People who genuinely suffer from gender dysphoria undergo very real suffering that no caring person should question. Up until around 20 years ago, medical professionals treated such people with compassion and endeavored to discover what lay beneath their feelings of “being in the wrong body.” Physical interventions as treatment were extremely rare.Today, a doctor or therapist who tries to discover why a patient wants to change sex risks losing his license. This applies even if a woman claims she “is a man” and simultaneously states that she would like to become pregnant and give birth. Now, a recent study, published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667321523000811?via%3Dihub#sec3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Social Science and Medicine,</a> proposes that a woman who takes testosterone in order to appear masculine and also wants to have a baby should be allowed to continue taking the hormone throughout her pregnancy, as the distress she would feel due to discontinuing the drug outweighs the risk of causing birth defects in the baby.&nbsp;Medical verdict on testosterone in pregnancy: Risks undeniable, extent unknownTestosterone is classified as a teratogen (a substance that interferes with fetal development); the FDA <a href="https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2018/209863s000lbl.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">labels</a> it as such because it “may cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman based on data from animal studies and its mechanism of action.”&nbsp;The specific risks <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8412429/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">include</a> “abnormal urogenital development in a female fetus” as well as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6592744/#:~:text=In%20humans%2C%20higher%20prenatal%20testosterone,%2Dgestational%20age%20z%2Dscores.&amp;text=Although%20dehydroepiandrosterone%20(DHEA)%20is%20a,size%20and%20found%20no%20association" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">low birth weight </a>for babies of both sexes.With regard to testosterone treatment for men, conventional medical <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/testosterone-transdermal-route/precautions/drg-20068985#:~:text=Testosterone%20may%20cause%20birth%20defects,tell%20your%20doctor%20right%20away." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">advice</a> is that a man using a testosterone patch should ensure that his wife should not come into contact with it and that if she inadvertently does, she should immediately wash the area well. Without suggesting a connection, an article in the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12314559/Pregnant-trans-men-able-testosterone-despite-defect-risk-babies-living-right-gender-important-having-normal-kid-claim-woke-researchers.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daily Mail</a> discussing testosterone treatment for women describes the case of Caleb Bolden (a woman using the hormone) whose female partner had “three miscarriages and two stillbirths” after using donated sperm to conceive.No one knows the extent of complications that can occur in a child born to a mother who took testosterone during pregnancy. What is known is that a female fetus can undergo “virilization” and then be born with ambiguous reproductive organs. What that may mean for her future life is also a big question mark.&nbsp;Researchers' verdict: Risks not proven, reasons for concern ‘outdated’The study, conducted by sociologists (none of whom has a medical degree) from a number of universities, did not seek to clarify the risks entailed in testosterone pregnancies. 70 “trans” people were enrolled, along with 22 healthcare providers (HCPs) who have experience with “trans” issues and pregnancy. They were followed for three years. The physical outcomes for their children are not described. Instead, the research is focused on the mothers and their experiences.It is noteworthy that even WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which aggressively promotes “gender reassignment surgery,” <a href="https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/SOC%20v7/SOC%20V7_English.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">states</a> that,<blockquote>Absolute contraindications to testosterone therapy include pregnancy...</blockquote>The study admits this, but insists that WPATH’s updated advice is limited to only “recommending” avoidance of the hormone during pregnancy. The researchers then set about casting doubt on the risks entailed:<blockquote>But what happens when medical science doesn’t yet have all the answers&nbsp;about how patient behaviors may relate to health outcomes for both the pregnant person and the fetus...&nbsp;[emphasis added]</blockquote>&nbsp;Doctors who promote caution belittledThe study repeatedly calls out doctors who warn women contemplating hormone supplementation to beware of the possible irreversible sterilizing effects, claiming that this medical advice is “outdated” and “disproven in both the current empirical medical research literature and the lived experience…”&nbsp;The researchers also belittle doctors issuing such warnings, claiming that their advice is based on outdated conceptions of testosterone as a “male hormone”:<blockquote>This medical guidance for trans people is based largely on understandings that testosterone, as a “male” hormone, is incompatible with conception, pregnancy, and lactation as “female” biological processes, as well as concerns around potential pre-conception ova, prenatal embryonic and fetal, and postpartum infant exposures to “excess androgens”...</blockquote>&nbsp;A long list of possible side-effects… but implying causation is ‘misguided’To further their case that taking testosterone during pregnancy should be freely permitted, the researchers compare women taking the hormone with women with Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), who often have higher-than-normal levels of testosterone in their bodies. They admit to all the known negative consequences for children born to mothers with PCOS:<blockquote>Concerns about fetal exposure to “excess androgens” among offspring born to people with PCOS include, among others, urogenital and intersex conditions (such as an enlarged clitoris or other forms of “ambiguous genitalia”) and later development of “metabolic dysfunction” (including “obesity” and PCOS), non-normative sexual identities, and/or “neuropsychiatric disorders” such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), largely among those categorized female at birth...</blockquote>And they even note that the same studies that show all these associations,<blockquote>often do show increased associations between these conditions, experiences, and identities among the offspring of gestational parents with higher-than-average levels of testosterone during the gestational period.</blockquote>However, they then assert that the associations are not proven and that claiming that there is any cause-and-effect relationship between testosterone and abnormalities in the fetus would be “scientifically misguided”:<blockquote>[making] causal claims ... between excess androgens and [all the above-mentioned disorders] would be scientifically misguided [due to the] long latency periods between in-utero exposures to excess androgens and offspring’s later development or diagnosis...”</blockquote>&nbsp;‘They’re on drugs anyway, so what's a bit of testosterone between friends?'Some of the HCPs involved in the study openly expressed their concerns about testosterone supplementation during pregnancy. Others, however, downplayed the risks.One doctor described how she tells women considering supplementation that,<blockquote>We consider it teratogenic based on extremely limited data and conflicting data. I think to some degree we can look at data on PCOS and pregnancy as a population of people that has increased testosterone levels, not as increased as they would be if you were taking a full dose of testosterone, and we see that there's some impact there but we don't change our pregnancy care. We don't try to reduce those testosterone levels. We just take care of the pregnant person…</blockquote>Another doctor suggested that in comparison to other dangerous things that her “trans” patients do during pregnancy, testosterone supplementation wasn’t so much of a concern:<blockquote>Honestly, on my list of things that I'm worried about in pregnancy, it is so far down the list that I don't even go there. My patients have a higher-than-average rate of substance use, of sexually transmitted infections, they have a very high rate of chronic stress related to marginalized status. Exogenous hormones are not my first concern. The fact that there's very little data is concerning, but we give people medications all the time that have very little data in pregnancy, so we can talk through what is known and what is unknown, and people make their decisions.</blockquote>&nbsp;Don't sacrifice for your children — be ‘balanced’In conclusion, the researchers expressed their approval of what they call a “balanced” approach that considers the “health and well-being of both trans people and their children.”<blockquote>Such approaches differ meaningfully from gendered and normative expectations that gestational parents must always and automatically self-sacrifice or choose optimal approaches that exclusively prioritize the potential well-being and normative development of offspring.</blockquote>&nbsp;Is your doctor concerned about your well-being? No, he's just power-hungryIn fact, the researchers have more far-reaching goals than simply persuading doctors that testosterone supplementation during pregnancy should be allowed. Their aim is to eliminate the supposed “power imbalance” between doctor and patient.<blockquote>... we find that health care providers reinscribe their status and authority, in the context of uncertainty, by prescribing caution as they advise their trans patients to pause testosterone therapy, center normative development of trans offspring, and cast trans patients’ pursuit of testosterone therapy during pregnancy as illicit or selfish.&nbsp;</blockquote>Citing earlier research, they claim that doctors who express their concerns about the safety of the fetus are part of a system that promotes “social control over women.”Some of the women in the study echo this viewpoint, complaining how their doctors refused to work with them unless they stopped taking testosterone:<blockquote>… a lot of people have had similar experiences where they've been given some arbitrary time frame, like, “I will or I won't work with you unless you've been off T[estosterone] for X number of months,” or “This is when I feel like it's safe to start trying,” or something like that.</blockquote>The researchers commented that such narratives,<blockquote>highlighted the power and control that health care providers held as they made determinations about whether they would or would not provide care for trans patients.</blockquote>&nbsp;‘I wanted to be a pregnant man, not a pregnant woman’The women involved in the study expressed their reluctance to stop taking testosterone during pregnancy, describing how having a masculine appearance was important for their emotional health. None of the women interviewed discussed the impact having a pregnant appearance had on their emotional health.<blockquote>Trans people in our study described concerns about pausing testosterone in order to become pregnant, throughout pregnancy, and during the postpartum period. Common fears included potential changes in voice, hair thickness/growth, or fat distribution that may make public recognition as a man more challenging, concerns about increased levels of body dysphoria and depression and higher likelihood of postpartum depression, being feminized and misgendered by providers throughout their pregnancy...</blockquote>One study participant stressed how being and appearing pregnant was not problematic — it was being a pregnant woman that was the problem:<blockquote>... I knew I wanted to have a child but I knew I was not able to get pregnant, as a woman. It was not possible … I knew I could not bear … people — the view other people would have of me.</blockquote>Another woman described how difficult it had been to stop taking testosterone, and also how wonderful it was to be pregnant:<blockquote>Being pregnant wasn't the hard thing, being off testosterone was the hard thing. I could've just been, like, a pregnant man, in the most straightforward sense of being myself, being on testosterone, and being pregnant. That would've been fine. 'Cause I loved the feeling of growing this thing inside of me, and being … having this incredible kind of responsibility.</blockquote>&nbsp;Wanting a healthy, normal baby is ‘eugenics’What is striking about the women involved in the study is how it never seems to occur to them that wanting to be pregnant and to have a baby, and enjoying the entire experience, could in any way seem contradictory to “feeling like a man.” One wonders what they think “feeling like a man” actually is.This apparent contradiction is similarly not addressed by the researchers themselves, as their agenda is to leave the “binary” concept behind entirely and move toward a non-binary way of seeing people.&nbsp;They take issue with basic biological facts, criticizing healthcare providers who insist on giving “outdated” advice “based on ‘men’s’ versus ‘women’s’ hormones.’”They make parallels between what the researchers call “ongoing legacies of eugenics” and policies that seek to avoid producing children with ambiguous reproductive organs:<blockquote>How might assessment of health risks ... reflect historical and ongoing social practices for creating “ideal” and normative bodies and people?</blockquote>&nbsp;Creating a Queer New WorldIn fact, they seek to entirely normalize what has heretofore been considered abnormal. Whereas the mothers in this study apparently think they are men due only to their way of thinking, taking testosterone during pregnancy could lead to their having children who have genuine physical reasons for gender dysmorphia — and this may be what the researchers actually want to see as the result:<blockquote>... current medical advice around precautionary testosterone cessation in pregnancy involves potentially troubling assessments of the sorts of risks testosterone exposure in the prenatal and postpartum environments may pose for later child and adult development: namely, potentially heightened likelihoods of autism, obesity, intersex conditions, being lesbian and/or trans. In this way, precautionary practices of protecting the offspring of trans people become, paradoxically, a method of social control through safeguarding against reproduction of some of the very same characteristics held by some trans parents themselves [emphasis added].</blockquote>In other words, there’s nothing wrong with being “queer” even if that queerness is physical. Therefore, doctors should stop trying to prevent birth defects, because they are not really defects at all.<blockquote>Social justice activists, scholars, and the field of critical studies have made important strides to highlight how the desire to maximize the “fitness” of offspring, and guard against development of conditions or human characteristics considered “unhealthy” or less than ideal, may reflect troubling eugenicist and biomedical moralist underpinnings in ways that further harm already-socially-marginalized people...</blockquote>One woman in the study was clearly confused about what all this could mean for her child. On the one hand, she expressed concern about the results of taking testosterone — on the other hand, she wanted to give her child “options,” as if being intersex was somehow beneficial and meant they could be whatever they wanted:<blockquote>There's a bunch of research around androgen exposure in utero and intersex conditions and even some around stress hormones and cortisol and androgen and intersex babies. I did have a little bit of a complex feeling around working hard to not have an intersex child … As someone who is a gender ‘other,’ to work hard to not create a different body that is a gender ‘other,’ it feels weird. It feels a little hypocritical. But it kind of came down to wanting the child I created to have the most options in their own body, in their own life, which most intersex folks don't have…</blockquote>

baby.jpg

wokeness

Wanting a healthy baby 'may reflect eugenicist underpinnings,' researchers claim

Queering Babies: Testosterone during pregnancy should be allowed, says study

A British vigilante group known as the “Blade Runners” is receiving widespread support from British taxpayers as it continues to destroy climate surveillance cameras across London.<h2>The ULEZ mandate</h2>By order of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the city is peppered with ultra-low emission zones (ULEZs), areas accessible only to low-emission vehicles. Cars that do not meet the city’s environmental standards are charged £12.50 ($16) for entering the ULEZ. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras positioned around the zones read license plates and check them against the vehicles’ make and model in real time. If a vehicle does not meet the environmental threshold, a fine is levied against the car owner.&nbsp;The ULEZ climate mandate has drawn heavy&nbsp;<a href="https://frontline.news/post/london-hundreds-protest-against-climate-mandates">protests</a> from residents, including&nbsp;<a href="https://frontline.news/post/british-veteran-launches-hunger-strike-as-unrest-grows-over-climate-mandates">hunger strikes</a> and refusals to pay fines. Taxpayers have also taken to disabling the ANPR surveillance cameras which Transport for London (TfL), the city’s transportation department, said will be used both for climate and law enforcement.<h2>Taxpayers cheer the ‘Blade Runners’</h2>Since the climate restrictions were expanded last year, the Blade Runners have taken to disabling and destroying hundreds of cameras. Between April and September 2023, Metropolitan Police recorded 200 reports of cameras being stolen and 595 reports of cameras being vandalized.TfL began placing black boxes around ULEZ camera wirings to protect them from being cut, but taxpayers found other ways to disable the cameras — like removing them completely.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"> MUST SEE: Blade Runners topple THREE ULEZ cameras in a coordinated strike… The people are fighting back! <a href="https://t.co/Yvr2Xr7Lun">pic.twitter.com/Yvr2Xr7Lun</a>— David Morgan #StayFree (@david_r_morgan) <a href="https://twitter.com/david_r_morgan/status/1802726912050995623?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In response, the city&nbsp;<a href="https://frontline.news/post/london-taxpayers-attack-surveillance-vans-in-continued-revolt">deployed</a> mobile surveillance vans mounted with ANPR cameras across London in the hopes of evading attacks, but Blade Runners soon began targeting those as well. Some surveillance vans have been spotted covered in graffiti with their tires slashed, while others have been completely covered in tarp.Last month, 21 cameras were destroyed in the hours after Sadiq Khan was re-elected mayor of London, the&nbsp;Daily Mail&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13538797/Moment-Blade-Runner-uses-power-tool-cut-ULEZ-camera-traffic-light-latest-attack-Sadiq-Khans-hated-scheme.html">reported</a>. Last weekend, Blade Runners used power tools to topple a ULEZ camera and traffic lights to the delight of some fellow taxpayers. In a video that was posted to social media, passing cars can be heard honking in support.The video received over 37,000 likes. Comments on the post were largely supportive, with users writing that, “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty,” and “Fair play to them, it's a complete scam that does nothing.”Blade Runner Matt Hardy told the&nbsp;Daily Mail&nbsp;that the Blade Runners are “people pissed off about the tyranny reigning over us and getting out and doing things about it – real votes, real boys here.”<h2>‘These cameras are not about the climate. They are about control’</h2>British actor and influencer Laurence Fox said this week he was just given back his electronic devices by police after being arrested earlier this year for cheering on the Blade Runners:<blockquote>These cameras are not about the climate. They are about control. They are the primary infrastructure for all sorts of things that ideologues like the midget dictator [Sadiq Khan] would like to impose upon us.I can now finally say the word ‘Bladerunners’ again. One of the ridiculous restrictions on free speech imposed by the police.It’s a dreadful shame to see so many of these cameras dying suddenly. I’m not at all thrilled about it. Just because I am smiling like a Cheshire Cat, it doesn’t mean that I am over the moon that these scameras continue to topple in high winds.&nbsp;Vive la résistance!</blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">POLICE UPDATE Following 6 coppers bursting into my house earlier this year to arrest me for saying how pleased I was that the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ULEZ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ULEZ</a> scam was meeting such robust resistance, this morning the <a href="https://twitter.com/metpoliceuk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@metpoliceuk</a> were ordered by the magistrate to hand back all my devices, including my…— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) <a href="https://twitter.com/LozzaFox/status/1803030521095622912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div> &nbsp;

ulez sign camera.jpg

Pushback_Resistance

Climate Change

‘Pissed off about the tyranny reigning over us’

British taxpayers cheer vigilante group destroying climate cams

Fisker is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the electric vehicle (EV) company announced Tuesday.<h2>‘Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry’</h2>“Fisker has made incredible progress since our founding, bringing the Ocean SUV to market twice as fast as expected in the auto industry and making good on our promises to deliver the most sustainable vehicle in the world,” a spokesperson <a href="https://assets.ctfassets.net/cghen8gr8e1n/6W19OiEBJDVIFVEmo4feHA/df902c5cb2b067251a300efb0b35f611/Fisker-Filing-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a>.The California-based company added it is not the only EV maker that has been struggling to stay in business.“We are proud of our achievements, and we have put thousands of Fisker Ocean SUVs in customers’ hands in both North American [sic] and Europe. But like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently. After evaluating all options for our business, we determined that proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward for the company.”Fisker’s collapse is the latest indication that the EV industry is folding due to sinking demand. Other EV industry players are also cutting their losses as they jump ship.<h2>Hertz</h2>In March, Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr&nbsp;<a href="https://www.motorfinanceonline.com/news/hertz-ceo-resigns-amid-ev-investment-setback/#:~:text=Scherr's%20departure%20coincides%20with%20Hertz's,electric%20vehicle%20(EV)%20rentals">resigned</a> after his bet on EVs cost the car rental giant its biggest quarterly loss since 2020. Hertz had been praised by the Biden administration for its ambition to convert 25% of its fleet to EVs by the end of this year. In January, however, the company announced it would instead be selling its 20,000 EVs — including Teslas — at heavily discounted prices and replacing them with gas-powered cars.<h2>Mercedes-Benz</h2>Mercedes-Benz also recently had to give up its ambition to only sell electric cars by 2030. Instead, EVs are expected to make up only 50% of the German carmaker’s sales over the next decade.<h2>Apple</h2>In February, Apple abandoned its multi-billion dollar effort to create an electric car. Despite being a decade in the works and employing 2,000 people, Project Titan was axed due to falling consumer demand.<h2>Aston Martin</h2>A lack of consumer demand is also partly to blame for Aston Martin&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13138123/Aston-Martin-puts-brakes-new-electric-supercar-2026-bosses-say-drivers-want-engines-throaty-roar.html">placing</a> its battery-operated “supercar” on hold until 2026.“Demand, certainly at an Aston Martin price point, is not what we thought it was going to be two years ago,” said Aston Martin Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll.&nbsp;<h2>Ford</h2>In December, Ford slashed production of its flagship EV at its assembly plant in Dearborn, Michigan by half. The automaker cut the monthly production quote for the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck from 3,200 units to 1,600 units per month.<h2>Biden administration continues to force EV production</h2>Nevertheless, the Biden administration in March issued new climate mandates aimed at forcing more EV production. The new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contain tight emissions standards that will&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epa-electric-vehicles-emissions-limits-climate-biden-e6d581324af51294048df24269b5d20a">require</a> 56% of new vehicle sales to be fully electric by 2032, with an additional 13% required to be hybrids.

car market decline.jpg

US News

Biden administration continues to force EV production

Electric car company files bankruptcy as EV market folds

For the last two years, British authorities have been testing AI-powered emotion recognition cameras on travelers in train stations, according to recently disclosed documents.<h2>What can the cameras see?</h2>In each of eight train stations around the UK, five to seven cameras or sensors scan the passing crowds. Using AI software from Amazon, the cameras use object recognition algorithms to spot criminal activity, trespassing, weapons, wet floors, overcrowding, and overstuffed trash cans.&nbsp;They can also alert authorities when passengers engage in “unusual behavior,” such as shouting, running, smoking, or skateboarding.&nbsp;A combination of existing cameras and newly installed smart cameras are being used for the surveillance project. All are equipped with Amazon’s Rekognition surveillance system.<h2>Emotional recognition</h2>Through a combination of facial and behavioral analyses, the Rekognition software allows officials to also <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-ai-cameras-emotions-uk-train-passengers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">analyze visitors’ emotions</a>. Internal documents note that the cameras can detect whether a passenger is “happy, sad [or] angry.” They can also recognize passenger satisfaction, which “could be utilized to maximum advertising and retail revenue.”<h2>Anti-social behavior</h2>Authorities can also detect passengers who exhibit “anti-social behaviour,” which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/asb/asb/antisocial-behaviour/what-is-antisocial-behaviour/">according</a> to London’s Metropolitan Police Service means “behaviour by a person which causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to persons not of the same household as the person.”<h2>Social distancing, face masks, and demographics</h2>Other&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24757655-usecases_dpas_review_managed_stations?responsive=1&amp;title=1">use cases</a> for the surveillance cameras include detecting whether passengers are keeping to social distancing rules and wearing face masks. The cameras can also scan for demographics by identifying people’s age profiles and “socio-economic classification,” which the documents note can create “revenue opportunities for better targeted advertising and product placement.”<h2>‘Quite a concerning step’</h2>The documents were obtained by Big Brother Watch, a civil rights and government watchdog group, in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. Network Rail, a body within the Department of Transportation which manages most of the country’s train network, has been overseeing the surveillance project.&nbsp;“The rollout and normalization of AI surveillance in these public spaces, without much consultation and conversation, is quite a concerning step,” Jake Hurfurt, head of research and investigations at Big Brother Watch,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-ai-cameras-emotions-uk-train-passengers/">told</a> Wired.As of now, the surveillance systems do not use facial recognition technology, which analyzes faces and matches them against facial images stored in certain databases.

crowd surveillance.jpg

surveillance

World News

Cameras can also detect 'anti-social behavior,' social distancing

UK tests emotion recognition cameras in train stations

The European Union (EU) is considering subjecting foreign travelers to lie detector tests administered by AI technology.&nbsp;<h2>How would it work?</h2>Authorities at airports and ferry ports would use cameras equipped with machine-learning software to detect whether a person is being untruthful. As travelers fill out their entry applications, their eye, facial, and behavioral movements would be analyzed. If the camera indicates the traveler is lying, the software will send an alert to an immigration officer who will investigate.The technology has already been successfully tested in trials conducted by EU countries in the last few years. iBorderCtrl and TRESPASS, two such trials, explored how to create an automated border control system. Several features were tested, including the lie detector tests described above. They also piloted a feature in which AI software scans the social media accounts of travelers before granting them entry.Critics of the lie-detection scheme include Patrick Breyer, a German MEP. Breyer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13534215/Outrage-British-tourists-going-away-EU-countries-face-lie-detector-test-carried-artificial-intelligence-granted-entry.html">told</a> The Mail on Sunday that the technology is “pseudoscience” that threatens to profile the wrong people.&nbsp;“It will discriminate against anyone who is disabled or who has an anxious personality. It will not work,” said Breyer.<h2>Part of the Entry-Exit System</h2>If the EU decides to implement AI-powered lie detection, it will likely be introduced as part of the new Entry-Exit System (EES) due to take effect on October 6th. EES will replace the passport-stamping process by having foreign travelers apply for entry through self-service kiosks. These kiosks will collect the travelers’ biometric data, including their fingerprints and facial images.These data will eventually be stored in the Common Identity Repository (CIR), a massive database being built by the EU. The CIR will be capable of storing biometric files on 300 million individuals.&nbsp;<h2>EES for outsiders, digital ID for insiders</h2>While the EU prepares to roll out the EES for foreigners, including British citizens, it is also rolling out a digital ID program for EU citizens .Regulations that took effect last month&nbsp;<a href="https://frontline.news/post/europe-launches-digital-id-scheme/">require</a> EU&nbsp;Member States in the European Union to provide a digital ID wallet to their citizens by 2026 which must conform to the European Union Digital Identity (EUDI) wallet specifications. These specifications include the ability to store a taxpayer’s identity papers, such as driver’s licenses, health insurance cards, diplomas and other official documents.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>How will the wallet be used?</h2>The digital wallet will allow access to both public and private services. Uses include making payments, opening a bank account, getting prescriptions, signing contracts, traveling, accessing government services, receiving social security benefits, logging into social media accounts, and more.&nbsp;“It can also be used to facilitate the freedom of movement by storing documents such as the European Health Insurance Card,” explains the European Commission (EC) on its&nbsp;<a href="https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/eudi-wallet-implementation">website</a>.Under the current rules, the EUDI wallet will be optional for taxpayers.&nbsp;<h2>Critics raise concerns about the wallet</h2>The EUDI wallet’s main selling point is that users will be able to share only the details necessary to authenticate themselves for a given service. All other personal information will remain hidden. The EC expects this feature to satisfy widespread privacy concerns.But concerns about the wallet remain. The main worry is that while users only share those details that are necessary, the government can decide at any point which information is “necessary” to share. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the European Commission made proof of vaccination necessary to access services and establishments. Prior to that, each taxpayer’s health information was considered confidential.

face scanning.jpg

Technology could be introduced with new biometric entry system

Europe may subject travelers to lie detector tests

Queering Babies: Testosterone during pregnancy should be allowed, says study

Wanting a healthy baby 'may reflect eugenicist underpinnings,' researchers claim

Related Articles

Just 2 in 10 Biden supporters think marriage and kids are important for society. Why?