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Watch This Space: No Fly-Zone?

This takes selfie obsession to a whole other level. Farhad Manjoo's reporting on the Skydio R1 autonomous drone The self-piloted drone tracks its target with with what seems like uncanny determination.  (Think floating CCTV camera.) serious regulatory hurdles write Wiley Rein attorneys Sara Baxenberg and Josh Turner does an autonomous drone know how to comply? “For instance, the R1 is designed to sense and avoid obstacles to stay trained on its subject, but can it tell when those obstacles are other people? If It can, can it then take the necessary steps to avoid flying over or too close to them? What about other aircraft?” liability questions akin to those presented by self-driving cars. Meanwhile, here's this for your consideration: autonomously fly to gunshot sites >> Bigger Picture:

Protocol: Signal and Noise On Crypto Rules

Hit me with it.  • Noise: First, we had Rob Joyce—the White House's top cybersecurity official—telling folks in Munich that new crypto regs are not on the horizon. Cointelegraph • Signal: Cleary Gottlieb the heads of the SEC and CFTC in recent testimony to Congress have signaled they may want to stake out a stronger stance in regulating crypto • Signal: Financial Times three different categories of ICOs Bonus: Ars Technica FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Twitter
“Clearly not, otherwise I wouldn't have done this.” Kathleen Breitman, co-founder of blockchain startup Tezos,  after being asked whether she worries its crypto-asset will be deemed a security (Video on YouTube; story on ETH News). It's still unclear whether Tezos -- -- which raised a record-breaking $232 million in an ICO last year -- is under investigation. The SEC rejected a Florida lawyer's attempt to get related documents under the Freedom of Information Act.  

On the Radar: Waymo Hits the Road In AZ

Quartz  been issued a permit to operate as a “transportation network company” in Arizona It's not clear from the reporting yet how or whether Lyft will be involved in this new launch >> Context:  The Verge

Dose of Dystopia

Face Off facial recognition technology use by law enforcement—and it is not a pretty picture. “[T]he adoption of face recognition technologies like these is  occurring without meaningful oversight , without proper accuracy testing of the systems as they are actually used in the field, and without the enactment of legal protections to prevent internal and external misuse.  This has led to the development of unproven, inaccurate systems that will impinge on constitutional rights and disproportionately impact people of color .” signs the agency wants to suck up photos from social media and other sources it argues states should lead the way in legislating limits on the technology

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