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Apple suspends Siri response grading in response to privacy concerns

Matthew Panzarino
TechCrunch
Fri, 02 Aug 2019 09:32 UTC
siri apple
In response to concerns raised by a Guardian story last week over how recordings of Siri queries are used for quality control, Apple is suspending the program world wide. Apple says it will review the process that it uses, called grading, to determine whether Siri is hearing queries correctly, or being invoked by mistake.

In addition, it will be issuing a software update in the future that will let Siri users choose whether they participate in the grading process or not.

The Guardian story from Alex Hern quoted extensively from a contractor at a firm hired by Apple to perform part of a Siri quality control process it calls grading. This takes snippets of audio, which are not connected to names or IDs of individuals, and has contractors listen to them to judge whether Siri is accurately hearing them — and whether Siri may have been invoked by mistake.

"We are committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy," Apple said in a statement to TechCrunch. "While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally. Additionally, as part of a future software update, users will have the ability to choose to participate in grading."

Comment: It looks like Amazon is also following suit. RT reports:
Amazon announced on Friday that it would allow users of its smartphone assistance app Alexa to deny the company access to their private conversations. "We take customer privacy seriously and continuously review our practices and procedures," the Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg.

She said that Amazon would also be updating the app's settings for it to include a disclaimer informing the customers that Amazon might subject their recordings to manual review if they don't opt out.

That practice reportedly saw Amazon employees listening to and transcribing some of the recordings, with the stated goal of improving the virtual assistant's services. Amazon was not alone in spying on its customers while keeping them in the dark. Google and Apple were doing the same using Google Assistant and Siri, respectively.

It all came to an abrupt end after the clandestine practice was exposed in a series of groundbreaking revelations. Google came under intense scrutiny from a German watchdog after some 1,000 voice recordings were leaked to Dutch public broadcaster VRT NEWS last month. About one-tenth of recordings studied by VRT turned out to have been made in error, without a direct command by the customer. Caught red-handed, Google assured the regulator it would not be making any transcripts of speech data in the EU for at least the next three months.
Whether they actually will stop collecting the data remains to be seen, or rather, remain unseen. They'll get it, some way or another. See also:

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Blackbox

Why are people across France demanding to know 'Where's Steve'?


The Local (France)
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 06:47 UTC
Steve 1
© AFP
'Où est Steve' is the question that keeps being asked in France at the moment - but who is Steve and what do the people asking about him really want?

Who is Steve?

The question refers to Steve Maia Caniço, a 24-year-old teaching assistant who disappeared during the Fete de la Musique in Nantes in June. Thousands of people head to Nantes every year for the France-wide festival at the end of June, but this year trouble flared at the Nantes event.

Steve 2
© AFP
Où est Steve posters in Nantes.
At around 4.30am police turned up at the Quai Wilson to demand that the music stop and people go home. Clashes occurred, tear gas was fired, police charged, panic ensured and in the mayhem several people ended up in the River Loire.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

AP source: At least 15 dead in El Paso, Texas, shooting

Cedar Attanasico, Michael Balsamo and Dianna Heidgerd
Associated Press
Sat, 03 Aug 2019 23:57 UTC
el paso shooting
© Briana Sanchez/The El Paso Times via AP
People arrive at MacArthur Elementary looking for family and friends as the school is being used a re-unification center during the aftermath of a shooting at the Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall, Saturday, Aug. 3, in El Paso, Texas. Multiple people were killed and one person was in custody after a shooter went on a rampage at a shopping mall, police in the Texas border town of El Paso said.
At least 15 people were killed and many injured in a shooting Saturday in a busy shopping area in the Texas border town of El Paso, and a 21-year-old man was taken into custody, law enforcement officials said.

Two law enforcement officials identified the gunman as Patrick Crusius of the Dallas area. One of the officials told The Associated Press that at least 15 people were killed. The officials were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly, and both spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Hospital officials said another 23 people were injured and being treated.

Most of the victims were shot at a Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall, El Paso police Sgt. Robert Gomez said at a news conference. He said the store was packed with as many as 3,000 people during the busy back-to-school shopping season.

"This is unprecedented in El Paso," said Gomez, who added that many of the injured had life-threatening injuries.
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Megaphone

Ninth protest rally in Hong Kong: Tear gas, throwing stones, clashes with police


RT
Sat, 03 Aug 2019 18:12 UTC
hong kong protest
© Reuters / Tyrone Siu
Anti-extradition bill protesters pour water on tear gas as they attend a march in Hong Kong, China.
Hong Kong is being rocked by a ninth weekend of anti-government protests, triggered by a controversial extradition bill. The police were forced to use tear gas as rowdy protesters pelted stones and torched objects.

Some 42,000 people showed up in Hong Kong's Mong Kok shopping district for a massive rally on Saturday, according to police figures. The march organizers, however, reported a figure thrice that, claiming that at least 120,000 were in attendance.

The two months of turbulent demonstrations were triggered by a controversial bill that would have allowed extraditions from the autonomous territory to China's mainland. The legislation was suspended amid the protests, but they continue as the activists now demand a complete withdrawal of the bill.

Comment: See also: US 'color revolution' and its struggles in Hong Kong

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Megaphone

French police blast protesters with water cannon following silent march in Nantes


RT
Sat, 03 Aug 2019 13:14 UTC
Nantes
© AFP / Jean-Francois Monier
People protect themselves from police tear gas as they take part in a gathering in Nantes.
French police used water cannon and tear gas on a crowd of demonstrators following a silent march in commemoration of a man who was found dead this week after going missing during a police raid on a music festival last month.

Protesters took to the streets for a 'Justice for Steve' march in Nantes city center on Saturday following the discovery of Steve Maia Canico's body on Tuesday. As well as holding a silent vigil, the crowd also chanted slogans denouncing French President Emmanuel Macron.

Tensions escalated during the march and the police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Demonstrators used street furniture to create makeshift barricades and these were later set on fire. The police said that 1,700 people took part in the demonstration and 33 arrests were made.

Comment: See also:



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Heart - Black

3 killed after bluff collapses onto beachgoers near San Diego

Mark Osborne
ABC News
Sat, 03 Aug 2019 01:19 UTC
Emergency responders attend to a cliff collapse
© Mike Blake/Reuters
Emergency responders attend to a cliff collapse that has trapped people at a beach in Encinitas, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019.
Three people were killed Friday as a cliffside broke free and toppled onto beachgoers in Encinitas, California, on a sunny summer day at the popular seaside escape.

One person was found dead at the beach, while two others who were transported to a local hospital in critical condition were later pronounced dead, according to city officials. Two other people were pulled out from under the debris pile and taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The fire department was notified of the bluff collapse just before 3 p.m. local time.

"We are devastated by the tragedy today and our hearts go out to the victims and their families," Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear said in a statement. "We stand ready to help in any way possible. Our engineers and the public safety team are diligently working to assess bluff conditions."
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Attention

UN: Sexual abuse of boys by U.S.-funded Afghan forces 'remains issue of concern'

Edwin Mora
Breitbart
Thu, 01 Aug 2019 17:26 UTC
afghan forces
© SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images
The U.S.-funded Afghan National Police (ANP) continues to engage in the ancient local custom of men sexually abusing young boys, the United Nations reported this week.

ANP is a component of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), which the U.S. government has spent more than $80 billion to develop since the war in Afghanistan began in October 2001.

Known as bacha bazi, or "boy play," U.N. investigators found that the act by Afghan forces persists.

In February 2018, Afghanistan implemented revisions to its penal code that criminalized the cruel practice. However, the U.N. reported this past March, "Though bacha bazi is criminalized, prosecutions of cases involving the practice are rare and the practice remains common."

In its latest annual report on children and armed conflict issued on Tuesday, the U.N. declared, "the United Nations verified four cases of sexual violence [in 2018], affecting two boys and two girls, perpetrated by the Afghan National Police (3) and the Afghan local police (1). The two boys were used as bacha bazi."

U.N. officials noted in the March report that the ANP, a component of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), was behind the sexual abuse of the two boys.
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Heart

Emotional Infidelity: You Will Feel Attracted To People Besides Your Partner

Kris Gage
Medium.com
Sat, 03 Aug 2019 17:01 UTC
relationships and love
What's emotional infidelity?

Loosely:
"Intimacy with someone besides our partner that's emotional, not physical."
It happens to many people, and in a world of hyper-communication and connectivity, it's becoming an increasingly big topic. So, what do we do?

Let's take this in two parts...
  • Part I: Attraction
  • Part II: What To Do With It
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Red Flag

Antifa tries to silence Americans, should be added to list of extremist ideologies - GOP rep to FBI

Adam Shaw
Fox News
Fri, 02 Aug 2019 17:20 UTC
Jim Banks
© Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., does a television interview in the Capitol on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017.
A Republican congressman on Thursday wrote to the FBI requesting it add Antifa to a list of extremist ideologies under a new category of "Anti-1st Amendment Extremists" -- adding to a growing number of Republicans demanding action against the violent left-wing group.

"Antifa employs violence to coerce Americans into silence," Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind, said in a supplementary statement. "As a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, I am intimately familiar with the tactics of terrorist groups and how they employ fear/violence to silence political enemies. To my great surprise, we are witnessing similar style tactics right here in our country. The FBI must take this threat seriously."

Republican calls to deal with Antifa have increased recently after journalist Andy Ngo was assaulted at an Antifa rally in Portland in June. Last month, a 69-year-old man firebombed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center before being shot by police. He declared "I am Antifa" in his manifesto, while Banks notes that a Seattle "antifascist" group called him a martyr.

Comment: Antifa are not 'anti-fascists' - they are amateur totalitarians:



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Binoculars

Romanian tourist dies in accident at Yosemite National Park


ABC News
Sat, 03 Aug 2019 05:23 UTC
Yosemite National Park
A Romanian tourist has died in a fall near a waterfall in Yosemite National Park in California.

Authorities say 21-year-old Lucian Miu was scrambling on some wet rocks below Bridalveil Fall on Wednesday when he fell about 20 feet. He died at a hospital.
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