消费者组织：脸书人脸识别软件侵犯隐私权
由电子隐私信息中心(Electronic Privacy Information Center)牵头的各消费者组织说，脸书(Facebook)因使用其人脸识别软件而侵犯了用户隐私权。
它们向联邦政府提出投诉，投诉重点是识别被上传到其网站的照片中人物的脸书软件。
这一消费者组织联盟星期五向联邦贸易委员会(FTC)提出投诉说，这家社交媒体巨头“经常性地未经图像主体同意而扫描照片以获取人脸匹配的生物识别数据。”
投诉书说，脸书公司试图通过欺骗性地鼓励用户参与识别照片人物的过程而改进其人脸识别能力。
投诉书说，“这种个人识别是人们不想要的、非必要的，也是危险的，破坏了用户隐私，无视脸书用户的明确偏好，而且违反了几个州和世界很多地区的法律。”
这些团体坚称，用户几乎无能为力，难以防止他们的面孔被上传到脸书这样的社交媒体系统。他们说，人脸扫描可能会被威权政府滥用。脸书可能会被要求向政府提供用户信息。这是这些组织的一个关键论证。
这是联邦贸易委员会已经在调查的与隐私有关的一系列事件的最新一起。脸书被指控允许剑桥分析(Cambridge Analytica)获取8千7百万脸书用户的个人信息。这家英国咨询公司在2016年美国总统竞选期间受雇于川普团队。
Facebook Violates Privacy Rights Through Facial Recognition Software, Consumer Groups Allege
Facebook violates its users' privacy rights through the use of its facial recognition software, according to consumer groups led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Their complaint to the federal government focuses on the use of Facebook software that identifies people in photographs that are uploaded to its site.
A complaint filed Friday by a coalition of consumer organizations with Federal Trade Commission said the social media giant "routinely scans photos for biometric facial matches without the consent of the image subject."
The complaint says the company tries to improve its facial recognition prowess by deceptively encouraging users to participate in the process of identifying people in photographs.
"This unwanted, unnecessary, and dangerous identification of individuals undermines user privacy, ignores the explicit preferences of Facebook users, and is contrary to law in several state and many parts of the world."
The groups maintain there is little users can do to prevent images of their faces from being in a social media system like Facebook's. They contend facial scanning can be abused by authoritarian governments, a key argument considering Facebook may be required to provide user information to governments.
The complaint is the latest in a string of privacy-related issues the FTC is already investigating, including charges it allowed the personal information of 87 million users to be improperly harvested by Cambridge Analytica, the British consulting firm which was hired by U.S. President Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.
美司法部长塞申斯宣布对非法入境“零容忍”政策
美国司法部长塞申斯星期五宣布了对非法入境美国的“零容忍”政策。他指示所有南部边界一代的联邦检察官把起诉国土安全部转交的移民刑事案当作重点。
塞申斯在星期五公布的备忘录中敦促亚利桑那、加利福尼亚、新墨西哥和德克萨斯四个边界州的联邦检察官对依照有关法律而交送起诉的所有罪行，“立即采取零容忍政策”。这些法律把未持适当文件而入境美国视为犯罪。
塞申斯写道：“这项零容忍政策须优于任何现行政策。如果采取这样的政策需要额外资源，各办公室须指明并索取这样的额外资源。”
塞申斯宣布这项决定时，引用了国土安全部星期四公布的数据。数据显示，2017年3月到2018年3月，非法越境上升了203%，从今年2月到3月，这一数字上升了37%，在非法越境减少了一段时期后，这是七年来最大的单月增幅。
在塞申斯宣布这一决定的一天前，川普总统说，他将派遣2千到4千名国民警卫队员，保护美墨边界。
川普说，在防堵非法移民入境的界墙建起之前，他会让这些部队一直留在那里。
但是川普政府仍在继续与四个边界州的州长谈判，以达成允许部署国民警卫队的协议。国民警卫队是美国军队的预备役组成部分，平时由各州指挥。
Sessions Announces "Zero-Tolerance" Policy for Illegal Entry Into U.S
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday announced a "zero-tolerance" policy for illegal entry into the United States, instructing all federal prosecutors along the southern border to prioritize the prosecution of criminal immigration cases referred to by the Department of Homeland Security.
In a memo released on Friday, Sessions urged U.S. Attorneys in the border states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, "to adopt immediately a zero-tolerance policy for all offenses referred for prosecution" under laws that make it a crime to enter the United States without proper documents.
"This zero-tolerance policy shall supersede any existing policies," Sessions wrote. "If adopting such a policy requires additional resources, each office shall identify and request such additional resources."
In making the announcement, Sessions cited Department of Homeland Security data released Thursday showing a 203 percent increase in illegal border crossings from March 2017 to March 2018 and a 37 percent increase from February to March of this year -- the largest month-to-month rise in seven years after period when crossings had fallen off.
The announcement came a day after President Donald Trump said he would deploy 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard troops to secure the border.
Trump said he would keep the troops there until a border wall is built to keep out illegal border crossers.
But his administration is continuing to work with governors of the four border states on deals that would allow the Guard to be deployed. The National Guard is a force of reserve soldiers under the auspices of the states.
