Tech Billionaires Face Tricky Political Waters After Democratic Sweep

Many donated money to President Trump’s favored causes and became his allies. Now that political alignment may be a liability. 

The New York Times, Eli Tan, Theodore Schleifer and Erin Griffith, Nov. 5, 2026

President Trump met with leaders of the artificial intelligence industry 

at the White House in September.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

In September, President Trump hosted a White House luncheon to discuss artificial intelligence, flanked by some of the world’s wealthiest tech executives: Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and others. They had the president’s ear to pitch an A.I. future uninhibited by regulation or guardrails. 

For two years, it had been that easy to get what they wanted. Tech billionaires and their companies donated money to Mr. Trump’s favored causes, including the White House ballroom. The moguls posed for photos and lavished him with praise and gifts. Amazon heavily promoted a movie about Melania Trump. 

Then on Tuesday, the American public delivered a rebuke of the tech industry’s agenda. Overnight, the billionaires’ political alignment with the president may have become a liability. 

Democrats, riding a wave of anti-tech sentiment, including distrust of tech leaders, opposition to data centers and fears of job loss fueled by A.I., will soon control Congress and prominent state governments. In victory speeches around the country, they made tech titans avatars of inequality and corruption that plagued the Republican Party in the election cycle. 

That puts some tech executives in a trickier position. It may be harder for them to make progress on their goals of A.I. dominance. Many saw their net worths drop on Thursday as investors sold out of A.I. and chip stocks, driving the tech-heavy Nasdaq down more than 5 percent. And some may even find themselves under investigation. 

“You guys aren’t the actual leaders of the Valley. You’re the mis-leaders of the Valley,” said Reid Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn who is one of the country’s top Democratic donors and a leader of the tech industry’s progressive wing. “It will no longer be that these MAGA voices in the Valley are in charge.” 

Silicon Valley’s shift to the right began in 2024, when Mr. Musk and others went all-in on Mr. Trump, visiting Mar-a-Lago and taking up powerful positions in his administration. New political groups supporting niche interests like cryptocurrency spent enormous sums to promote their agendas. 

Guests at Mr. Trump’s inauguration last year included, from right in the front row,

Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez Bezos and Mark

Zuckerberg. Credit...Ricky Carioti

This time, the money was even bigger. Among the 20 biggest donors in the mid terms were tech billionaires, including the venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. 

An Andreessen-backed cryptocurrency group, Fairshake, spent tens of millions on a mission to defeat Sherrod Brown, the Democrat running for Senate in Ohio. Mr. Musk poured over $474 million into Republican super PACs, including hundreds of millions to support Ken Paxton, the Texas Republican nominee for the Senate. And a Musk-endorsed billionaire ran for governor in Ohio.

Mr. Musk’s results, said Rohan Patel, a former Tesla vice president reporting to Mr. Musk who now works in Democratic politics, are a “total repudiation of his ugly brand of politics.” 

Neil Malhotra, a professor of political economy at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, said tech leaders had mostly been acting out of self-preservation. 

“They understand when you have a president who is willing to use the state to intervene in the economy, it’s smart business practice to be on good terms with the administration,” he said. 

Dr. Malhotra noted that most business leaders would rather that the government not move too far from the center in either direction. After the 2024 election, “Republicans overinterpreted their mandate,” he said. 

Now, tech leaders may find their business dealings under investigation. “They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing,” Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, posted on social media on Tuesday. 

The tech titans appeared triumphant in one race: A proposed billionaire tax in California is on the cusp of being defeated. Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, and other tech investors and founders poured about $330 million into efforts to vanquish the measure, which called for a one-time 5 percent tax. A companion measure that would effectively ban all future wealth taxes also appeared likely to pass. 

Still, anti-billionaire and anti-tech sentiment was prominent in victory speeches around the country. Mr. Paxton’s opponent in Texas, James Talarico, whom Mr. Hoffman backed with nearly $17 million, compared his race to David versus Goliath. 

“We just sent a message to every billionaire megadonor, every trillionaire megadonor,” he said. He called out “the billionaires who own the social media algorithms, who own the cable news networks, who own the politicians.” This election was a referendum on their power, too, he said. 

Roy Cooper, a Democrat who won a Senate seat in North Carolina, said in his victory speech on Tuesday that “we told Washington loud and clear that North Carolinians will always matter more than the billionaires and the insiders.” 

The left-wing victor in Michigan’s Senate race, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, said he would be “taking on the corporations and the billionaires, special interests who’ve rigged the system against us for far too long.” 

And Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who won re-election in Georgia, called out “the titans of Silicon Valley,” who “dig bunkers for themselves and warn that the artificial intelligence they’re creating risks human extinction.”

Senator Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia, called out “the titans of Silicon

Valley” while speaking on election night at an Atlanta hotel. Credit...Nicole Craine

for The New York Times

Late Tuesday, as the results of the election rolled in, the hosts of the tech podcast “All-In,” who are tech investors, expressed surprise and disappointment in a livestream at the possibility that Texas’ Republican governor, Greg Abbott, could lose his bid for a fourth term. 

The tech industry had assumed that after Mr. Abbott won, he would lift a moratorium on data centers in Texas and that construction would begin again, the “All-In” hosts said. Pro-business Texas is the second-largest state for data center projects, representing roughly 30 percent of the planned capacity for 2028, according to SemiAnalysis, a research group. 

Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat who beat Mr. Abbott, has said she would keep the moratorium going until the state could pass legislation around data centers, delaying projects from coming online for many months. 

Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico campaigning in San Antonio on Sunday.
Credit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

Chamath Palihapitiya, an “All-In” host, connected the slowdown or halt of data center projects to the performance of A.I.-related stocks and, ultimately, the fate of the U.S. economy. He warned of a recession, noting that losing the computing power of new data centers was the “single most effective way to tank the market.” 

Mr. Musk, who donated $5 million to Mr. Abbott’s campaign, posted on social media after the results: “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.” 

Wrongful arrest based on face recognition system, complaint says

Yahoo – AFP, Rob Lever, June 24, 2020

Amid rising concerns over facial recognition technology used by law enforcement,
a black man in Detroit alleges he was wrongfully arrested on the basis of a flawed
algorithm (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

Washington (AFP) - A flawed facial recognition algorithm led to the wrongful arrest of an African-American man in Detroit, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in a case highlighting concerns over the technology which critics say reinforces racial bias.

The American Civil Liberties Union, representing Robert Williams, said Wednesday it was the first known case of an unlawful arrest based on face recognition technology, which according to critics is often inaccurate in distinguishing faces of black people.

"Though Robert Williams may be the first known case, he is likely not the first person who was wrongfully arrested and interrogated based off a bogus face recognition hit," the ACLU said on Twitter.

"There are likely many people who just don't know that it was flawed technology that made them a target."

Williams wrote in the Washington Post that he was arrested in January outside his home and held for 30 hours, later learning he was wrongly identified based on surveillance footage from a robbery at a watch store.

"I never thought I'd have to explain to my daughters why daddy got arrested," Williams wrote. "How does one explain to two little girls that a computer got it wrong, but the police listened to it anyway?"

The news comes amid rising tensions over police misconduct following the deaths of several African Americans at the hands of law enforcement, and concerns that some technologies such as facial recognition may exacerbate discrimination.

Various studies show facial recognition systems used in the United States may be wildly inaccurate in attempting to identify blacks.

Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, an activist group, said the Williams case highlights how artificial intelligence technology can be abused to reinforce discrimination.

"This example cannot be reduced to a case of one bad algorithm," she said. "Instead what we are seeing is just a glimpse of how systemic racism can be encoded and reflected in AI systems."

Amid the recent unrest, some firms including IBM, Amazon and Microsoft said they would not be selling facial recognition technology to police departments until regulations are passed to ensure against misuse. But many other systems are widely used.

Seeking apology

In a formal complaint to the police department, ACLU attorney Phil Mayor asked for a dismissal of the charges, an expungement of the arrest record, and a public apology to Williams.

The lawyer said Williams has not waived his right to pursue further action in court.

The ACLU also said the police should stop using facial recognition technology as an investigatory tool, and that any photos of Williams should be removed from the agency's database.

Williams wrote of the harrowing experience of being handcuffed in front of his family and spending the night "on the floor of a filthy, overcrowded cell."

"As any other person would be, I was angry that this was happening to me," he said. "As any other black man would be, I had to consider what could happen if I asked too many questions or displayed my anger openly -- even though I knew I had done nothing wrong."

In a related move Wednesday, Boston's city council voted to ban the use of face recognition technology by law enforcement.

"This is a crucial victory for our privacy rights and for people like Robert Williams, who have been arrested for crimes they didn't commit because of a technology law enforcement shouldn't be using," said Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.

As doctors go virtual, pandemic turbocharges telemedicine

Yahoo – AFP, Kelly MACNAMARA, June 2, 2020

Governments and private firms have set up telemedicine clinics for patients who
suspect they have the new coronavirus (AFP Photo/Alexander NEMENOV)

Will visiting the doctor ever be the same again?

In a matter of weeks, the coronavirus pandemic sparked a technological revolution in healthcare systems across the world that might otherwise have taken years.

Spurred on by fears of contagion in wards and waiting rooms, many health practitioners are replacing the face-to-face meetings that have always underpinned general practice, with patient consultations by telephone and online video apps.

Some of the most radical changes have been in primary healthcare, where doctors have often faced shortages of protective equipment, but specialists in everything from mental health to eye care have also turned to technology to treat patients at a distance.

"General practice has undergone significant changes in the way GPs and our teams have delivered patient care during the pandemic -- and the speed in which these changes were implemented has been remarkable," Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of Britain's Royal College of GPs told AFP.

As the virus spread, health authorities in the UK, Europe and elsewhere updated guidance on everything from data protection to how to build trust remotely.

The United States rolled back restrictions on access to telemedicine, and eased privacy regulations to allow people to use platforms like Skype and FaceTime.

"People are now seeing this model, which we thought would take years and years to develop. And it's probably been accelerated by a decade," Chris Jennings, US policy consultant and former White House health care adviser told STAT news recently.

Globally, 58 percent of surveyed countries are now using telemedicine, the World Health Organization said Monday, adding the figure was 42 percent among low income nations.

Layla McCay, a director at the NHS Confederation representing British healthcare services, told AFP that most of the UK's 1.2 million daily face-to-face primary care consultations were done remotely "in the space of weeks".

But there were challenges.

"My first video consultation was a mess. Builders were drilling, the microphone failed, a colleague walked in, and lockdown was imminent," Camille Gajria, a doctor and clinical teaching fellow at Imperial College London, told the British Medical Journal.

She said teleconsultations can be efficient but warned of "cognitive bias" -- a doctor, for example, might assume that a child playing in the background is the one being discussed.

Hospitals like this one in Mexico have used online video platforms to let COVID-19 

patients communicate remotely with their families (AFP Photo/ULISES RUIZ)

There are also concerns that vulnerable patients might find it difficult to talk about mistreatment at home, while elderly people could struggle to navigate unfamiliar technology.

Remote medicine

Telemedicine may seem like a product of the internet age, but it has been around for decades, developing alongside communication technology.

One big leap came during the space race of the 1960s, when scientists worried about the effect of zero gravity on the human body. Would it impede blood circulation or breathing?

To find out, both the US and Soviet Union conducted test flights with animals hooked up to medical monitoring systems that transmitted biometric data back to scientists on Earth. Later, longer missions meant astronauts needed systems that could diagnose and help treat medical emergencies.

NASA went on to develop terrestrial telemedicine, including a project to provide healthcare to the isolated Tohono O'odham reservation in Arizona, as well as disaster response in the 1985 Mexico City and 1988 Armenia earthquakes.

While the coronavirus pandemic has driven sweeping changes in the way many people see their local doctor, it has also highlighted the role telemedicine can play in connecting clinicians with remote communities.

In India, which has just 8.6 medical workers per 10,000 people according to 2018 WHO figures, the majority of doctors are concentrated in urban centres, while some 70 percent of people live in rural areas.

Ayush Mishra, founder of the telehealth provider Tattvan, said this means people outside bigger towns are often forced to seek medical advice from overstretched or ill-qualified practitioners.

His business, one of a growing number of telehealth providers in India, operates 18 clinics, mostly ATM-style booths that are manned by a medical assistant who can take vital measurements and linked with doctors in private hospitals in larger towns.

The firm languished in a legal grey zone for years until the coronavirus crisis spurred the government into broadening regulatory approval for virtual consultations. Now he hopes to open hundreds of clinics around the country.

Mishra traces his enthusiasm for telemedicine to a horrific motorbike accident when he was a biomedical engineering student in the northern city of Jaipur.

Governments and private firms have set up telemedicine clinics for patients 

who suspect they have the new coronavirus (AFP Photo/Alexander NEMENOV)

Severely injured, he was driven ten hours to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh, before falling into a coma as a local doctor performed surgery.

His family was overwhelmed by "panic" until his father spoke by telephone to a surgeon at a hospital in Delhi, enabling them to arrange treatment in the city.

Mishra lost his leg, but told AFP the experience inspired him to want to equalise medical access for people in smaller towns.

"You need to be able to offer this access -- it's a human right," he said.

Not going back?

Internet-connected thermometers, pulse oximeters to measure oxygen levels, and smart devices that monitor vital signs are all widening the scope of what is possible in remote medicine.

In an April article for JAMA Neurology, experts from the Netherlands and US said telemedicine could be a useful tool for in-home training, such as activities for survivors of stroke. Patients, they noted, could be monitored via sensors in watches or phones.

"We hope that this current COVID-19 crisis will soon be resolved. However, it is as the old saying goes: 'never waste a good crisis'," they said.

"Telemedicine for chronic neurological disorders should become part of the new normal rather than the exception."

Marshall said there are still many routine procedures -- vaccinations, blood tests and physical examinations -- that cannot be done remotely.

"Those living with multiple conditions and other complex health needs really benefit from seeing their doctor in person -- and this is helpful for the GP, as well," he said.

But he added that research supports the use of remote consultations for patients with simple conditions, or who have "transactional" needs like a repeat prescription.

Many say they want at least some of the changes to stay.

"It has certainly turbocharged the digital transition nationally," said McCay of the NHS Confederation.

"Lots of feedback from our members shows the culture has fundamentally changed, and clinicians who were perhaps previously resistant to digitisation are now realising its benefits."

"We can't go backwards," she added.

Dutch see apps as key to relaxing lockdown, tracing corona suspects

DutchNews, April 7, 2020

Reporters listen during the press conference. Photo: Bart Maat ANP

The Netherlands is looking into introducing two apps as a key part of controlling the spread of coronavirus, prime minister Mark Rutte and health minister Hugo de Jonge told a press conference on Tuesday evening.

‘Experts tell us that identifying sources and tracing contacts will be crucial for relaxing the rules, without over-taxing hospitals,’ Rutte said. ‘But it is still early days and privacy is key,’ the prime minister said. 

The apps, one of which would alert people via bluetooth if they had been in contact with someone who had coronavirus, and a second which would keep potential patients in touch with doctors, are currently being further researched, Rutte said. 

The apps will form part of the more intensive testing strategy which is currently being introduced. They would, in effect, take over some of the work of local health boards which do not have the capacity to trace all potential coronavirus contacts. 

Compulsory 

Asked if people would be forced to install the apps on their phones, health minister De Jonge said it would be important that as many people as possible used them.

‘There is no point in carrying out all the testing if you don’t do anything with the results,’ he said. ‘We are looking at whether you can require everyone to do it.’ Contact tracing is still being done in the north of the country where there are relatively few coronavirus cases, the minister said.

Government press conference in the Netherlands on Corona measures. Announcement of contact tracing app which 'will have to respect privacy', but no explanation of privacy engineering that can/will be applied. Only specialists understand, so now good chunk of NL freaks out...

— Joris van Hoboken (@jorisvanhoboken) April 7, 2020

Both Rutte and De Jonge emphasised that despite promising figures in terms of hospital and intensive care admissions, it is still too early to say if the ‘intelligent lockdown’ in the Netherlands will be gradually eased from April 28, when the current deadline expires. 

‘The figures show we are not doing this for nothing, but we could not make a bigger mistake than to relax the rules in one go,’ Rutte said. ‘We will then hit a new and bigger peak in infections.’ 

What we are doing now is crucial for our economic recovery, he said. ‘We are looking at scenarios for an intelligent way back. Everyone should start thinking about how we can further adapt to the 1.5 metre society. The way back will be step by step and based on science.’

US ambassador confirms pressure to refuse ASML export licence for China

DutchNews, January 17, 2020 

An ASML cleanroom where a euv machine is being assembled. Photo: ASML

The US ambassador to the Netherlands has confirmed earlier reports that the United States wants to discourage the export of chip technology to China, the Financieele Dagblad said on Friday. 

Sources had told the paper earlier that the US was putting pressure on the Dutch government to refuse an export licence to chip machinery maker ASML.

‘We have made it very clear to the Dutch,’ the paper quotes Pete Hoestra as saying. ‘We believe that this is extremely sensitive technology which does not belong in certain places.’ 

ASML has been waiting since June 2019 for an export licence to send a next-generation chip maker to China, which uses technology based on extreme ultraviolet (euv) wavelengths. 

The request is still being dealt with by the foreign affairs ministry. However, behind the scenes, the FD says, the US has been subjecting the Netherlands to ‘heavy political pressure’ to refuse the licence. 

Earlier this week, China’s ambassador to the Netherlands said in an interview with the FD that China did not want The Hague to bow to US pressure.

‘We are concerned that the Netherlands is allowing our trading relationship to become politicised,’ Xu Hong is quoted as saying. ‘If this continues, it will ultimately have a negative influence on our bilateral relationship.’ 

And Reuters said that White House officials shared a classified intelligence report with the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte which highlighted the potential repercussions of China acquiring ASML’s technology. 

The paper said the stakes are high because ASML is counting on realising billions of euros worth of sales in China through the use of euv technology. 

The technology falls under an international treaty, the Wassenaar Arrangement, which was signed by both countries and which stipulates that a licence is necessary because euv technology can also be used for military purposes.

'Invisible computing' startup unveils smart contact lens

Yahoo – AFP, January 16, 2020

Mojo Vision, a California startup, says its smart contact lens is part of a move to
"invisible computing," which allows people to interact more naturally with technology
(AFP Photo/HO)

Washington (AFP) - A startup focused on "invisible computing" Thursday unveiled a smart contact lens which delivers an augmented reality display in a user's field of vision.

The Mojo Vision contact lens offers a display with information and notifications, and allows the user to interact by focusing on certain points.

The rigid contact lens, which the company has been developing in stealth mode for some 10 years, may also be used to help people with visual impairments by using enhanced image overlays, and has obtained US approval for testing it as a medical device.

"Mojo has a vision for invisible computing where you have the information you want when you want it and are not bombarded or distracted by data when you don't," said chief executive Drew Perkins.

In a demonstration to an AFP reporter, company executives showed how the contact lens could enable users to see a virtual teleprompter, navigation instructions or other interactions that appear floating in the field of vision by projecting a micro-LED display to the retina.

A user, wearing two lenses which may be fitted with a correction prescription, could "click" by concentrating on an icon -- to launch a music player, for example -- and turn off by looking away.

Mojo said it had no timetable for a commercial launch. But it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as a "breakthrough" device to test the contact lens to help people with visual impairments such as macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.

A smart contact lens prototype developed by California startup Mojo Vision delivers 

an augmented reality display in the user’s field and is being tested to help people with 

visual impairments (AFP Photo/Rob Lever)

"These are people who are underserved by technology today," said Steve Sinclair, senior vice president of the startup based in Saratoga, California.

The company said the contact lens is designed to provide overlays that augment sight for people with "low vision" and may assist in mobility, reading and other functions.

Mojo has raised $100 million and has executives with experience at Google, Apple and other Silicon Valley firms, with opticians and ophthalmologists also working on the project.

The contact lens aims to enable people to move away from physical devices and interact more naturally with technology. It also could have business applications, allowing workers or specialists access to real-time information in their field of vision without a bulky headset.

A challenge has been to pack into the lens the complex circuitry, image sensor, wireless radio and battery needed for the wearable device.

Executives said the current version would transmit and receive information wirelessly through a portable relay box which could be clipped to a belt, but they hope to link directly to smartphones in the future.

The company will be testing its vision-enhancing applications with the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Palo Alto, California.

Virtual reality: Dutch firm wins prize for gaming pain away

DutchNews, December 19, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

 A Frisian company which has developed a virtual reality headset to combat chronic pain has won the prestigious UN World SummitAward. 

Exactly how many people are suffering from chronic pain in the Netherlands is not known but their number runs into the thousands, medical experts say. Often the pain has no clear cause. The conventional treatment is painkillers but these are costly and don’t always work. 

The VR treatment tackles the pain by training the brain, psychologist Louis Zantema, who founded Reducept, told broadcaster NOS. 

‘People with chronic pain are oversensitive to the pain signal sent by the body to the brain. The therapy helps the nervous system because the brain believes healing is taking place,’ he said. 

Shooting down the pain 

‘When you put on the VR headset you travel into in your own nervous system. The painful spots show up as small red dots which you shoot at, as if you were playing a game,’ Zantema explained. 

After ‘shooting down’ the pain the next step is a mindfulness exercise focusing on the spinal cord. ‘There we are using a psychological trick which also works for people suffering from trauma. The patient does a complicated exercise which is alternated with an intensive focusing on the pain.’ 

Professor Harry van Goor tested the VR headset on 40 people all of whom experienced a reduction in pain symptoms. He says the treatment offers hope to many while saving money at the same time. 

‘Chronic pain is causing depression and is putting a lot of pressure on the health system. The medication either doesn’t help or is addictive and waiting lists for the specialist pain clinics are very long,’ he told NOS. 

The treatment is available at over 50 healthcare institutions but is not covered by health insurers. A session costs €15 apart from the cost of buying a VR headset.

Related Article:

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

“….Let me close with this: I'm going to give you the same concept that I gave those few on their way to the beautiful garden a few days ago [channelling on the way to Butchart Gardens in Vancouver Island]. There are things in your field for you that will save your life unless you look back and say, "Impossible!" Some of you have an old habit where you look at your life and say, "Well, for others, but not for me." Sometimes you pull on your old logic and further say, "Well, it's never happened before, so why should it happen now?" Dear ones, that exactly reflects the earlier teaching of the day. Don't let the past predict your future. If you do, then you are actually creating your own demise.

What is in the field for you? What is it you can see and imagine? Have you heard this question from the scientists this week - not a channeller, but the scientists? Did you hear that the visualization of your health from your consciousness goes inside and is seen by your own cellular structure? Does this science sound like Kryon? Did you hear that the field is there to push it forward? Do you believe in homeopathy? Do you see how it works? For example, you have a tincture that is too small to be recognized by any part of the body as a chemical change, yet the body sees the signal from the tincture and corrects the issue! Dear one, homeopathy is not something unknown on the planet. It's everywhere! So understand this: The principles of homeopathy are NOT homeopathic principles. They are Universal principles of the field.

So, how about consciousness homeopathy? What's the difference between putting a tincture together to create a signal for healing and life extension or putting strong consciousness together that does the same? This is here and already has been proven. It's just means changing the mechanics a little. With the new energy that I have told you is here, and the amount of love that is pouring to you that is greater than ever before because of what you're doing, old soul, this is doable for you. More than doable. It awaits manifestation. ..…”

China introduces mandatory face scans for phone users

Yahoo – AFP, December 1, 2019

In September, China's information technology ministry said telecom operators
should use 'technical means' to verify phone users' identities (AFP Photo/WANG ZHAO)

China will require telecom operators to collect face scans when registering new phone users at offline outlets starting Sunday, according to the country's information technology authority, as Beijing continues to tighten cyberspace controls.

In September, China's industry and information technology ministry issued a notice on "safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of citizens online", which laid out rules for enforcing real-name registration.

The notice said telecom operators should use "artificial intelligence and other technical means" to verify people's identities when they take a new phone number.

A China Unicom customer service representative told AFP that the December 1 "portrait matching" requirement means customers registering for a new phone number may have to record themselves turning their head and blinking.

"In next steps, our ministry will continue to...increase supervision and inspection...and strictly promote the management of real-name registration for phone users," said the September notice.

Though the Chinese government has pushed for real-name registration for phone users since at least 2013 -- meaning ID cards are linked to new phone numbers -- the move to leverage AI comes as facial recognition technology gains traction across China where the tech is used for everything from supermarket checkouts to surveillance.

Online, Chinese social media users reacted with a mix of support and worry over the December 1 facial verification notice, with some voicing concerns their biometric data could be leaked or sold.

"This is a bit too much," wrote one user on Twitter-like Weibo, commenting under an article about the new rules.

"Control, and then more control," posted another.

While researchers have warned of the privacy risks associated with gathering facial recognition data, consumers have widely embraced the technology -- though China saw one of its first lawsuits on facial recognition last month.

In early November, a Chinese professor filed a claim against a safari park in Hangzhou, eastern Zhejiang province for requiring face scans for entry, according to the local court.

In addition to mobile users, Chinese social media site Weibo was forced to roll out real-name registration in 2012.

Oversight of social media has ramped up in recent years as part of the Chinese government's push to "promote the healthy, orderly development of the Internet, protect state security and public interest".

Vopak goes digital, but staff are unhappy about their movements being monitored

DutchNews, November 20, 2019

The Vopak terminal in Eemshaven. Wutsje via Wikimedia Commons

Workers at chemical storage company Vopak are concerned about a new electronic pass card that all workers will have to carry from next year, which will monitor everything they do, the Financieele Dagblad said on Wednesday. 


The card will record where people are, if they are standing up or sitting down and even if they have a work permit, the paper said.

‘We have our real doubts about this,’ Cees den Breejen, of the company works council, told the paper. ‘We have no problem if this is about safety but this is very privacy-sensitive. Where someone walks, if he has gone to the loo… what is the company going to do with all this data?’ 

Vopak argues that the new system will boost safety and will, for example, send out a signal if the wearer is lying on the ground. ‘If someone is horizontal for some time, then the other badges in the neighbourhood will get a signal,’ CIO Leo Brand said. 

The pass cards will first be tested in January and will also get an update allowing sound to be recorded, the FD said. Visitors to Vopak storage facilities will also be given such a card to wear. 

The personnel monitoring is part of the company’s plans to implement the use of digital technology across all aspects of its operations, including the placement of robots in tanks to monitor for leaks and sensors to check if pumps and taps are working properly. 

‘I think it will be very hard to prove that this monitoring falls within the bounds of privacy legislation,’ lawyer Thomas van Essen told the paper. ‘I’ve not come across a system which goes this far.’

Facebook's Marcus says Libra won't be controlled by a single company

Yahoo – AFP, October 20, 2019

Executives involved with Facebook's proposed Libra digital currency say they
will work with regulators to address their concerns (AFP Photo/Fabrice COFFRINI)

Washington (AFP) - Facebook executive David Marcus on Sunday tried to calm the fears of officials threatening to block its proposed digital currency, saying Libra won't be controlled by a single company.

The head of Facebook's Libra currency project sought to address the main issue raised by France's Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire: the potential for a company to have the power to undermine a government's control of its currency.

Marcus said it has been "very clear to us from the very beginning that a payment networks such as the Libra network shouldn't be controlled by one company."

Speaking at a forum, hosted by the Group of 30, he repeated the company's commitment to work with regulators to address their concerns.

He added that the Libra Association -- comprised of 21 companies -- will "welcome competition to benefit local access and strive for the lowest cost possible for consumers."

But, he cautioned, "the status quo is not an option any longer."

Central banks and government finance officials have long worried about the challenges posed by digital currencies, and the risk they can be used for money laundering and financing terrorism.

Libra is different from other digital currencies like Bitcoin because it would be a "stablecoin" tied to national currencies.

But Le Maire told reporters on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington last week that European governments "will not allow a private company to have the same power, the same monetary power as sovereign states," and will take steps to block Libra from Europe.

Agustin Carstens, former Mexican central banker and longtime skeptic of digital currencies, agreed that technology can help provide access to the financial system to people who have been excluded.

But Carstens, now head of the Bank for International Settlements, said Sunday that the best course would be to "maximize the use of technology with what we've proven that works, that provides stability."

Marcus remained cautiously optimistic.

"We recognize that a change of this magnitude can't be operating without a great sense of responsibility," he said, but he added: "We can actually work together to solve these issues."

Albert Heijn experiments with cash-register free supermarket

DutchNews, September 5, 2019 

Photo: DutchNews.nl

Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn is experimenting with a new form of shopping in which ‘buying groceries is just like taking something out of the fridge’. 

The testing ground, a 14 square meter purpose-built store at the company’s Zaandam HQ, has no cash registers and shoppers do not have to scan the products they are buying either. 

Instead, customers open the door to the shop by scanning their bank card.  As they leave, the grocery bill will appear on a screen and the money they owe will automatically be deducted from their bank account. 

The Dutch market leader says it is the first company in Europe to try out such a system, which is currently only being used by company staff. Later this year the company aims to place its laboratory supermarket at a different location where it can be used by anyone.

‘We have cameras in store which register where you walk and what you are standing in front of,’ spokesman Jasper Hoogers said. ‘And this is only a trial. We are testing out lots of different scenarios to see if works.’ 

The cameras do not use facial recognition and work together with special shelving which registers if a product is removed or put back, Hoogers said. 

The company has not yet researched what customers think of the idea, but the underlying thought is to make things easier for clients, Hoogers said. ‘This would allow us to develop a store which can be located anywhere and is open 24 hours a day,’ he said.