Railguns

Despite efforts from countries like China, Japan, and the U.S., challenges like the immense energy required and the wear on conductive rails have hindered progress.  The U.S. Navy invested heavily in electromagnetic railguns, but the technology remains mostly in the research stage.  Future success hinges on overcoming power and durability issues, making practical deployment still a distant goal.

Why Railgun Development Faces Immense Hurdles
Among the earliest efforts occurred during the First World War, when French designer Andre Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee proposed an electric cannon could fire a projectile further than the explosive ordnance of the era. 

His concept caught the attention of the French military, which was seeking a weapon that could rival such long-range cannons as Germany's so-called "Paris Gun." Under the direction of the Director of Inventions at the French Ministry of Armaments in 1918, Fauchon-Villeplee was charged with developing a thirty to fifty millimeter electricannon based on his simple design.

The First World War ended before Fauchon-Villeplee's design could be perfected – and more than a century later, the development of the weapons has continued with only limited success.     READ MORE...

China Warns about AI Piloted Jects

Recently, the Secretary of the United States Air Force, Frank Kendall, conducted a flight aboard an experimental F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet equipped and piloted with artificial intelligence. However, this has become a cause for concern for the People’s Republic of China, as the use of AI in combat aircraft could signify a platform with superior capabilities and response times compared to a human-piloted aircraft.

It is worth noting that this is not the first occasion on which an aircraft controlled by artificial intelligence has been tested. In mid-April, the experimental X-62A VISTA aircraft, originally based on an F-16 fighter and used for AI testing, engaged in simulated aerial combat against other F-16 fighters of the United States Air Force. Various simulations were conducted, emphasizing beyond-visual-range aerial combat against F-16 fighters.  READ MORE...

BRICS Alternative to SWIFT

Global Markets Moving Apart

The world's biggest economies are seeing a "decoupling," Bank of America says.
The US is showing surprising resilience, European growth is weak, and China is faltering.
Global stocks have reflected the shifting tides in trade and supply chains.

The biggest players in the global economy are on different trajectories, and markets around the world are reflecting the shifting landscape.

In Bank of America's view, the US economy continues to show remarkable resilience, European growth has faltered, and China faces the most challenging outlook amid real estate woes, deflation, and demographic headwinds.

"Signs of decoupling are present in global growth, trade, and equity markets," Bank of America strategists wrote in a Friday note.  READ MORE...

US Scored Low on Human Rights

Americans like to think their country is exceptional — an unequaled bastion of freedom and opportunity. However, when it comes to human rights, a new report suggests the United States is anything but exceptional. Compiled by the Global Rights Project (GRIP) at the University of Rhode Island and the CIRIGHTS data project, the 2023 GRIP Annual Report assesses and ranks 195 countries on their dedication to 25 individual human rights. 

These are divided into four categories:

• Physical integrity: the right of citizens to not be unnecessarily harmed by state agencies
• Empowerment: the right to live and speak freely
• Worker rights: the right to decent-paying and safe work
• Justice rights: the right to fair laws

READ MORE...

Quietly Arming Taiwan

When US President Joe Biden recently signed off on a $80m grant to Taiwan for the purchase of American military equipment, China said it "deplores and opposes" what Washington had done.

To the casual observer it didn't appear a steep sum. It was less than the cost of a single modern fighter jet. Taiwan already has on order more than $14bn worth of US military equipment. Does a miserly $80m more matter?  READ MORE...

First Humanoid Robot Factory in USA

Imagine a factory that can make humanoid robots that can walk, run, and work like us. Sounds like a sci-fi movie, right? Well, it’s not. It’s RoboFab, and it’s opening soon here in the U.S.

RoboFab is a manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, that is set to open later this year. It is the brainchild of Agility Robotics, a company that specializes in creating biped robots that can navigate complex environments.

RoboFab will be the world’s first factory for humanoid robots, capable of churning out 10,000 robots a year. The factory will use advanced automation and assembly techniques to produce Digit, the flagship product of Agility Robotics.  READ MORE...

What Does the Federal Government Do?

Only the federal government can regulate interstate and foreign commerce, declare war and set taxing, spending and other national policies.

These actions often start with legislation from Congress, made up of the 435-member House of Representatives and the 100-member U.S. Senate. Each of the 50 states receives two senators regardless of its population size. The number of representatives each state receives depends on the state’s population. Bills that Congress approves then go to the president to sign into law or reject with a veto.

The executive branch is responsible for enforcing the laws Congress makes. It is made up of the president and his or her advisers, as well as multiple departments and agencies. The departments are each headed by a secretary, whom the president appoints with the advice and consent of the Senate. The U.S. has more than a dozen departments, and they each take on a specific set of duties. The Treasury Department’s duties, for example, include printing and regulating money.

The president also serves as commander­-in-­chief of the United States Armed Forces. That means the president directs how military weapons will be used, where to deploy troops and where ships are sent. The military’s generals and admirals take their direction from the president.

This graphic summarizes the kinds of entities in each branch of government.(State Dept./ J. Maruszewski)

The Supreme Court is the highest federal court in the U.S. and assures the American people of equal justice under law. The court’s nine justices — one chief judge and eight associate judges — interpret the law, in a fair and impartial manner, when disagreements arise on the legality of a law that Congress approves, a regulation that a federal agency implements or other matters.

The Constitution empowers the president, who is elected by the entire nation, to nominate justices. These justices require Senate confirmation to uphold the checks and balances among the branches of government.

“The Founders separated power because they knew it was the best way to protect our citizens and keep our Constitution secure,” President Trump said at the 2017 swearing-in of Justice Neil Gorsuch, whom the president nominated to the Supreme Court.

Landmark decisions from the Supreme Court shape American life, and their ramifications are still felt today. They include the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools.

The three branches of the federal government get together at the U.S. Capitol when the president delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. That speech represents an opportunity for the president to lay out an agenda for the coming year. These addresses are traditionally held in January or February after the new session of Congress convenes. President Trump’s third State of the Union address took place on February 4.

China Builds Warships

If there’s an arms race at sea, China currently is winning.

The U.S. Defense Department’s own numbers support that view. It estimates China has around 340 warships, while the U.S. number is below 300.

On top of that, the Defense Department warns that China is building new ships faster than the U.S. is.

Beijing could have 400 warships by 2025, an increase of 60. But the U.S. may need more than 20 years to build 50 more ships.

In other words, according to CNN, the Chinese can build three warships in the time it takes the U.S. to build one.

If that’s not enough, the Global Firepower website says Russia and North Korea also have stronger Navy fleets than the U.S.

For the West to keep up with China, military experts say Japan and South Korea may have to increase production.

Japan’s warships currently “are among the world’s best,” former U.S. Pacific Command operations director Carl Schuster told Britain’s Daily Star.

South Korea reportedly has a destroyer that possesses more firepower than its Chinese counterpart.

But the U.S. cannot buy Asian warships. It’s against federal law. Warship construction in other countries for the U.S. Navy also is banned.  READ MORE...

Chinese Hackers Target USA

A state-sponsored Chinese hacking group has been spying on a wide ange of US critical infrastructure organizations and similar activities could be occurring globally, western intelligence agencies and Microsoft have warned.

“The United States and international cybersecurity authorities are issuing this joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) to highlight a recently discovered cluster of activity of interest associated with a People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actor, also known as Volt Typhoon,” said a statement released by authorities in the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK – countries that make up the Five Eyes intelligence network.


In a separate statement, Microsoft said Volt Typhoon had been active since mid-2021 and had targeted critical infrastructure in Guam, a crucial US military outpost in the Pacific Ocean. “Mitigating this attack could be challenging,” Microsoft said.   READ MORE...

Saudi Arabia Will No Longer Use the US Dollar

The first lesson you learn in economics is there are always tradeoffs.

For instance, if your country announces it’s banning gas by 2035 it will force oil-producing countries to scramble in search of new alternative revenue streams.

Enter Saudi Arabia: they are breaking ties with the U.S. dollar and joining the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a massive trade bloc that trades in yuan.

Here’s the score if you aren’t keeping track:

• Crafting connections with China, a superpower rival to the U.S. ✅
• Creating a new financial system away from the dollar ✅

As their Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman recently told associates last year, “[we] are no longer interested in pleasing the United States.”

This is the biggest story of the year.
Was losing U.S. hegemony part of his plan?

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Yes. Of course.

The free ride of the dollar is over. The world can’t sustain it.

Since 1933, the U.S. dollar has lost 92% of its domestic purchasing power. It doesn’t help that almost half of global trade is based on this volatile gumshoes system.

It’s led to events like the British pound flash crashing against the dollar and now fucking the UK economy beyond repair:

• Rampant inflation (10.4%), which the central bank is not controlling
• Daily strikes in the UK as people aren’t getting paid enough
• Real estate is overpriced for mostly everyone forcing them to rent for the rest of their lives

Lost access to the EU economy through Brexit
But it wasn’t just Biden; the entire U.S. financial system — that led to the crashes of 2008, 2020, and 2023 — was ignored by both parties.

Americans think in quarter-long windows and take military and economic supremacy for granted. Countries like Saudi Arabia, India, China, and Russia are looking at the long-term picture, figuring out ways to reduce their reliance on U.S. dollars.

Was it self-sabotage or hubris that got America to its current state?

I don’t know, mate. But we’ve squandered our advantage, and now?  

READ MORE...

Puerto Ricans Leaving

Bags sit in front of Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico. (Salome Ramirez/VOA)

ADJUNTAS, PUERTO RICO —  Achieving economic stability is typically the main reason that many Puerto Ricans migrate to the U.S. mainland. At the same time, thousands return to Puerto Rico annually, describing their homecoming as "a dream come true."

After 22 years abroad, married doctors Sheila Perez Colon and Lionel Lazaro Collazo decided to practice medicine in Puerto Rico.

“We always wanted to return to the island, but we couldn't find the way,” Lazaro Collazo told VOA. According to the orthopedic surgeon, attending medical school and building a practice led the couple to live in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. "It hurt us a lot when our daughter asked us why she wasn't born in Puerto Rico, if the whole family was from the island."

Data from the 2020 Census showed Puerto Rico’s population at 3.2 million, with an estimated 11.8% decrease over the preceding decade. Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans residing on the mainland reached 5.8 million, making them the second largest Hispanic population in the continental U.S.

“We always had Puerto Rico in our hearts, sometimes even with a bit of guilt for not being able to be there,” Perez Colon said.

A pediatric endocrinologist, Perez Colon said the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing isolation led them to return home. The couple arrived in Puerto Rico with their 10-year-old daughter in June 2022.

“Knowing there’s a great need for specialties like ours in our home country, while you are providing that expertise elsewhere and not back home, brought us back,” she said.

They say their biggest concern was the salary disparity of medical professionals in Puerto Rico compared with the U.S.

“That’s a reality that no one can deny. But we are prepared. We knew what was in store for us. We knew we were going to have a lower salary, but we would be rewarded to be with family in a place that satisfies us,” Perez Colon said.

For Lazaro Collazo, it was also an opportunity to give back.

“This was my dream, where I wanted to be to be able to offer my services to my people again,” he said. “What better than two well-prepared specialists who are bringing needed services to the island.”

A total of 17,859 Puerto Ricans moved back to the island in 2021, according to the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics. Two years earlier, 24,531 returned, one of the highest numbers in the past decade.

According to the Pew Research Center, 2017 hurricanes Irma and María were determining factors in the exodus of Puerto Ricans, as they sought safety on the mainland. In the year after the hurricanes, Puerto Rico’s population dropped by 3.9%.

“The mid-2000s marked a turning point for the island's economy when it entered a recession from which it has not recovered,” the Pew study said. “Since then, many Puerto Ricans have left the island for the U.S. mainland, particularly Florida, often citing work and family-related reasons.”  READ MORE...

China Wants the Upper Hand In Space

The race to the moon between the United States and China is getting tighter and the next two years could determine who gains the upper hand.

So says NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who warns that Beijing could establish a foothold and try to dominate the most resource-rich locations on the lunar surface — or even keep the U.S. out.

“It is a fact: we’re in a space race,” the former Florida senator and astronaut said in an interview. “And it is true that we better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’”

He cited an Earthly example in the South China Sea, where the Chinese military has established bases on contested islands. “If you doubt that, look at what they did with the Spratly Islands.”

Nelson’s hawkish comments follow NASA’s 26-day Artemis I mission, in which an uncrewed Orion space capsule flew around the moon. That mission, widely regarded as a success, was the first big step toward NASA’s plan to land astronauts on the lunar surface to begin building a more permanent human presence — which could come as early as 2025.

It also comes on the heels of Congress’ passage of a full-year budget for NASA. The agency did not get all the funding it requested, but Nelson insisted that the “have to haves” were not shortchanged. That includes the key components for the next two moon missions, Artemis II and Artemis III.

But looming ever-larger is China’s aggressive space program, including its recent opening of a new space station. Beijing has announced a goal of landing taikonauts on the moon by the end of this decade. In December, China’s government laid out its vision for more ambitious endeavors such as building infrastructure in space and creating a space governance system.  READ MORE...

White Privilege

By Jon Greenbereg
This article was originally published by Everyday Feminism. It has been edited for YES! Magazine. If you checked out the Jose Antonio Vargas documentary about White people, aptly titled White People, you’ll know that many White people struggle to discuss race (not that some of you needed a documentary to confirm this fact). Throw “White Privilege” into the discussion, and the awkwardness—and defensiveness—can multiply astronomically. What is White Privilege? The reality that a White person’s whiteness has come—and continues to come—with an array of benefits and advantages not shared by many people of color. It doesn’t mean that I, as a White person, don’t work hard (I do) or that I haven’t suffered (well, I have known struggle), but simply that I receive help, often unacknowledged assistance, because I am White.

Or, as Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, I “believe [I am] White.” I’ve yet to get a DNA test, which led to a surprising result for a White supremacist who thought himself 100% White. Perhaps most indicative of the power and prevalence of White Privilege is that, though people of color have been fighting racism since its invention, those who are most associated with White Privilege education tend to be White people: Tim Wise, Robin DiAngelo, Paul Gorski, and, of course, Peggy McIntosh, author of the 1989 article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” And I understand why Peggy McIntosh’s “Knapsack” article continues to fill anti-racist syllabuses 26 years later. 

Her list of privileges makes the concept readable and digestible—heck, the success of Everyday Feminism is largely because of this listing format. For example: “I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group” or “If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones.” Taken together, McIntosh’s list reveals a privilege she never explicitly states: the privilege to feel normal. But how odd is it that White people are the ones who so often disproportionately get the credit for educating about White privilege? 

Think of it this way: Because I have always had full use of my legs, I’d be the last person you’d turn to to learn about life in a wheelchair. In fact, navigating a tour of the state capital with a student in a wheelchair for 30 minutes taught me more about life in a wheelchair than my previous 30+ years had taught me. Yet, when it comes to White Privilege, White people somehow become the authority. While I have indeed learned important lessons from prominent White anti-racist educators (like the above ability-privilege analogy that I pulled from Tim Wise), here are lessons people of color have taught me that have changed my life—and they could change yours as well.

1. I Have The Privilege Of Having A Positive Relationship With The Police, Generally
Sure, the police who patrolled the affluent neighborhoods of my youth were an inconvenience to a few keggers, and I maintain that a traffic violation from the late 90s was unfair, but I grew up thinking of the police officers as a source of safety if I were ever in danger; I certainly never viewed them as the source of danger. In 1999, Amadou Diallo—and the 41 bullets that police officers in plainclothes discharged at this unarmed Black man with no criminal record—taught me that not all share this privilege. Diallo was for me what Michael Brown has been to some White people. Too many Black and brown people are not safe with the police. 

Not even if you are child, a lesson Tamir Rice and Dajerria Becton taught me. Not even if you are seeking medical help, a lesson Jonathan Ferrell taught me. Not even if you call the police for help with your mentally ill son, a lesson Paul Castaway’s mother taught me. Not even if your back is turned, a lesson Rekia Boyd and Walter Scott taught me. Not even if you tell the police you “can’t breathe,” a lesson Eric Garner taught me. 

Not even if you have your hands up, a lesson Antonio Zambrano-Montes and Michael Brown (according to sixteen witnesses) taught me. Not even if you are “safe” in custody, a lesson Tanisha Anderson, Natasha McKenna, Freddie Gray, and Sandra Bland taught me. Not even if you plead for help while in custody, a lesson Sarah Lee Circle Bear taught me. 

These are just a fraction of my teachers, those whose names reached the media, which too often neglect reporting police killings of women of color and Indigenous people. Of course, I might not have learned any of these lessons if not for the efforts of Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, a movement that is changing White perceptions of racist policing, not to mention our entire political landscape.

2. I Have The Privilege Of Being Favored By School Authorities
Kiera Wilmot and Ahmed Mohamed, both of whom were arrested for bringing science projects to school while Black or brown, helped teach me this lesson. Recently, one Black 12-year-old was suspended for intimidating a White girl through his staring—staring that took place during a staring contest. Huh? Studies confirm such mistreatment of Black and brown students. In one, White students who reported that they committed 40 crimes in a year were “as likely to be imprisoned as black and Hispanic students who reported committing just five offenses.” 

In my hometown of Seattle, Black middle school students are nearly four times as likely to be suspended as White students, a reality that has attracted an investigation by the federal government. One federal study found similar disparities start as early has preschool. Preschool. As a parent of a White 4-year-old, I can’t fathom how such heavy-handed practices would ever help my child (who recently smacked my face because he didn’t want me to leave his room at bedtime). But because we’re White, I’m unlikely to ever receive the call from school officials that Tunette Powell recounts in her article, “My son has been suspended five times. He’s 3.”  READ MORE...

US Military Secrets Stolen by China

US F-22 on keft...   Chinese J-20 on right

China achieved its fifth-generation fighter jet by copying U.S. military tech, and it could maintain its pacing challenge for the American military if more isn’t done to safeguard sensitive weapons information, experts tell Fox News Digital.

"What we know is that because of the espionage efforts, [China’s] J-20 is more advanced than it otherwise would be, and that's the important point here," former Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson said in an interview.

"They have profited greatly from their thievery over the years," he said. "They've put it to good use, and they've come up with an advanced fifth-generation fighter," noting that it’s "hard to say, short of actual combat," how the J-20 matches up against the U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter.


China began developing its J-20 in 2008 as part of a plan to design a new fighter that could compete with those in America. The plane first took flight in 2011, with its introduction to service in 2017.

In 2015, reports on the plane’s technology and capabilities started to notice similarities between it and U.S. fighter jets, with an Associated Press report stating that "some of its technology, it turns out, may well have come from the U.S. itself."

Now China has a fifth-generation stealth fighter, similar to the U.S. F-22, which has further closed what was once a virtually insurmountable gap between the two militaries in terms of technological capabilities – all thanks to continued intellectual property theft. The gap between U.S. and Chinese military technology has received renewed focus as tensions between the two nations continue to increase and officials continue to discuss a possible invasion of Taiwan, which might include a U.S. military response.  READ MORE...

Suppressing China Will Not Make American Great

China's foreign minister says China-US relations have "seriously deviated" while warning of potential conflict.

"Containment and suppression will not make America great. It will not stop the rejuvenation of China," said Qin Gang. (above)

Mr Qin, China's former ambassador to the US, held his first press conference as foreign minister on Tuesday.

The spy balloon saga has heightened tensions between the superpowers despite recent efforts to improve ties.

"It [the US] regards China as its primary rival and the most consequential geopolitical challenge. This is like the first button in the shirt being put wrong," said Mr Qin, speaking on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China's parliament in Beijing.

The foreign minister was responding to a question on whether a healthy China-US relationship was still possible as differences between the countries grew.

The US called for establishing "guardrails", but what it really wants is for China to not hit back with words or actions when provoked, Mr Qin added.

He was referring to US President Joe Biden's comments last month that the US would "compete fully with China but [is] not looking for conflict".

Mr Qin said: "If the US does not put on the brakes and continues to roar down the wrong road, no amount of guardrails can stop the derailment and overturning, and it is bound to fall into conflict and confrontation. Who will bear its disastrous consequences?"

He also said the diplomatic crisis caused by the balloon incident could have been averted but the US acted with "the presumption of guilt".

Washington has previously described the suspected spy balloon as a "clear violation of US sovereignty". Beijing admitted the object belonged to them, but said it was a civilian airship blown off-course.  READ MORE...

Tik Tok Facing Global Bans

The backlash against China-owned TikTok in the U.S. and other Western countries escalated in recent days, as some U.S lawmakers pushed to give President Joe Biden the authority to impose a ban on the app for all users.


Canada banned TikTok on government-issued mobile devices on Monday, following a similar ban from the European Union last week.


TikTok, which has more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S., has faced growing scrutiny from government officials over fears that user data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government and the app could ultimately be weaponized by China to spread misinformation.


However, the fight to ban TikTok risks imposing undue limits on free speech and private business, mimicking the type of censorship for which some Western countries have faulted China, according to some experts and civil liberties advocates.  READ MORE...

FBI Says COVID Leaked From Chinese Lab

FBI Director Christopher Wray (above) has said that the bureau believes Covid-19 most likely originated in a Chinese government-controlled lab.  "The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident," he told Fox News.


It is the first public confirmation of the FBI's classified judgement of how the pandemic virus emerged.  Many scientists point out there is no evidence that it leaked from a lab.  And other US government agencies have drawn differing conclusions to the FBI's.


Some of them have said - but with a low level of certainty - that the virus did not start in a lab but instead jumped from animals to humans.  The White House has said there is no consensus across the US government on the origins.  A joint China-World Health Organization (WHO) investigation in 2021 called the lab leak theory "extremely unlikely".


However, the WHO investigation was deeply criticised and its director-general has since called for a new inquiry, saying: "All hypotheses remain open and require further study."  Mr Wray's comments come a day after the US ambassador to China called for the country to "be more honest" about Covid's origins.


In his interview on Tuesday, Mr Wray said China "has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate" efforts to identify the source of the global pandemic.  He said details of the agency's investigation were classified but the FBI had a team of experts focusing on the dangers of biological threats.


In response, Beijing accused Washington of "political manipulation".  "The conclusions they have reached have no credibility to speak of," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.  Some studies suggest the virus made the leap from animals to humans in Wuhan, China, possibly at the city's seafood and wildlife market.


The market is near a world-leading virus laboratory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducted research into coronaviruses.  READ MORE...

Using Artificial Intelligence in WAR

Countries including the United States and China called Thursday for urgent action to regulate the development and growing use of artificial intelligence in warfare, warning that the technology "could have unintended consequences".

A two-day meet in The Hague involving more than 60 countries took the first steps towards establishing international rules on use of AI on the battlefield, aimed at establishing an agreement similar to those on chemical and nuclear weapons.

"AI offers great opportunities and has extraordinary potential as an enabling technology, enabling us among other benefits to make powerful use of previously unimaginable quantities of data and improving decision-making," the countries said in a joint call to action after the meeting.

But they warned: "There are concerns worldwide around the use of AI in the military domain and about the potential unreliability of AI systems, the issue of human involvement, the lack of clarity with regards to liability and potential unintended consequences."

The roughly 2,000 delegates, from governments, tech firms and civil society, also agreed to launch a global commission to give clarity on its uses of AI in warfare and set down certain guidelines.

Militarily, AI is already used for reconnaissance and surveillance as well as analysis, and could eventually be used for autonomous choosing of targets—for example by "swarms" of drones sent into enemy territory.

China was invited to the conference as a key player in tech and AI, Dutch officials said, but Russia was not because of its invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago.

"We've clearly established the urgent nature of this subject. We now need to take further steps," Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said at the conference's end.

Although experts say a treaty regulating the use of AI in war may still be a long way off, attendees agreed that guidelines urgently needed to be established.

"In the end it's always the human who needs to make the decision" on the battlefield, General Joerg Vollmer, a former senior NATO commander, told delegates.

"Whatever we're talking about, AI can be helpful, can be supportive, but never let the human out of the responsibility they have to bear—never, ever hand it over to AI," Vollmer said in a panel discussion.

Domestic Spying

The US government, with assistance from major telecommunications carriers including AT&T, has engaged in massive, illegal dragnet surveillance of the domestic communications and communications records of millions of ordinary Americans since at least 2001. Since this was first reported on by the press and discovered by the public in late 2005, EFF has been at the forefront of the effort to stop it and bring government surveillance programs back within the law and the Constitution.

News reports in December 2005 first revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been intercepting Americans’ phone calls and Internet communications. Those news reports, combined with a USA Today story in May 2006 and the statements of several members of Congress, revealed that the NSA is also receiving wholesale copies of American's telephone and other communications records. All of these surveillance activities are in violation of the privacy safeguards established by Congress and the US Constitution.

In early 2006, EFF obtained whistleblower evidence (.pdf) from former AT&T technician Mark Klein showing that AT&T is cooperating with the illegal surveillance. The undisputed documents show that AT&T installed a fiberoptic splitter at its facility at 611 Folsom Street in San Francisco that makes copies of all emails web browsing and other Internet traffic to and from AT&T customers and provides those copies to the NSA. This copying includes both domestic and international Internet activities of AT&T customers. As one expert observed, “this isn’t a wiretap, it’s a country-tap.”

Secret government documents, published by the media in 2013, confirm the NSA obtains full copies of everything that is carried along major domestic fiber optic cable networks. In June 2013, the media, led by the Guardian and Washington Post started publishing a series of articles, along with full government documents, that have confirmed much of what was reported in 2005 and 2006 and then some. 

The reports showed-and the government later admitted—that the government is mass collecting phone metadata of all US customers under the guise of the Patriot Act. Moreover, the media reports confirm that the government is collecting and analyzing the content of communications of foreigners talking to persons inside the United States, as well as collecting much more, without a probable cause warrant. Finally, the media reports confirm the “upstream” collection off of the fiberoptic cables that Mr. Klein first revealed in 2006.  READ MORE...