Ever wonder who’s bossing you around when you say, “Hey, Siri” or “Alexa, what’s the weather today?”… Behind these digital divas are real people—yes, actual humans—who’ve lent their voices to the tech we’ve come to rely on. And their stories are just as fascinating as the tech itself…
China’s Uyghurs For Sale: ‘Re-Education’, Forced Labour and Surveillance Beyond Xinjiang…
The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority1 citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 83 well-known global brands in the technology, […]
Chicago Becomes First Major City to Collect ‘Netflix tax’…
Chicago is the first major city to collect what’s dubbed the “Netflix tax.” The Windy City has raked in $2 million after imposing a 9 percent tax on companies like Sony and Fandango. The four-year old tax whose name comes from targetting streaming entertainment services is gaining attention from other cities and states. “This is […]
150 Filmmakers Ask Nikon and Canon to Sell Encrypted Cameras…
In the summer of 2013, when documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras was shooting a still-secret NSA leaker named Edward Snowden in a Hong Kong hotel room, she took security seriously. She’d periodically transfer her footage to encrypted hard drives, and would later go so far as to destroy the SD cards onto which her camera recorded…