Sidney Fussell
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Amazon Behind Every Robot Is a Human
Why Amazon workers sometimes listen in on users’ conversations with Alexa, and what it tells us about the technology that powers “smart” devices
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Ruby Aitken Airbnb Has a Hidden-Camera Problem
The home-rental start-up says it’s cracking down on hosts who record guests. Is it doing enough?
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Sam Yeh / Getty Your Online-Shopping Experience Was Grown in a Lab
How companies are using biofeedback to sell more products
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Marty Melville / Getty Why the New Zealand Shooting Video Keeps Circulating
Teaching AI to filter out banned content isn’t the solution advocates hoped for—or the one Silicon Valley promised.
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Sean Gallup / Getty Your Health Data Are a Gold Mine for Advertisers
In the hospital and at home, illness data can be lucrative.
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Tobias Schwarz / Google The Microphones That May Be Hidden in Your Home
The controversy around Google’s Nest home-security devices shows that consumers never really know what their personal technology is capable of.
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Towfiqu Photography / Getty The Analysts Recording Your Screen Say It’s for Your Own Good
Secretly watching users navigate an app can help companies fix bugs. But it can also be a tool to manipulate customers’ behavior.
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VALERY HACHE / AFP / Getty San Francisco Wants to Ban Government Face Recognition
Is it too late, too difficult, or too ironic to try to stop it from becoming a city of surveillance?
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Rhona Wise / Getty Parkland Is Embracing Student Surveillance
A new report—and some parents—calls for police to gain broader-than-ever access to students’ data.
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Scott Olson / Getty Now Your Groceries See You, Too
Walgreens is exploring new tech that turns your purchases, your movements, even your gaze, into data.
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Anadolu Agency The Spyware That Brought Down El Chapo’s Drug Empire
For months, the FBI listened as Mexico’s infamous drug kingpin allegedly trafficked drugs and arranged assassinations. Here’s how.
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Ben Margot / AP The Quiet Ways Automation Is Remaking Service Work
Workers may not be replaced by robots anytime soon, but they’ll likely face shorter hours, lower pay, and stolen time.
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Stephen Brashear / Getty Who Wins When Cash Is No Longer King?
It won’t be the poor.
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Mark Blinch / Reuters The City of the Future Is a Data-Collection Machine
In Toronto, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, hopes to create the sensor-filled metropolis of tomorrow.
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Jasmin Merdan / Getty The Next Data Mine Is Your Bedroom
Google wants to scan your clothing and listen to you brush your teeth. Welcome home.
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Patrick T. Fallon / Getty Kentucky Is Turning to Drones to Fix Its Unsolved-Murder Crisis
Only 52 percent of the state’s homicides result in an arrest when the victim is black. Could automating police work help?
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Courtesy Axon A Rare Issue Is Causing Police Body Cameras to Explode
The nation’s largest police force is changing its body-camera policy after a malfunctioning camera started a fire.
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Paul J. Richardson / Getty In Fraud Detection, Everything You Do Online and Off Is a Clue
Companies are employing new techniques to detect fraud and tax evasion, from license-plate readers to the way you hold your phone.
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STEPHEN BRASHEAR / GETTY Alexa Wants to Know How You’re Feeling Today
Amazon has patented technology that would allow its devices to read your emotional and physical state, and sell advertisements based on them. Are we entering the era of the mood-targeted ad?
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Toru Hanai / Reuters The Newest Password Technology Is Making Your Phone Easier for Police to Search
For the first time, police have compelled a suspect to unlock his phone using Face ID. The case reveals an interesting inversion: More advanced password technology is less protected from police seizure.
