Momus Analytics' jury-selection algorithm criticised for racial bias
Momus Analytics, a legal technology company, uses machine learning to rank potential jurors for attorneys. Experts and researchers who reviewed the company's patent application say the algorithm relies on demographic characteristics such as race, which may violate constitutional prohibitions against discriminatory jury selection. The company claims its software has helped secure verdicts worth over $940 million, but did not respond to requests for comment.
- Company involved
- Momus Analytics
- AI system involved
- Momus
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Prosecraft shut down after using authors' books without consent for AI analytics
Prosecraft, a fiction analytics site, used the full text of over 25,000 books without author consent to train its AI algorithms and provide writing statistics. Authors protested on social media, demanding removal of their works. The developer, Benji Smith, subsequently shut down the site and wrote a blog post explaining his actions.
- Company involved
- Prosecraft
- AI system involved
- Prosecraft
10 source articles · read the reporting →
West Midlands Police test NDAS system to assess crime risk
West Midlands Police are testing a system called the National Data Analytics Solution (NDAS) that analyses police data to assess the risk of individuals committing a crime or becoming a victim. The Home Office has funded the project with millions of pounds, intending to roll it out across England and Wales. Critics warn that the system could reinforce bias against minorities and undermine the presumption of innocence. The police say the technology is designed to support, not replace, officer decision-making and that it is still in early testing.
- Company involved
- West Midlands Police
- AI system involved
- National Data Analytics Solution
1 source article · read the reporting →
Chinese tech companies patented Uyghur detection analytics
IPVM reported that Huawei, Megvii, SenseTime, and other Chinese tech companies filed patents in China for AI systems that can detect Uyghur ethnicity. The patents included Uyghur as a detectable attribute for facial recognition and image retrieval. The companies responded by saying they would amend or withdraw the patents, claiming the references were misunderstood or regrettable, while the technology is used by police for surveillance and targeting of Uyghurs.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
IRCC uses AI triage for Temporary Resident Visa applications
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) uses an AI system called Advanced Analytics to triage Temporary Resident Visa applications from India and China. The system categorizes applications into tiers, with Tier 1 approved automatically and others sent to human officers. Critics allege the system lacks transparency and may introduce bias, leading to visa refusals without clear rationale. The author, a Canadian immigration lawyer, is filing Federal Court cases on behalf of clients affected by refusals.
- Company involved
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
- AI system involved
- Advanced Analytics Triage of Overseas Temporary Resident Visa Applications
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Illinois DCFS ends unreliable predictive analytics program for child abuse risk
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services ended its Rapid Safety Feedback program, which used data mining to predict child abuse risk, after the agency's director called the technology unreliable. The system, developed by Eckerd Connects and Mindshare Technology, assigned risk scores to children but failed to flag several high-profile child deaths. The program was also criticised for overwhelming caseworkers with alerts and for potential bias against poor children of colour. DCFS decided not to renew the contract.
- Company involved
- Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
- AI system involved
- Rapid Safety Feedback
10 source articles · read the reporting →
UK councils use Covid OneView AI to harvest personal data for risk scoring
UK local authorities are using a system called Covid OneView, developed by data analytics firm Xantura, to harvest millions of personal details from council records. The system uses predictive analytics and AI to assign risk scores to households and individuals, aiming to identify those vulnerable to Covid or likely to break lockdown rules. Privacy campaigners and MPs have criticised the lack of transparency and the extent of data collection, which includes sensitive information such as debt levels, living arrangements, and even notes on unfaithful sex. Xantura and Barking and Dagenham Council have defended the system as compliant with data protection rules and focused on providing support.
- Company involved
- UK local authorities
- AI system involved
- Covid OneView
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Vumacam's AI CCTV system flagged 28 black people as suspicious in Johannesburg suburbs
In Johannesburg suburbs, Vumacam's AI-powered CCTV network using iSentry software flagged 28 black individuals as 'suspicious' in a shift report, according to a 2019 article. The system, deployed by private security firms, uses video analytics to detect abnormal behavior and alerts security guards. The article alleges that the system disproportionately targets people of color, reflecting racial bias in a racially divided country.
- Company involved
- Vumacam
- AI system involved
- iSentry
6 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI and Anthropic ignore robots.txt to scrape web content for training data
OpenAI and Anthropic have been found to be ignoring or circumventing the robots.txt rule that prevents automated scraping of websites, according to a person with knowledge of TollBit's analytics. The AI companies are bypassing blocks to their web crawlers GPTBot and ClaudeBot to retrieve all content from publishers' websites for model training. The practice undermines the long-standing web standard and raises concerns about copyright infringement.
- Company involved
- OpenAI, Anthropic
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT, Claude
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Urban Cyber Security VPN extension harvested AI chatbot prompts and responses
In July 2025, Urban Cyber Security updated its Urban VPN Proxy Chrome extension to automatically harvest everything users typed into major AI chatbots, including ChatGPT and Claude, as well as the chatbots' replies. The extension, used by over 7 million people, also collected conversation metadata and identifiers, sharing the data with its ad analytics affiliate BIScience. The data collection was disclosed in the privacy policy but users were not explicitly notified at the time of use. Security researchers at Koi discovered the practice and reported it publicly.
- Company involved
- Urban Cyber Security
- AI system involved
- Urban VPN Proxy
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Flo Health shared fertility app users’ health data with Facebook and Google.
Flo Health Inc., the maker of the Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker app, is accused of sharing millions of users' sensitive health data with marketing and analytics firms including Facebook and Google, despite promising to keep that data private. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized a settlement requiring Flo to obtain affirmative consent before sharing health data, notify affected users, and have an independent privacy review. The company also must instruct third parties to destroy the received data and is prohibited from misrepresenting its data practices.
- Company involved
- Flo Health Inc.
- AI system involved
- Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Greek Data Protection Authority fines Ministry of Migration and Asylum for AI surveillance systems
The Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) imposed an administrative fine of €175,000 on the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (MMA) for GDPR violations related to the 'Centaur' and 'Hyperion' programmes. These systems use AI behavioral analytics, CCTV, drones, and biometric data to monitor and control access to reception facilities for asylum seekers on Greek islands. The HDPA found that the MMA failed to conduct proper Data Protection Impact Assessments and did not cooperate with the authority. The MMA has been ordered to comply with GDPR within three months.
- Company involved
- Ministry of Migration and Asylum
- AI system involved
- Centaur and Hyperion programmes
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Verkada security breach exposes customer video and data
In March 2021, attackers compromised Verkada's platform and accessed video and image data from 97 customer organisations. The attackers used a misconfigured customer support server to gain access and viewed live video, accessed badge credentials for eight customers, and downloaded user lists. Verkada cut off access within hours and notified affected customers. The attacker, Tillie Kottmann, was later indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
- Company involved
- Verkada
- AI system involved
- Verkada Command platform with People Analytics
10 source articles · read the reporting →
U.S. Border Patrol uses AI and ALPR to target drivers for pretext stops and asset seizures
The U.S. Border Patrol has built a nationwide dragnet driver-surveillance system using automated license plate readers and AI to flag suspicious travel patterns. Local police then pull over targeted drivers on pretexts, interrogate them, and seize cash and vehicles through civil asset forfeiture. The program has been kept secret, with details hidden from court documents and the public. The ACLU report highlights the abuse of innocent drivers and calls for congressional action.
- Company involved
- U.S. Border Patrol (CBP)
- AI system involved
- Automated license plate reader (ALPR) system with AI analytics
6 source articles · read the reporting →
