I wanted to share with you some thoughts and links on Mass Surveillance and Design Ethics, two topics that I’m interested in and are some news popping up more often lately.

Face recognition technology, and all the data we’re generating daily on social media, have raised the need for reconsidering how we publish photos and personal information, and how companies and governments should protect the public without abusing people’s rights.

Of course, if you’re an iPhone user and Face ID is still too annoying, you can turn it off. After all, you spend the most time at home, lately. Simply, open the Settings app, and go to Face ID & Passcode. Don’t forget to pick a proper passcode. No, 000000 is not a good option, Kanye.

But is avoiding technology the way to move forward? Unless you are wearing tin foil hats and you believe 5G causes coronavirus, I assume you say no. However, we need to fight the good fight and inform ourselves, friends and families about what’s happening, before we wake up in a virtual panopticon.

If you’re a designer, think about how you impact the society with your work next time you’ll be asked to design something that will gather data and share them, or even sell them, to the wrong hands. There is an interesting book bellow for you.

Last, I’d suggest watching the latest episode of John Oliver on the topic and when you have some more time feel free to check out the rest of the links I gathered here for you.

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Related links

🗄 A should watch: “The FBI… has logged more than 390,000 facial-recognition searches… since 2011.” Watch John Oliver taking a look at facial recognition technology. Fun fact: Skynet exists.

🔍 Have you heard of the little-known start-up that helps law enforcement match photos of unknown people to their online images? NYT writes about the secretive company that might end privacy as we know it.

🇬🇧 Real-time access to EU police databases has not yet been agreed in the negotiations, so the failure of Brexit talks can lead to terrorism intelligence delays.

💄 Protecting oneself against mass surveillance has become a pressing issue. Vogue looks into makeup as an anti-surveillance tool. Whether this works, that’s another issue.

👕 To push back against surveillance, designers have invented clothes and accessories that make your face undetectable. These clothes use outlandish designs to trick facial recognition software into thinking you're not human. Some are pretty cool.

✏️ There is an algorith that turns simple sketches into portrait photos.

🏢 The new normal will mean a reinvented workplace designed to mitigate the risk of a coronavirus resurgence. Read this Wired article about how the pandemic will change the way our homes and offices are built.