This is @SQMasood

What he experienced in the streets of his hometown of Hyderabad hints at how #India uses data to surveil its 1.4 billion citizens.

And it could set precedent for how the country uses one of the most controversial technologies of our time.

Here's why: 1/9 In the spring of 2021, Masood was on his way home from buying groceries at a local market when, all of the sudden, police stopped him:
2/9

Tomorrow, the EU will present its long-awaited proposal for laws for artificial intelligence.

Brace yourself for headlines à la “Europe gets tough on the AI industry."

But is it?
(Thread) Some backdrop: The laws could make Europe the first world region with a dedicated rulebook for AI.

Officials hope that by coming up with rules early, they will set a global standard for AI regulation.

Heads-up:

During a court hearing in Düsseldorf today — in a case you've probably never heard of — German judges will give their opinion on whether US tech giant Facebook is abusing its dominant market position and exploiting user data.

olg-duesseldorf.nrw.de/behoerde/press… Here’s what you need to know: Facebook is up against the Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s competition office — and the origins of the case reach back to over five years ago.

The EU today unveiled its plan how to regulate artificial intelligence. Here are my key takeaways:

For now, Brussels seems to stay true to its plan to impose tough rules on 'high-risk' AI — dealing a blow to the tech industry and its lobbyists.

[thread]
ec.europa.eu/info/sites/inf… That means that high-risk AI systems could soon have to undergo rigorous testing before they can be deployed or sold within the EU's vast internal market (which is worth billions), according to the plan. /2

At this year's @MunSecConf #MSC2019 , Angela Merkel just suggested something that didn't get much attention but is remarkable:

During Q&A, she said there could be more to the #FridaysForFuture protests by schoolchildren demanding action on climate change than meets the eye. “In Germany now, children are protesting for climate protection.... But you can't imagine that all German children, after years, and without any outside influence, suddenly hit on the idea that they have to take part in this process."
politico.eu/article/munich…

A "new Cold War" has broken out, analysts on both side of the Atlantic say.

This time, it's over information technology — but, like back in the old Cold War days, the key battleground is, once again, Berlin.

Here's why [Thread] The backdrop: The Trump administration is on a global crusade against Chinese tech giant Huawei, and has spent the past few months pressing its international allies to take a stronger stance against the company. /2

THREAD: There’s lots of talks about artificial intelligence and ethics these days — how to come up with principles for the use of #AI, whether there should be binding laws regulating it or whether broader guidelines could be enough etc pp. 2/ I’d like to point you to an — overlooked, as often — academic paper that came out earlier this month. There’s lots of op-eds and papers written on the topic. No one has the time to read them all (and to be frank, many aren’t worth it.) This one’s different: