【】

Secure messaging app Signal has announced a new in-app blur tool that will allow users to censor faces in photos before sharing them. The feature is being introduced to protect protesters currently demonstrating against police brutality by helping to hide their identities.
"Right now, people around the world are marching and protesting against racism and police brutality, outraged by the most recent police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor," Signal wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. "At Signal, we support the people who have gone into the streets to make their voices heard."
Floyd died on May 25 after Minneapolis police handcuffed him and knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Taylor died on March 13 after Louisville police entered her home and shot her multiple times. They are just two among countless black people who have been needlessly assaulted or killed by law enforcement, sparking the widespread protests.
SEE ALSO:How to demand justice for George Floyd and support Minneapolis protestersMany feel it important that the civilians currently protesting are able to remain anonymous, as police have largely responded to the protests with further unprovoked violence, and law enforcement has a history when it comes to using facial recognition technology, as does ICE.
As such, Signal's blur tool will enable users to censor photos before sharing them, obscuring protesters' faces so they can't be easily identified.
The new blur feature will be able to automatically detect and hide faces in an image, with all processing taking place on the user's phone to ensure security. Signal users will also be able to manually censor parts of a photo by tapping on the blur tool in the image editor. Face-detecting software isn't always perfect, so this will allow users to pick up any faces that might have been missed.
The update will roll out "as soon as possible" on both the Android and iOS Signal apps, having already been submitted to the app stores.

Signal has seen significantly increased traffic over the past few days. The encrypted messaging app has been downloaded thousands of times since Floyd was killed and the protests began, with 121,000 downloads in the U.S. alone. This may be partially because Signal doesn't keep its users' message data, making it ideal for those concerned the law enforcement might try to subpoena their chat logs.
In further support of the protestors, Signal has also announced they are currently looking into manufacturing masks and distributing them for free. Details are currently being finalised, with more information to come.
As the company's blog post noted, "One immediate thing seems clear: 2020 is a pretty good year to cover your face."
TopicsActivismCybersecurityPrivacy
相关文章
Pokémon Go is so big that it has its own VR porn parody now
Behind every great entertainment property there's a cheekily named porn parody. Super Hornio Bros. G2025-04-03Leslie Jones is back on Twitter and her comeback tweet rules
Leslie Jones is back to communicating with her adoring public on Twitter after cowardly hacker-troll2025-04-03LinkedIn launches LinkedIn Lite, opens Placements service for students in India
Tech companies are increasingly realizing that if they want to make their services more accessible t2025-04-03Giant pandas are no longer 'endangered,' but eastern gorillas face extinction
Giant pandas, break out your best bamboo. You're no longer considered an endangered species.。The Int2025-04-03U.S. pole vaulter skids to a halt for national anthem
An American pole vaulter took his patriotism to the next level at the Olympics.。Sam Kendricks, a sec2025-04-03Theresa May told to ditch high heels to end sexism in the workplace
LONDON -- British Prime Minister Theresa May has been urged by a union delegate to ditch her high he2025-04-03
最新评论