<p>The privacy watchdog in Australia has opened an investigation into the usage of facial recognition technology by two major retailers, department store Kmart and the hardware company Bunnings take “faceprints” of their patrons. The watchdog added that it was also conducting inquiries about other retail companies, the ones that stopped their facial recognition software. The technology is immoral, invasive, and can be used without consent to justification, according to the Consumer advocacy group Choice. However, both the retailers defended its application as a safety and theft-prevention tool. Angelene Falk, the Australian Information Commissioner, an investigation has been launched to see if any privacy law has been broken, BBC reported.</p>

<p>Falk said, “While deterring theft and creating a safe environment are important goals, using high privacy impact technologies in stores carries significant privacy risks.” She further said that the retailers must be able to prove that their responses are appropriate. However, Falk discovered that the convenience store chain 7-Eleven has violated customers’ privacy by gathering faceprints in a related incident last year.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/report-says-apples-quest-to-produce-a-viable-self-driving-car-stuck-in-low-gear-496684">Report says Apple's quest to produce a viable self-driving car stuck in low gear</a></strong></p>

<p>The Consumer group Choice said that both retailer Kmart and Bunnings only disclosed their use of the technology in privacy policies online and in tine section of ‘conditions of entry’ placards at the front of the stores. The group surveyed more than 1,000 households and found that more than 75 per cent of people were unaware of the technology.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-meta-removes-a-large-number-of-groups-and-accounts-for-sharing-upskirting-images-490738">Facebook: Meta removes a large number of groups and accounts for sharing upskirting images</a></strong></p>

<p>However, Bunnings responded saying the technology’s use has been mischaracterised and the subject is stuck to not using the information for marketing purposes and that pictures are kept of people who are banned or ones involved in illegal or violating behaviours.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>

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The privacy watchdog in Australia has opened an investigation into the usage of facial recognition technology by two major retailers, department store Kmart and the hardware company Bunnings take “faceprints” of their patrons.

The privacy watchdog in Australia has opened an investigation into the usage of facial recognition technology by two major retailers, department store Kmart and the hardware company Bunnings take “faceprints” of their patrons. The watchdog added that it was also conducting inquiries about other retail companies, the ones that stopped their facial recognition software. The technology is immoral, invasive, and can be used without consent to justification, according to the Consumer advocacy group Choice. However, both the retailers defended its application as a safety and theft-prevention tool. Angelene Falk, the Australian Information Commissioner, an investigation has been launched to see if any privacy law has been broken, BBC reported. Falk said, “While deterring theft and creating a safe environment are important goals, using high privacy impact technologies in stores carries significant privacy risks.” She further said that the retailers must be able to prove that their responses are appropriate. However, Falk discovered that the convenience store chain 7-Eleven has violated customers’ privacy by gathering faceprints in a related incident last year. Also read | Report says Apple's quest to produce a viable self-driving car stuck in low gear The Consumer group Choice said that both retailer Kmart and Bunnings only disclosed their use of the technology in privacy policies online and in tine section of ‘conditions of entry’ placards at the front of the stores. The group surveyed more than 1,000 households and found that more than 75 per cent of people were unaware of the technology. Also read | Facebook: Meta removes a large number of groups and accounts for sharing upskirting images However, Bunnings responded saying the technology’s use has been mischaracterised and the subject is stuck to not using the information for marketing purposes and that pictures are kept of people who are banned or ones involved in illegal or violating behaviours. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Australian watchdog investigates Kmart and Bunnings over ‘faceprints’ technology

<p>Amazon will soon roll out a feature that will give its users the liberty to customise&nbsp;Alexa,&nbsp;the company’s voice assistant, to mimic the voice of their families and friends who are no longer alive—a move that has been slammed by the netizens.</p>

<p>During a press conference held on Wednesday (June 22) in Las Vegas, senior vice president Rohit Prasad said, “The goal is to make the memories last&nbsp;after so many of us have lost someone we love&nbsp;during the pandemic.”</p>

<p>At the conference, the company presented its plans for companionship with Alexa. However, the company has not revealed when such a feature will release, reports&nbsp;Reuters.</p>

<p>A video clip was shown in which a young child said, “Alexa, can grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?” After a pause, Alexa confirmed the order and raise her voice a few seconds afterwards. She talked in a more calming, less robotic voice, pretending to sound like the child’s actual grandmother.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/designer-virtual-clothes-for-real-money-meta-is-launching-avatar-fashion-store-489654">Designer virtual clothes for real money? Meta is launching avatar fashion store</a></strong></p>

<p>According to Prasad, the firm wants Alexa to have the capacity to adjust to its users’ situations without much outside assistance.&nbsp;</p>

<p>He added, “Not to be confused with the all-knowing, all-capable, uber artificial general intelligence,” or what is pursued by Elon Musk’s cofounded OpenAI or Alphabet’s DeepMind unit.</p>

<p>However, many users took to Twitter to express displeasure over the new feature, saying that&nbsp;it can be used for scams or to create false narratives about people through deepfakes.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The FUCK you will.<br />
<br />
Remember when we told you deepfakes would increase the mistrust, alienation, &amp; epistemic crisis already underway in this culture? Yeah that. That times a LOT.<br />
<br />
"Amazon has a plan to make Alexa mimic anyone's voice [w/o their consent]"<a href="https://t.co/kXm4EXKgp8">https://t.co/kXm4EXKgp8</a></p>
— Damien P. Williams, MA, MSc, ABD, Patternist (@Wolven) <a href="https://twitter.com/Wolven/status/1539745995990384642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The phone attacking implications of this tool are not good at all — this will likely be used for impersonation.<br />
At Amazon’s re:MARS conference they announced they’re working to use short audio clips of a person’s voice &amp; reprogram it for longer speech<a href="https://t.co/5TkEIHoeXG">https://t.co/5TkEIHoeXG</a></p>
— Rachel Tobac (@RachelTobac) <a href="https://twitter.com/RachelTobac/status/1539751386102919168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">"ALEXA, PLAY DESPACITO"<br />
<br />
My dead grandma's voice, robotic: "Now playing on Amazon Music, Despacito" <a href="https://t.co/D6BLQCafzj">https://t.co/D6BLQCafzj</a></p>
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) <a href="https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1539743618503770117?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<p><strong>Watch |&nbsp;UK researchers develop robot skin that can sense pain, touch</strong></p>

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<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-meta-removes-a-large-number-of-groups-and-accounts-for-sharing-upskirting-images-490738">Facebook: Meta removes a large number of groups and accounts for sharing u</a>pskirting images</strong></p>

<p>Amazon hoped&nbsp;the project will help Alexa become ubiquitous in shoppers' lives.</p>

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<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em><br />
&nbsp;</p>


Amazon will soon roll out a feature that will give its users the liberty to customise Alexa, the company’s voice assistant, to mimic the voice of their families and friends who are no longer alive—a move that has been slammed by the netizens.

Amazon will soon roll out a feature that will give its users the liberty to customise Alexa, the company’s voice assistant, to mimic the voice of their families and friends who are no longer alive—a move that has been slammed by the netizens. During a press conference held on Wednesday (June 22) in Las Vegas, senior vice president Rohit Prasad said, “The goal is to make the memories last after so many of us have lost someone we love during the pandemic.” At the conference, the company presented its plans for companionship with Alexa. However, the company has not revealed when such a feature will release, reports Reuters. A video clip was shown in which a young child said, “Alexa, can grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?” After a pause, Alexa confirmed the order and raise her voice a few seconds afterwards. She talked in a more calming, less robotic voice, pretending to sound like the child’s actual grandmother. Also read | Designer virtual clothes for real money? Meta is launching avatar fashion store According to Prasad, the firm wants Alexa to have the capacity to adjust to its users’ situations without much outside assistance. He added, “Not to be confused with the all-knowing, all-capable, uber artificial general intelligence,” or what is pursued by Elon Musk’s cofounded OpenAI or Alphabet’s DeepMind unit. However, many users took to Twitter to express displeasure over the new feature, saying that it can be used for scams or to create false narratives about people through deepfakes. The FUCK you will. Remember when we told you deepfakes would increase the mistrust, alienation, & epistemic crisis already underway in this culture? Yeah that. That times a LOT. "Amazon has a plan to make Alexa mimic anyone's voice [w/o their consent]"https://t.co/kXm4EXKgp8 — Damien P. Williams, MA, MSc, ABD, Patternist (@Wolven) June 22, 2022 × The phone attacking implications of this tool are not good at all — this will likely be used for impersonation. At Amazon’s re:MARS conference they announced they’re working to use short audio clips of a person’s voice & reprogram it for longer speechhttps://t.co/5TkEIHoeXG — Rachel Tobac (@RachelTobac) June 22, 2022 × "ALEXA, PLAY DESPACITO" My dead grandma's voice, robotic: "Now playing on Amazon Music, Despacito" https://t.co/D6BLQCafzj — Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 22, 2022 × Watch | UK researchers develop robot skin that can sense pain, touch Also read | Facebook: Meta removes a large number of groups and accounts for sharing upskirting images Amazon hoped the project will help Alexa become ubiquitous in shoppers' lives. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here. (With inputs from agencies)

Amazon’s Alexa may soon mimic anyone’s voice to ‘make memories last’

<p>Sony&nbsp;on Thursday said it formed a&nbsp;new&nbsp;company that will&nbsp;build&nbsp;and supply devices that allow small&nbsp;satellites in orbit to communicate with one another via laser beams, dipping into the fast-growing&nbsp;space&nbsp;sector.</p>

<p>Sony&nbsp;Space&nbsp;Communications Corp, registered on Wednesday, is meant to take advantage of laser technology to avoid a bottleneck of radio frequencies. The devices will work between&nbsp;satellites in&nbsp;space&nbsp;and&nbsp;satellites communicating with ground stations.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/sony-to-boost-playstation-5-production-to-add-more-games-482317">&nbsp;Sony to boost PlayStation 5 production, to add more games</a></strong></p>

<p>The company did not say when it expects to have its first commercial device operating in&nbsp;space, whether it has existing customers lined up or how much money it has invested into the technology to date.</p>

<p>There are roughly 12,000&nbsp;satellites in orbit, a number that is projected to increase rapidly in the coming years as rocket companies slash the cost of launching things to&nbsp;space, and as firms like Amazon and&nbsp;SpaceX&nbsp;build&nbsp;vast networks of low-earth&nbsp;satellites to carry internet communications to all the globe.</p>

<p><strong>Watch |&nbsp;Sony unveils its game pass alternative, launches new PlayStation subscription service</strong></p>

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<p>"The amount of data used in orbit is also increasing year by year, but the amount of available radio waves is limited," the&nbsp;new&nbsp;company's president, Kyohei Iwamoto, said in a statement.</p>

<p>SpaceX makes its own laser communications devices in-house and first launched them on its Starlink&nbsp;satellites late last year.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/sony-and-honda-plan-joint-electric-vehicle-firm-458945">Sony and Honda plan joint electric vehicle firm</a></strong></p>

<p>Sony&nbsp;said one of its first successful tests occurred in 2020 when it transmitted high-definition image data by laser from the International&nbsp;Space&nbsp;Station to a ground station in Japan.</p>

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Sony on Thursday said it formed a new company that will build and supply devices that allow small satellites in orbit to communicate with one another via laser beams, dipping into the fast-growing space sector.

Sony on Thursday said it formed a new company that will build and supply devices that allow small satellites in orbit to communicate with one another via laser beams, dipping into the fast-growing space sector. Sony Space Communications Corp, registered on Wednesday, is meant to take advantage of laser technology to avoid a bottleneck of radio frequencies. The devices will work between satellites in space and satellites communicating with ground stations. Also read | Sony to boost PlayStation 5 production, to add more games The company did not say when it expects to have its first commercial device operating in space, whether it has existing customers lined up or how much money it has invested into the technology to date. There are roughly 12,000 satellites in orbit, a number that is projected to increase rapidly in the coming years as rocket companies slash the cost of launching things to space, and as firms like Amazon and SpaceX build vast networks of low-earth satellites to carry internet communications to all the globe. Watch | Sony unveils its game pass alternative, launches new PlayStation subscription service "The amount of data used in orbit is also increasing year by year, but the amount of available radio waves is limited," the new company's president, Kyohei Iwamoto, said in a statement. SpaceX makes its own laser communications devices in-house and first launched them on its Starlink satellites late last year. Also read | Sony and Honda plan joint electric vehicle firm Sony said one of its first successful tests occurred in 2020 when it transmitted high-definition image data by laser from the International Space Station to a ground station in Japan. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Sony to build space lasers with new satellite services unit

In pics: From checking on construction to making coffee, Singapore’s robots to fill in labour gaps

<p>The&nbsp;US&nbsp;Energy Department launched a&nbsp;program&nbsp;on Thursday to fund four large-scale projects across the country that can remove&nbsp;carbon&nbsp;dioxide from the air, investing $3.5&nbsp;billion&nbsp;in a nascent&nbsp;technology the Biden administration says is necessary to meet a goal of achieving net zero emissions by mid century.</p>

<p>The agency released a formal notice saying it would fund the $3.5&nbsp;billion&nbsp;program&nbsp;created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastucture Law that would create four regional direct air capture hubs&nbsp;to spur the widespread deployment of the&nbsp;technology and&nbsp;carbon&nbsp;dioxide transport and storage infrastructure.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/greenhouse-gas-sea-level-all-broke-records-in-2021-says-un-warns-of-climate-catastrophe-480233">Greenhouse gas, sea level all broke records in 2021, says UN, warns of 'climate catastrophe'</a></strong></p>

<p>The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report last month that said the world will need “carbon dioxide removal”&nbsp;technologies - ranging from planting trees that soak&nbsp;up&nbsp;carbon&nbsp;to grow, to costly&nbsp;technologies to suck&nbsp;carbon&nbsp;dioxide directly from the air to meet global goals to curb climate change.</p>

<p>“The UN's latest climate report made clear that removing legacy&nbsp;carbon&nbsp;pollution from the air through direct air capture and safely storing it is an essential weapon in our fight against the climate crisis,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.</p>

<p>Carbon&nbsp;removal&nbsp;technology has gained major attention and investment in recent months. There are three major direct air capture projects under&nbsp;development&nbsp;that have emerged in North America and Europe but they are only sucking&nbsp;up&nbsp;small amounts of CO2 from the air currently.</p>

<p><strong>Watch |&nbsp;Aviation leaves huge carbon footprint, new report says only 1 of 50 goals met</strong></p>

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<p>Earlier this year,&nbsp;technology firms Google, Shopify, Meta, and Stripe launched a $1&nbsp;billion&nbsp;fund that will buy&nbsp;carbon&nbsp;removal&nbsp;credits over the next decade as a way to incentivize rapid deployment of the&nbsp;technology.</p>

<p>Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk last year offered inventors $100 million in prize money to develop new&nbsp;carbon&nbsp;removal&nbsp;technologies.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/what-is-a-taxibot-employed-at-airports-to-reduce-carbon-emissions-474961">What is a TaxiBot employed at airports to reduce carbon emissions?</a></strong></p>

<p>The DOE said that by midcentury,&nbsp;carbon&nbsp;removal&nbsp;will need to be deployed at the gigaton scale, meaning it would need to be able to sequester the equivalent of emissions from approximately 250 million vehicles driven in one year.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>&nbsp;</p>


The US Energy Department launched a program on Thursday to fund four large-scale projects across the country that can remove carbon dioxide from the air, investing $3.

The US Energy Department launched a program on Thursday to fund four large-scale projects across the country that can remove carbon dioxide from the air, investing $3.5 billion in a nascent technology the Biden administration says is necessary to meet a goal of achieving net zero emissions by mid century. The agency released a formal notice saying it would fund the $3.5 billion program created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastucture Law that would create four regional direct air capture hubs to spur the widespread deployment of the technology and carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure. Also read | Greenhouse gas, sea level all broke records in 2021, says UN, warns of 'climate catastrophe' The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report last month that said the world will need “carbon dioxide removal” technologies - ranging from planting trees that soak up carbon to grow, to costly technologies to suck carbon dioxide directly from the air to meet global goals to curb climate change. “The UN's latest climate report made clear that removing legacy carbon pollution from the air through direct air capture and safely storing it is an essential weapon in our fight against the climate crisis,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. Carbon removal technology has gained major attention and investment in recent months. There are three major direct air capture projects under development that have emerged in North America and Europe but they are only sucking up small amounts of CO2 from the air currently. Watch | Aviation leaves huge carbon footprint, new report says only 1 of 50 goals met Earlier this year, technology firms Google, Shopify, Meta, and Stripe launched a $1 billion fund that will buy carbon removal credits over the next decade as a way to incentivize rapid deployment of the technology. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk last year offered inventors $100 million in prize money to develop new carbon removal technologies. Also read | What is a TaxiBot employed at airports to reduce carbon emissions? The DOE said that by midcentury, carbon removal will need to be deployed at the gigaton scale, meaning it would need to be able to sequester the equivalent of emissions from approximately 250 million vehicles driven in one year. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

US launches $3.5 billion programme to speed development of up carbon removal tech

NASA’s Artemis I moon mission explained

The 53rd International Paris Air Show kicked off on Monday, bringing together the world's largest aeronautic groups to showcase the cutting-edge technology of today and the future of the air and space industry.

Paris Air Show 2019 displays cutting-edge technology, aircraft

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