This summer Facebook announced its new cryptocurrency, Libra, whose goal is to provide a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people. They believe that the ability to manage your financial assets on your mobile devices should be available to everyone in a simple and intuitive way. To ensure that the new digital currency fulfills its goal, the financial system will consist of three different elements (1):

1. Libra Blockchain
2. A real-world reserve
3. The Libra Association

First, to target a global audience, Libra will run on its own open-source Libra Blockchain network, enabling anyone to build upon it. The network has been built from scratch to ensure its security, scalability, efficiency, and adaptability. Second, for Libra to succeed it has to be adopted on a truly global scale. To guarantee trust in its intrinsic value, every unit of Libra will be backed by real-world assets such as bank deposits and short-term government securities. Finally, an independent, non-profit membership organization will govern Libra after its creation. Over time the members of this organization will be a wide range of businesses, NGOs and academic institutions from all over the globe, and amongst its founding members are organizations such as Mastercard, eBay, Spotify, Vodafone Group, Coinbase and Women’s World Banking (1).

However, not all is well for Libra. On October 4th, PayPal Holdings Inc became the first member to leave the organization (2), and on the same day Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, launched a barrage of criticism at Facebook. In an interview with Les Echos (3), a French newspaper he said: “I really think that a currency should stay in the hands of countries. I’m not comfortable with the idea of a private group setting up a competing currency”. On top of this, the Wall Street Journal (4) reported that Visa and Mastercard are also debating a potential exit from the Libra Association.

What do you think about the fact that private companies are trying to create their own currencies? And would you consider using Libra?

References:

1. https://libra.org/en-US/white-paper/#introducing-libra
2. https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-cryptocurrency-paypal/paypal-becomes-first-member-to-exit-facebooks-libra-association-idUKKBN1WJ2CY
3. https://www.lesechos.fr/tech-medias/hightech/pour-tim-cook-le-patron-dapple-certains-gafa-ont-sans-doute-ete-arrogants-1137197
4. https://www.wsj.com/articles/visa-mastercard-others-reconsider-involvement-in-facebook-s-libra-network-11569967023

During the annual Alexa conference, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that they (Amazon) are working on a draft for facial recognition legislation, which they intend to propose to congress. The announcement follows a wide array of criticism regarding their new facial recognition technology, called Rekognition, which was announced last February and is heavily being marketed for law enforcement and immigration agencies. (1) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tested Rekognition and found that it misidentified 28 members of Congress as criminals, of which 39% were people of color, while only 20% of the members of Congress are people of color. (2)  

While Amazon states that they have the best of intentions with the laws that they are drafting, and it is good to see that they are aware of the dangers of facial recognition, one must be skeptical. As ACLU Attorney Jacob Snow said: “…Once companies realize that people are demanding strong privacy protections, they sweep in, pushing weak rules that won’t protect consumer privacy and rights. Cities across the country are voting to ban face surveillance, while Amazon is pushing its surveillance tech deeper into communities.” (3) As multiple committees as well as organizations are pushing for bans on facial recognition, it is not unlikely that Amazon is attempting to push legislation that is more open to a surveillance-based business model, stated Albet Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. (4)

In a time where governments across the world are increasingly using facial recognition in public spaces, the implications for our freedom are chilling. Just last week, China announced that they have developed a 500 megapixel facial recognition camera that is able to identify faces in crowds of thousands. (5) Even the dutch police have started to maintain a facial recognition database, which currently contains over 1.3 million people. (6)  I believe that we should take steps now, before we are all living in a black mirror episode, what do you think?

References:
(1): https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-facial-recognition/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-said-company-working-on-facial-recognition-regulations-idUSKBN1WA35Q?il=0
(2): https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/amazons-face-recognition-falsely-matched-28
(3): https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/9/25/20884427/jeff-bezos-amazon-facial-recognition-draft-legislation-regulation-rekognition
(4): https://www.cnet.com/news/amazons-plan-for-facial-recognition-laws-faces-skeptics/
(5): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/26/china-unveils-500-megapixel-camera-can-identify-every-face-crowd/
(6): https://www.vice.com/nl/article/8xzydz/gezichtsherkenning-op-de-nederlandse-straten-moeten-we-dat-willen