for granting Romanian citizenship, as well as measures that will ensure the security of the entire process through advanced IT and security systems.”

More on the background of the initiative:

The regulation also introduced a legal basis for the National Authority for Citizenship to acquire biometric data acquisition equipment and other IT tools. The government is introducing the measure to harmonize its procedure with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as to speed up its entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.

The program, which allows foreign nationals to travel to the U.S. without a visa, requires that Romania achieves a refusal rate of less than 3 percent for U.S. business and tourist visas during the U.S. fiscal year. Romania is hoping to meet the technical criteria before the end of the 2024 fiscal year, ending September 30, 2024.

In June, the Romanian Ambassador to the U.S., Andrei Muraru, announced that Romania is nearing completion of the Visa Waiver Program’s admission criteria. The rejection rate for the previous fiscal year was over 8 percent, but Muraru hopes that it will drop below 3 percent this year.

This all sounds very advanced and technologically interesting. But Romania is also “the second most corrupted country in the European Union,” where “in 2016, according to the National Anti-Corruption Division’s activity report in Romania, more than one thousand people were sent to trial for corruption offenses, including three ministers, 17 parliamentarians, 47 mayors, 16 magistrates and 21 CEOs.”

What could go wrong?

That’s it for this week’s Weird, everyone. Thank you as always for reading.

Outro music is BigXthaPlug with Texas, in honour of the Lone Start State’s landmark settlement against Meta, hopefully a win for privacy in the United States.

Stay sane, friends.

“If you ain’t from my state then you should know don’t f**k with Texas”