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From killing machines to abortion-tracking drug networks, the tech stories we covered in 2022 were enough to give even the most seasoned science fiction writers a run for their money. Here are some of our top picks:
Rise of the killer robot
Forget the fantasy country Westworld Machine Assassins. Real-life killer robots are now making their way into war zones and police departments around the world.
Koda’s Ilya Gridnef examines the deployment of a new generation of autonomous vehicles on the battlefields of Ukraine. Marine aircraft and ground vehicles armed with unmanned machine guns are “ready to elevate modern warfare,” Gridnef wrote. The emergence of these “killer robot” devices raises all kinds of scary questions about the ever-blurring boundaries between machines and humans, and about the latter giving too much control to the former.
They also made it to California. Lawmakers in San Francisco, one of several U.S. cities doubling down on crime-fighting police, recently faced a backlash after approving a measure that would allow police to kill robots. The neighboring city of Oakland also explored (and then scrapped) a plan to arm police robots with guns.
American Post-Ro Abortion Surveillance Matrix
When the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which affirmed the constitutional right to abortion, privacy experts were quick to point out the dangers of the decision in the digital age. As we wrote after the draft opinion was released in May, people’s search history, text messages, location data, social media activity, purchasing records and use of reproductive health phone apps can all be used as evidence against people seeking the procedure. In regions where the procedure is prohibited.
Nicholas Guggenberger, former executive director of the Yale Information Society Project, explained, “Any digital trail that people leave online immediately after an abortion is committed can be evidence that can be used against them at some point in their journey.” . And that’s nothing to say about the incredibly chaotic universe he can bring up for conversation on social media platforms. Already, companies have been accused of suppressing the content of abortion and abortion-inducing drugs.
The spy in your pocket
It’s impossible to talk about tyrannical tech trends without talking about spyware. There is a huge global appetite for this technology in all kinds of governments. We’ve covered the topic extensively in our Power Tech newsletter – subscribe if you haven’t already! – and the updates are coming so fast that it’s hard to keep up. In California, WhatsApp and Apple have sued Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, and a group of journalists from Salvadoran investigative unit El Faro are also taking NSO to court for developing software that attacks journalists’ phones and monitors their every move.
For journalists infected with spyware, the personal and professional damage can be severe and lasting. Over the summer, we reported on the story of Togolese reporters who appeared on a list of 50,000 phone numbers targeted for surveillance by NSO customers. A year after its unveiling, the threat of spyware still plagues them.
Engineering perfect society – mass surveillance
The scope of mass surveillance in China is so widespread that it’s hard to wrap your mind around it. Coda reporter Liam Scott gave us a primer when he interviewed Wall Street Journal reporters Lisa Lin and Josh Chin about their recent book, “Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control,” which describes the country’s descent into mass surveillance. As a tool of totalitarian social control.
The level of surveillance in Xinjiang, where the government is accused of committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims, is “really absolute,” according to reporter Chin. This includes biometric data collection systems, facial recognition technology, so-called “Big Brother” programming, and advanced artificial intelligence that imposes “total surveillance” on the population. Outside Xinjiang, residents face heightened surveillance under Beijing’s draconian “zero Covid” policy, which reporter Isobel Cockerell explores at length in her excellent infodemic newsletter.
The building blocks of the surveillance nightmare unfolding in Xinjiang and beyond can be found in the US, where companies have happily offered their technologies as the Chinese government builds a panopticon. These technology companies In the early 2000s, they became the midwives of China’s surveillance state and have continued to grow in capital and resources. He believes China’s ultimate goal with this technology is to build a “perfectly engineered” society. If that’s not dystopian nightmare fodder, I’m not sure what is.
As we struggle to find a silver lining in all of this, it may be time to take a step back and rethink tried-and-true communication methods. From protest signs in China to print and postal samizdat networks in Belarus, our 2022 stories have demonstrated the enduring power of pen and paper. Enjoy your reading.
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