Even as Amazon works out how to best protect its massive workforce from the rapidly-spreading coronavirus pandemic, the tech titan is taking measures to deal with price-gouging and fake cures being offered for sale on its site by unscrupulous sellers looking to make a quick buck from the crisis. Last Read more…
By Brett Wilkins The US military is adopting new principles for what it calls the ethical use of artificial intelligence technology in warfare, sparking widespread skepticism from ethics advocates and other critics. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced the new AI ethics guidelines in a memo released on February 24 in Read more…
By Brett Wilkins Many journalists and digital rights activists in Pakistan and beyond are decrying a new social media law passed by the government that critics say could be used to crack down on free speech and dissent. The Pakistani federal cabinet recently passed the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Read more…
By Brett Wilkins After years of unexplained delays, the United Nations this week released a list of over 100 companies with ties to illegal Israeli settler colonies in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. In a statement released on Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Office identified 112 businesses profiting from Read more…
By Brett Wilkins A Brazilian judge has declined to proceed with cybercrime charges against Glenn Greenwald, the American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist whose work uncovering corruption in the South American nation’s judicial system has infuriated top officials in President Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right administration. The Intercept reports Judge Ricardo Augusto Soares Leite ruled on Read more…
By Brett Wilkins A former Air Force drone operator-turned-whistleblower is once again speaking out against the atrocities he committed while serving in a military he describes as “worse than the Nazis.” Brandon Bryant was a sensor operator of USAF unmanned aerial drones from 2006 to 2011. His job was targeted Read more…
Democratic and Republican members of the House of Representatives and Senate have introduced legislation that would significantly reform the US government’s foreign intelligence surveillance authorities. The Safeguarding Americans’ Private Records Act (SAPRA) was introduced last week by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT) and Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Read more…
By Brett Wilkins Also published at Antiwar.com An unconfirmed number of Afghan civilians – reportedly more than 40 – were killed along with the regional leader of a splinter Taliban faction and dozens of militants in a US drone attack in Herat province on Wednesday. Local sources told Tolo News, Afghanistan’s Read more…
By Brett Wilkins You don’t need to tell Ethics in Tech that war is hell. Some of the earliest childhood memories of our founder, Vahid Razavi — who was born in Iran — involve being under attack during the Iran-Iraq War. That 8-year war of attrition, which killed at least a million Read more…
By Brett Wilkins December 6, 2019 Twitter has long faced intense criticism for turning a blind eye to right-wing hate speech on its platform, including by the world’s most (in)famous tweeter, US President Donald Trump. In the face of this relentless criticism, which includes repeated calls for Twitter to slap Read more…