Explainer: what are vaccine passports—and how will we use them?

The NYPD used a controversial facial recognition tool. Here's what you need to know.

Sponsored by Quantic The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Vaccine passports, explained 04.09.21 Good morning! Today: our guide to vaccine passports, the NYPD has been caught lying about its use of a controversial facial recognition tool, and Facebook's advertising algorithms are still excluding women from seeing jobs. I hope you have a fabulous weekend. Don't forget, you can get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Got your covid shot? You might have to prove it.   What’s happening: As covid vaccines roll out in some countries, the next question has become: How do people prove they’ve been inoculated? For months, the conversation about “vaccine passports” has been theoretical, but over the last few weeks, efforts have become more concrete. New York launched the first state-level system in the US last week. And on April 5, the UK said it would conduct a pilot as part of its gradual easing of lockdown restrictions. What’s available: Israel’s version is the furthest along—its app-based “green pass” launched in February—but software companies are jockeying to become the go-to solution. Some are beginning to join up to agree common standards, for instance IBM, which provides that technology that underpins New York’s Excelsior Pass. However, privacy and security concerns abound.  What’s next: With so many questions still to be answered, the stakes for getting it right remain high. The Biden administration has said it will not issue a nationwide mandate for a vaccine passport app. In the short run, they might become a sort of nudge for the hesitant, encouraging them to get their shots in order to open doors that would otherwise remain (literally) closed. Their future beyond that is murky. Read the full story. —Lindsay Muscato The NYPD used a controversial facial recognition tool. Here’s what you need to know.  The news: On April 6, Buzzfeed News revealed that over 1,800 entities—including state and local police—have been using Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition tool powered by photos scraped from the web. Many of those agencies claimed they had only trialed the technology, and had no formal contract. But the day before, the definition of a “trial” with Clearview was detailed in leaked emails between the New York Police Department and Clearview. They reveal a friendly two-year relationship between the department and the tech company during which time NYPD tested the technology many times, and used facial recognition on live investigations.  Misleading: The NYPD has previously downplayed its relationship with Clearview AI, but the emails show it was well-developed, with a large number of police officers conducting a high volume of searches with the app, and using them in real investigations. The NYPD has run over 5,100 searches with Clearview AI. Why it matters: This is particularly problematic because the use of Clearview AI seems to have circumvented the NYPD’s policies that limit its use of facial recognition systems. The concerns these emails raise are not just theoretical: they could allow the police to be challenged in court, and even have cases overturned. Read the full story. —Tate Ryan-Mosley Facebook’s ad algorithms are still excluding women from seeing jobs The news: Facebook is still excluding women from seeing certain job opportunities, according to the latest audit of its ad service, conducted by independent researchers at the University of Southern California. Facebook’s ad-delivery system shows different job ads to women and men even though the jobs require the same qualifications. This is considered sex-based discrimination under US equal employment opportunity law. The specifics: The researchers registered as an advertiser on Facebook and bought pairs of ads for jobs with identical qualifications. They advertised for two delivery driver jobs: one for Domino’s and one for Instacart. There are currently more men than women who drive for Domino’s, and vice versa for Instacart. The Domino’s ad was shown to more men than women, and the Instacart ad was shown to more women than men. The researchers found the same pattern with ads for two other pairs of jobs. A disturbing pattern: The findings suggest that Facebook’s algorithms are somehow picking up on the current demographic distribution of these jobs. Read the full story. —Karen Hao We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + The winner of the Dog Grand National.   + Make yourself some French carrot salad. And while we're Frenching it up, try poaching your eggs in wine (oh yes). (New Yorker $)   + A magnetic toy car that transforms into a unicorn. Seriously cool.   + The story of the Welsh teen who tried to post himself home from Australia.   + There's still hope for you yet… Japan's oldest fitness trainer is 90, and she didn't start working out until she was 65. Sponsor Message Quantic School of Business and Technology Executive MBA The #ModernMBA is here. Quantic is the world's only accredited, mobile-first graduate school that's educating the next generation of business leaders. Join a global network of entrepreneurial professionals in science, tech, and business — including over 300 managers from Google, Apple, and Amazon. Head to quantic.edu to apply and access over 40 free courses. Sign up now, applications close soon. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Amazon is currently on track to defeat unionization efforts at Bessemer Votes saying "no" to unionizing currently outnumber "yes" votes 1,100 to 463, with one-third left to be counted. (NPR)   + Amazon's European workers are plotting action too. (Wired UK)  2 Forget Boston Dynamics. This robot taught itself to walk Instead of hand-tuned, careful choreography, this uses an AI technique called reinforcement learning.(TR)   + A Boston Dynamics robot ran out of battery during a French military drill and had to be carried. (Futurism)  3 Data from 500 million LinkedIn users is up for sale online Yep, yet another one. (Cyber News)   + "Nothing to see here," says LinkedIn. (Gizmodo)  4 Covid cases in Michigan are "disturbingly high," says Fauci The US is in a deeply precarious position right now. (Ars Technica)   + To see how dangerous the UK variant can be, look to Europe. (NYT $)   + Australia, the Philippines, and the African Union are all curbing their use of AstraZeneca shots. (Reuters)   + France will offer mRNA vaccines as the second dose after AstraZeneca. (Reuters)  5 How Google dealt with a sexual harassment claim Forced out the victim, and protected the harasser. This is starting to become a pattern. (NYT $)   + This woman sued Google for pregnancy discrimination. It's a fight that's taken over her life. (The Guardian)  6 Behind Myanmar's internet shutdown The military junta has ramped up its campaign to throttle online access, in response to widespread protests. (Reuters)   + Russia seems to have found a new way to censor the internet. (Wired $)  7 Elon Musk’s Neuralink has released a video of a monkey playing video games with its brain Cool! But let's see some scientific papers please. (CNET)   8 Intel's anti-harassment AI lets you "opt in" to racism This really ain't it. (Vice)   + YouTube's racism blocklist is full of holes. (The Markup)  9 We can't get enough of judging people's Zoom call backgrounds 👀 If you don't believe me, check out the Room Rater Twitter account (394,000 followers.) (The Guardian)   10 This online chat is about as close as you'll get to a bar right now 🍸 This is the only thing I've ever read that's made me think I might consider joining Clubhouse. (WP $) Join MIT Technology Review and Harvard Business Review virtually at EmTech Next. Discover the technologies propelling organizational growth, the impact of AI and automation, the urgency to upskill the workforce, and more. Register today. Quote of the Day “I can’t think of a similar time where conspiracy theorists have been so organised and able to get those kinds of numbers out on the street.” —David Lawrence, from the anti-extremist organisation Hope Not Hate, tells The Guardian we are experiencing an unprecedented boom in conspiracy theory-based activism. Top image credit: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN | AP Please send wine-y eggs to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Leading a forever-changed workforce Join us virtually | June 8-10, 2021 Register now   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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