In August, International Affairs has teamed up with the Future Strategy Forum for the ‘Pandemic Politics’ series on US politics and the COVID-19 pandemic. International Affairs’ 50:50 in 2020 initiative is partnering with the FSF to support its mission of amplifying the expertise of women and share the insights of PhD students on COVID-19 and grand strategy; the military; and democracy.

8月， 国际事务部 与 未来战略论坛 合作， 举办 了 有关美国政治和COVID-19大流行 的“ 大流行政治 ”系列。 2020年国际事务50:50 该计划 与FSF合作，以支持其扩大妇女专业知识的使命，并分享博士生对COVID-19和大战略的见解； 军队; 和民主。

This week in Pandemic Politics, Julie George’s introduction, as well as Katrina Ponti’s, Dakota Foster’s, and John R. Emery’s blogposts discuss COVID-19, democracy and governance.

本周在《 流行病政治》中 ，朱莉·乔治(Julie George)以及卡特里娜·蓬蒂(Katrina Ponti)，达科他·福斯特(Dakota Foster)和约翰·埃默里(John R. Emery)的博客文章讨论了 COVID-19，民主与治理 。

SKYNET was once best known as the artificial general superintelligence system that serves as the main antagonist in the 1984 film The Terminator, but the title has taken on a new relevance in the past decade. SKYNET refers to an actual machine-learning algorithm which was utilized in the covert CIA targeted-killing program in Pakistan, specifically determining ‘legitimate targets’ for drone strikes. This program was brought to light by The Intercept in 2015 after the publication received leaked documents including an NSA PowerPoint from 2012 which highlighted their role in a cloud-based behavior analytics program drawing on Pakistani mobile phone metadata. In a morbid example of techno-fetishization, the program is underpinned by a ‘ridiculously optimistic’ machine-learning algorithm that could, it was claimed, predict someones’s probability of ‘terroristness’. SKYNET pieces together daily routines (where you travel, who you travel with, whether you power down or swap SIM cards frequently) and then utilizes an algorithm to ‘predict’ whether your behaviour makes you statistically worthy of targeting in drone strikes, based solely on your ‘pattern of life’. These means of war are disturbing enough when used internationally, but when SKYNET comes home, it produces the prospect of near total surveillance of protests.

SKYNET曾经是最著名的人工通用超智能系统，在1984年的电影《终结者》中扮演主要的对手角色，但在过去的十年中，这个名称有了新的意义。 SKYNET指的是一种实际的机器学习算法，该算法在巴基斯坦的秘密CIA定向杀伤程序中使用，专门确定了无人驾驶飞机袭击的“合法目标”。 该程序由The Intercept揭晓 在2015年该出版物收到泄露的文件后，其中包括 2012年发布的NSA PowerPoint突出显示了它们在基于巴基斯坦手机元数据的基于云的行为分析程序中的作用。 在一个技术迷恋的病态例子中，该程序以“ 荒谬的乐观 ”机器学习算法为基础，据称该算法可以预测某人的“恐怖主义”可能性。 SKYNET将日常例行程序(旅行时，与谁一起旅行，是否经常关机或交换SIM卡)组合在一起，然后利用一种算法来“预测”您的行为是否使您在统计学上值得在无人机打击中作为目标，仅基于您的“生活模式”。 当在国际上使用时，这些战争手段已经足够令人不安，但是当SKYNET归国时，它就产生了对抗议活动进行几乎全面监视的前景。

Communities of colour in the US have long been the testing ground for ‘predictive policing’ technologies that have failed spectacularly and contribute to the disproportionate targeting of the black community. This pattern has continued in the official response to the recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests after the murder of George Floyd. In particular we have witnessed an increased willingness to deploy SKYNET-style surveillance technologies which were previously reserved for overseas military use.

在美国，有色人种社区长期以来一直是“ 预测性警务 ”技术的试验场，该技术失败了，并导致黑人社区的目标不成比例。 在对乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)被谋杀后最近发生的“黑人生活问题”(BLM)抗议活动的官方回应中，这种模式继续存在。 尤其是，我们目睹了部署SKYNET式监视技术的意愿增强，该技术以前仅用于海外军事用途。

One of the most visible of these developments has been a sharp spike in aerial surveillance of protestors. During the BLM protests, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) flew Predator drones over a number of cities, including Minneapolis. Reminiscent of SKYNET practices, it was reported that the FBI may have flown a Cessna Citation jet ‘equipped with “dirtboxes”, equipment that can collect cell phone location data,’ over Washington DC. This type of aerial mass data collection is more than likely paired with machine-learning algorithms that correlate the images with social media posts and (controversially) facial recognition software to determine one’s liability for arrest. Indeed, Buzzfeed News obtained documents that show the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was given sweeping authority to ‘conduct covert surveillance’ and collect intelligence on protestors. Thus, with SKYNET and geofence warrants — reverse location searches that sweep up information on any device in the area — freedom of assembly became illegal and mass surveillance ensued.

这些事态发展中最明显的事件之一是对示威者的空中监视急剧增加。 在BLM抗议期间，美国海关与边境保护局(CBP)在包括明尼阿波利斯(Minneapolis)在内的许多城市飞行了“捕食者”无人机。 据报道 ，与SKYNET的做法类似，联邦调查局可能在华盛顿特区乘坐 “配备了“ 脏物箱 ”(可以收集手机位置数据的设备)”的塞斯纳奖状喷气式飞机。 这种类型的航空质量数据收集很可能与机器学习算法搭配使用，该算法将图像与社交媒体帖子和(有争议的) 面部识别软件相关联，以确定一个人的逮捕责任。 确实， Buzzfeed新闻 获得的文件显示，禁毒署(DEA)被授予“进行秘密监视”和搜集抗议者情报的全面授权。 因此，有了SKYNET和地理围栏令 –反向位置搜索会扫荡该地区任何设备上的信息–组装自由变成了非法，随后进行了大规模监视。

In recent years, broad data collection in the US has increasingly come under the spotlight. Many practices are unregulated, if only because of their novelty. However, a 2018 Supreme Court ruling Carpenter v. United States barred the government from accessing mobile phone location data without a warrant. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision that ‘we decline to grant the state unrestricted access to a wireless carrier’s database of physical location information.’

近年来，美国广泛的数据收集越来越受到关注。 即使只是因为它们的新颖性，许多实践还是不受管制的。 但是，2018年最高法院裁定Carpenter诉美国 禁止政府未经授权访问手机位置数据。 最高法院首席法官约翰·罗伯茨( John Roberts )在决定中写道 ，“我们拒绝授予该州无限制访问无线运营商的实际位置信息数据库的权限。”

Nevertheless, in the case of immigration and border enforcement, the Trump administration has sought to circumvent the spirit of the law by buying access to user location data on the open market. According to the Wall Street Journal, the federal government ‘has bought access to a commercial database that maps the movements of millions of cellphones in America’ from apps such as weather, games, and e-commerce, acting as if CBP and ICE were a marketing company. This ‘near perfect surveillance’ was the subject of a disturbing New York Times investigation that demonstrates the perils of circumventing judicial oversight. Location data are crude measurements devoid of context. Relying upon them to assess wrong-doing can easily lead to false accusations which disrupt peaceful protests by identifying, tracking, and even arresting protestors after they return home.

然而，在移民和边境执法方面，特朗普政府试图通过在开放市场上购买对用户位置数据的访问来规避法律精神。 根据《 华尔街日报》的报道 ，联邦政府“已经从天气，游戏和电子商务等应用程序中访问了一个商业数据库，该数据库可绘制美国数百万部手机的移动情况”，就像CBP和ICE一样。营销公司。 这种“ 近乎完美的监视 ”是《纽约时报》令人不安的一项调查的主题，该调查表明了规避司法监督的危险。 位置数据是没有上下文的粗略测量。 依靠他们来评估不当行为很容易导致错误的指控 ，通过识别，追踪甚至逮捕返回家园的示威者 ，破坏了和平示威。

It is difficult to disentangle the role of the US empire abroad and racial injustice at home. Mass data collection on communities of colour is not ‘objective and neutral’, but perpetuates the systemic injustice upon which these algorithms of oppression are built. While we must draw boundaries for new technology as it arises, humans and technology interact in complex webs of socio-technical interactions.

很难区分国外的美国帝国的角色和国内的种族不平等。 关于有色人种的海量数据收集不是“客观和中立的”，而是永久地建立了建立这些压迫算法的系统性不公正。 虽然我们必须为新技术的出现划清界限，但人类和技术会在复杂的社会技术互动网络中进行互动。

Mobile phone videos have been critical in shedding light on police brutality, but given the rise of military-style surveillance in the domestic sphere, one of the few weapons in the protestors’ arsenal could now lead to algorithm-driven persecution. SKYNET has resulted in innocent deaths when applied abroad, and we should be deeply worried about its use at home. It is up to us to push for more democratic accountability to dismantle and abolish the means of war being turned on our own communities. Assumptions of technological superiority ignore the complexity of socio-technical interactions and the inability to deduce individual innocence or guilt using Big Data alone.

手机视频对于减轻警察的暴行至关重要，但是随着家庭领域军事监控的兴起，示威者军械库中的少数武器之一现在可能导致算法驱动的迫害。 SKYNET在国外使用时导致无辜的死亡，我们应该为在国内使用它而深感担忧。 我们有责任推动更加民主的问责制， 拆除和废除对我们自己社区施加的战争手段。 技术优势的假设忽略了社会技术互动的复杂性以及仅凭大数据就无法推断出个人无罪或内gui的情况。

John R. Emery received his PhD in political science from the University of California, Irvine. He is an incoming Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). His work on drones, counter-terrorism, and ethics has been published in Critical Military Studies, Ethics & International Affairs, and Peace Review.

John R. Emery 获得了加州大学欧文分校的政治学博士学位。 他是斯坦福大学国际安全与合作中心(CISAC)即将到来的斯坦顿核安全研究员。 他在无人机，反恐和道德方面的工作已发表在《重要军事研究》，《道德与国际事务》和《和平评论》上。

In August, International Affairs has teamed up with the Future Strategy Forum for the ‘Pandemic Politics’ series on US politics and the COVID-19 pandemic. This series is made possible by The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Bridging the Gap Project (BtG).

8月， 国际事务部 与未来战略论坛合作，举办了 有关美国政治和COVID-19大流行 的“ 大流行政治 ”系列。 战略与国际研究中心(CSIS)，约翰·霍普金斯大学高级国际研究学院(SAIS)的亨利·基辛格全球事务中心和弥合差距项目(BtG)使该系列成为可能。