１１月初め、テレビを見ていたら、ニュース番組でイタリアの軍艦が数名の人を乗せて港に入ってくる映像を見て思わず笑ってしまった。一緒に見ていた夫も、「笑っちゃうね」と苦笑いをしていた。何のニュースかと言えば、イタリア政府がアルバニアの都市シェンジンとグジデルに移民センターを建設し、そこにイタリアから移民たちが移送されてくるというシーンだったのだ。大きな軍艦にたった８名の移民を乗せている場面は、何だか映画のワンシーンかと思わせる、大袈裟なシーン。（サトウノリコ＝イタリア在住）

電波法施行規則の一部を改正する省令案に係る意見募集の結果

陸上無線通信委員会報告（案）に対する意見募集の結果

モバイル接続料費用配賦ワーキンググループ（第5回）の開催について

「今後目指すべき地方財政の姿と令和7年度の地方財政への対応等についての意見」の提出

情報通信審議会　情報通信技術分科会　技術戦略委員会　社会実装加速化WG（第2回）開催案内

電気通信市場検証会議（第43回）会議資料

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　10月27日の衆議院選挙は、自公が過半数割れの結果となったが、戦後3番目に低い53.75%という投票率は、自民党だけでなく政治そのものへの不信を反映しているのかもしれない。　沖縄県内の投票率は全国よりさらに低く、50%を割り込む49.96%。4つの小選挙区の結果は、これまでと同様、オール沖縄系2対自民系2となり、自民党への支持の根強さ、あるいは辺野古新基地建設を巡る県民の「疲れ」を感じさせた。　3区で小選挙区落選となった立憲の屋良朝博氏は比例復..

■開催趣旨と呼びかけ　今から83年前の12月8日の真珠湾奇襲攻撃が太平洋戦争の口火を切りました。当初は戦果に多くの国民が熱狂し、ほとんどのメディアが戦意高揚を煽り、そして4年後には敗戦を迎えました。なぜ戦争を止められなかったのか。そして戦争の実態はどのようなものなのか。JCJが8月集会に続いて開く１２月集会は、こうした点にスポットあてて、皆さんと共に考えていきます。第１部：基 調 講 演　栗 原　俊 雄 さん（くりはら･としお 毎日新聞学芸部専門記者）第２部：シンポジウム　栗..

These principles have been developed through an extensive consultation process with community-centred connectivity initiatives working in different communities across the global South

The Federal Trade Commission has entered a settlement with self-styled “weapon detection” company Evolv, to resolve the FTC’s claim that the company “knowingly” and repeatedly” engaged in “unlawful” acts of misleading claims about their technology. Essentially, Evolv’s technology, which is in schools, subways, and stadiums, does far less than they’ve been claiming. 

The FTC alleged in their complaint that despite the lofty claims made by Evolv, the technology is fundamentally no different from a metal detector: “The company has insisted publicly and repeatedly that Express is a ‘weapons detection’ system and not a ‘metal detector.’ This representation is solely a marketing distinction, in that the only things that Express scanners detect are metallic and its alarms can be set off by metallic objects that are not weapons.” A typical contract for Evolv costs tens of thousands of dollars per year—five times the cost of traditional metal detectors. One district in Kentucky spent $17 million to outfit its schools with the software. 

The settlement requires notice, to the many schools which use this technology to keep weapons out of classrooms, that they are allowed to cancel their contracts. It also blocks the company from making any representations about their technology’s:

• ability to detect weapons
• ability to ignore harmless personal items
• ability to detect weapons while ignoring harmless personal items
• ability to ignore harmless personal items without requiring visitors to remove any such items from pockets or bags

The company also is prohibited from making statements regarding: 

• Weapons detection accuracy, including in comparison to the use of metal detectors
• False alarm rates, including comparisons to the use of metal detectors
• The speed at which visitors can be screened, as compared to the use of metal detectors
• Labor costs, including comparisons to the use of metal detectors 
• Testing, or the results of any testing
• Any material aspect of its performance, efficacy, nature, or central characteristics, including, but not limited to, the use of algorithms, artificial intelligence, or other automated systems or tools.

If the company can’t say these things anymore…then what do they even have left to sell? 

There’s a reason so many people accuse artificial intelligence of being “snake oil.” Time and again, a company takes public data in order to power “AI” surveillance, only for taxpayers to learn it does no such thing. “Just walk out” stores actually required people watching you on camera to determine what you purchased. Gunshot detection software that relies on a combination of artificial intelligence and human “acoustic experts” to purportedly identify and locate gunshots “rarely produces evidence of a gun-related crime.” There’s a lot of well-justified suspicion about what’s really going on within the black box of corporate secrecy in which artificial intelligence so often operates. 

Even when artificial intelligence used by the government isn’t “snake oil,” it often does more harm than good. AI systems can introduce or exacerbate harmful biases that have massive  negative impacts on people’s lives. AI systems have been implicated with falsely accusing people of welfare fraud, increasing racial bias in jail sentencing as well as policing and crime prediction, and falsely identifying people as suspects based on facial recognition.   

Now, the politicians, schools, police departments, and private venues have been duped again. This time, by Evolv, a company which purports to sell “weapon detection technology” which they claimed would use AI to scan people entering a stadium, school, or museum and theoretically alert authorities if it recognizes the shape of a weapon on a person. 

Even before the new FTC action, there was indication that this technology was not an effective solution to weapon-based violence. From July to October, New York City rolled out a trial of Evolv technology in 20 subway systems in an attempt to keep people from bringing weapons on to the transit system. Out of 2,749 scans there were 118 false positives. Twelve knives and no guns were recovered. 

Make no mistake, false positives are dangerous. Falsely telling officers to expect an armed individual is a recipe for an unarmed person to be injured or even killed. 

Cities, performance venues, schools, and transit systems are understandably eager to do something about violence–but throwing money at the problem by buying unproven technology is not the answer and actually takes away resources and funding from more proven and systematic approaches. We applaud the FTC for standing up to the lucrative security theater technology industry. 

　　２０２３年度JCJ賞受賞『「黒い雨」訴訟』（集英社新書）の著者で広島・長崎の被爆者実相を追求するジャーナリスト・小山美砂氏（JCJ会員）は、９月初旬に中央アジア、カザフスタンのセミパラチンスクで核被害の実態を取材した。カザフスタンは１９９１年に独立したがその前までは旧ソ連の構成国。旧ソ連はセミパラチンスクで４９年から４０年間で４５６回もの核実験を行った。カザフスタンは米ニューヨーク国連本部で来年３月に開催の核兵器禁止条約第３回締約国会議の議長国。小山氏らはこの機会にカザフ..

Deep-pocketed individuals and corporations have been turning to civil lawsuits to silence their opponents. These Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs, aren’t designed to win on the merits, but rather to harass journalists, activists, and consumers into silence by suing them over their protected speech.

Now there’s a bill in Congress that will allow speakers targeted by SLAPPs to fight back, by getting the lawsuits quickly thrown out of federal court, and allow for SLAPP victims to get their legal fees back. The Free Speech Protection Act, H.R. 10310, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), will protect people from getting sued just for exercising their constitutional rights.