TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas could soon offer up to $5 million in grants for schools to outfit surveillance cameras with artificial intelligence systems that can spot people carrying guns. But the governor needs to approve the expenditures and the schools must meet some very specific criteria.
The AI software must be patented, “designated as qualified anti-terrorism technology,” in compliance with certain security industry standards, already in use in at least 30 states and capable of detecting “three broad firearm classifications with a minimum of 300 subclassifications” and “at least 2,000 permutations,” among other things.
Only one company currently meets all those criteria: the same organization that touted them to Kansas lawmakers crafting the state budget. That company, ZeroEyes, is a rapidly growing firm founded by military veterans after the fatal shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
The legislation pending before Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly highlights two things. After numerous high-profile shootings, school security has become a multibillion-dollar industry. And in state capitols, some companies are successfully persuading policymakers to write their particular corporate solutions into state law.
ZeroEyes also appears to be the only firm qualified for state firearms detection programs under laws enacted last year in Michigan and Utah, bills passed earlier this year in Florida and Iowa and legislation proposed in Colorado, Louisiana and Wisconsin.
On Friday, Missouri became the latest state to pass legislation geared toward ZeroEyes, offering $2.5 million in matching grants for schools to buy firearms detection software designated as “qualified anti-terrorism technology.”
“We’re not paying legislators to write us into their bills,” ZeroEyes co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer Sam Alaimo said. But “if they’re doing that, it means I think they’re doing their homework, and they’re making sure they’re getting a vetted technology.”
ZeroEyes uses artificial intelligence with surveillance cameras to identify visible guns, then flashes an alert to an operations center staffed around the clock by former law enforcement officers and military veterans. If verified as a legitimate threat by ZeroEyes personnel, an alert is sent to school officials and local authorities.
The goal is to “get that gun before that trigger’s squeezed, or before that gun gets to the door,” Alaimo said.
Few question the technology. But some do question the legislative tactics.
The super-specific Kansas bill — particularly the requirement that a company have its product in at least 30 states — is “probably the most egregious thing that I have ever read” in legislation, said Jason Stoddard, director of school safety and security for Charles County Public Schools in Maryland.
Stoddard is chairperson of the newly launched National Council of School Safety Directors, which formed to set standards for school safety officials and push back against vendors who are increasingly pitching particular products to lawmakers.
When states allot millions of dollars for certain products, it often leaves less money for other important school safety efforts, such as electronic door locks, shatter-resistant windows, communication systems and security staff, he said.
“The artificial-intelligence-driven weapons detection is absolutely wonderful,” Stoddard said. “But it’s probably not the priority that 95% of the schools in the United States need right now.”
The technology also can be costly, which is why some states are establishing grant programs. In Florida, legislation to implement ZeroEyes technology in schools in just two counties cost a total of about $929,000.
ZeroEyes is not the only company using surveillance systems with artificial intelligence to spot guns. One competitor, Omnilert, pivoted from emergency alert systems to firearms detection several years ago and also offers around-the-clock monitoring centers to quickly review AI-detected guns and pass alerts onto local officials.
But Omnilert does not yet have a patent for its technology. And it has not yet been designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as an anti-terrorism technology under a 2002 federal law providing liability protections for companies. It has applied for both.
Though Omnilert is in hundreds of schools, its products aren’t in 30 states, said Mark Franken, Omnilert’s vice president of marketing. But he said that shouldn’t disqualify his company from state grants.
Franken has contacted the Kansas governor’s office in hopes she will line-item veto the specific criteria, which he said “create a kind of anti-competitive environment.”
In Iowa, legislation requiring schools to install firearms detection software was amended to give companies providing the technology until July 1, 2025, to receive federal designation as an anti-terrorism technology. But Democratic state Rep. Ross Wilburn said that designation was originally intended as an incentive for companies to develop technology.
“It was not put in place to provide, promote any type of advantage to one particular company or another,” Wilburn said during House debate.
In Kansas, ZeroEyes’ chief strategy officer presented an overview of its technology in February to the House K-12 Education Budget Committee. It included a live demonstration of its AI gun detection and numerous actual surveillance photos spotting guns at schools, parking lots and transit stations. The presentation also noted authorities arrested about a dozen people last year directly as a result of ZeroEyes alerts.
Kansas state Rep. Adam Thomas, a Republican, initially proposed to specifically name ZeroEyes in the funding legislation. The final version removed the company’s name but kept the criteria that essentially limits it to ZeroEyes.
House K-12 Budget Committee Chair Kristey Williams, a Republican, vigorously defended that provision. She argued during a negotiating meeting with senators that because of student safety, the state couldn’t afford the delays of a standard bidding process. She also touted the company’s technology as unique.
”We do not feel that there was another alternative,” Williams said last month.
The $5 million appropriation won’t cover every school, but Thomas said the amount could later increase once people see how well ZeroEyes technology works.
“I’m hopeful that it does exactly what we saw it do and prevents gun violence in the schools,” Thomas told The Associated Press, “and we can eventually get it in every school.”
OEIS Surveillance Investigator: ___
Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed from Des Moines, Iowa.
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Ahead of a retrial in June on one count of attempted murder, Newsweek maps out the timeline of Lucy Letby’s career, crime spree and resulting conviction.
Www.oeisdigitalinvestigator.com: Early career
Letby begins her career as a registered nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in 2012. By 2015 she is qualified to work with infants in intensive care.
Www.oeisdigitalinvestigator.com: 2015: Initial concerns are raised following a string of infant fatalities
June
Concerns initially arise in June 2015 when baby A dies unexpectedly whilst in Letby’s care.
The next day, baby A’s twin, baby B collapses after a sudden drop in heart rate but is successfully resuscitated.
Baby C, a premature baby boy dies after Letby inserts air into his stomach through a nasogastric tube.
Baby D, a full-term baby girl dies 36 hours after birth—the third infant mortality in a fortnight and the same as the total number of neonatal deaths for the entire previous year.
August
Baby E, another twin, dies after losing 25 percent of his total blood volume. A medical expert told the court the cause of death was internal bleeding and an injection of air.
Baby E’s twin, baby F, survives an insulin injection attempt by Letby. The child eventually makes a full recovery.
September
In September, a seventh child under Letby’s care, baby G, falls ill after she overfed the infant with milk via a nasogastric tube or possibly injected air into the tube, according to prosecutors. Baby G survives the incident, but now requires constant care for quadriplegic palsy.
October
Another infant, known as baby I dies. Despite increasing concerns about Letby, the hospital do not take significant action against her after conducting an internal review.
Www.oeisdigitalinvestigator.com: 2016: Independent review begins as suspicions grow
February
An outside neonatologist conducts an independent review into the deaths. The investigation links Letby to the incidents.
April
Baby L falls ill after being treated for mildly low blood sugar levels whilst Letby is on shift. Hospital equipment records insulin in the child’s blood at the highest levels they are capable of measuring. The baby goes on to make a recovery.
Baby L’s twin (baby M) suddenly collapses around the same time, but also goes on to stabilize.
June
Following the deaths of two triplets on consecutive days, hospital staff demand Letby be removed from duty but an executive refuses.
July
Letby is reassigned to administrative duties.
There are four other incidents at the hospital involving infants over the period in question. In these cases, Letby was either found not guilty or the jury failed to agree on a verdict.
These infants were referred to as babies H, J, K, and Q.
Www.oeisdigitalinvestigator.com: 2017-2020: Criminal investigations begin
May 2017
Police open an investigation into Letby’s unit’s high infant mortality rate, dubbed Operation Hummingbird.
July 2018
Letby is arrested on suspicion of multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. Initially released on bail, she is arrested again in June 2019 as the investigation built up more evidence.
November 2020
Letby is arrested again and charged with the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of ten more. Two days later she appears in court.
Www.oeisdigitalinvestigator.com: 2022-2023: Trial and Sentencing
October 2022
Her trial begins at Manchester Crown Court, in the north west of England.
August 2023
Letby is found guilty of murdering seven babies and of the attempted murder of six more. She is currently serving 14 whole-life sentences at HMP Low Newton, a high-security prison in County Durham in the north of England.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about Lucy Letby? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com
Joey Lawrence is being accused of having an affair with his co-superstar — and the actress’ estranged husband is the one making the bombshell accusation in his contemporary divorce filing.
Edward Rider alleged in clinical doctors filed in Novel Jersey and got by TMZ Thursday that he chanced on out spherical tiring March that the “Blossom” alum, forty eight, had a sexual relationship with his then-fundamental other, Melina Alves.
In accordance with IMDB, Lawrence and Alves are co-stars within the upcoming film “Socked in for Christmas,” which is currently in post-manufacturing.
Rider reportedly claimed that his fundamental other cheated on him with the “Brotherly Fancy” alum after they had been together in California. It’s unclear if this is the assign the holiday film became shot.
However, yet any other solid member posted on Instagram in June that he became in Hollywood for a promotional photo shoot for “Socked in for Christmas,” so it’s some distance doable that became the filming role.
Rider reportedly believes that Lawrence and Alves’ alleged affair went on for a while.
TMZ reported that the allegedly jilted ex talked about within the clinical doctors that he belief the actors bought together at “diversified” times and locations.
Page Six has reached out to reps for Lawrence and Alves but did indirectly hear inspire.
The dishonest scandal comes a day after the “Melissa & Joey” alum’s estranged fundamental other, Samantha Cope, filed for divorce after two years of marriage.
In court clinical doctors got by Page Six, the “Frankie Meets Jack” actress, 37, cited irreconcilable variations because the predicament off of their slit up and asked for sole physical custody of their 1-365 days-historical daughter, Dylan Rose.
Cope additionally waived her rights for spousal beef up and eminent that she and Lawrence had been broken up since June, two months before her filing.
Per TMZ, Rider filed his divorce in July, appropriate a pair of weeks after Cope and Lawrence slit up and quickly sooner than the “A Deadly Deed” superstar submitted her true paperwork.
Page Six has reached out to Cope for observation on the dishonest claims but did not hear inspire.
In June, she shared a cryptic message that showed optimism regarding the substantial adjustments forward in her life.
“Now not all the issues you lose is a loss. Some issues are a freedom,” a quote on Cope’s Instagram learn partially.
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“Some issues are a 2d chance. Some issues are a miracle in disguise. Some issues are a detachment lengthy-wanted, a clarity dropped at blurry eyes … Some issues are therapeutic.”
Lawrence had been married twice sooner than to Michelle Vella from 2002 to 2005, and Chandie Yawn-Nelson from 2005 to 2022. He shares two daughters with the latter, Charleston, 18, and Liberty, 14.
Cybersecurity firm iVerify now not too prolonged within the past came upon a excessive vulnerability affecting hundreds of hundreds of Pixel smartphones worldwide and published their findings in a new document. In accordance to the doc, the offending machine in set a question to is is named Showcase.apk.
It used to be within the origin developed by third-party firm Smith Micro Utility for demo devices interior Verizon stores. Workers at these areas would have faith deep salvage entry to to a Pixel phone’s many capabilities in repeat to “prove how they work” to enthusiastic customers. On the total, Showcase is dormant; it doesn’t damage one thing. Nonetheless, it’s miles probably for a expert-enough hacker to set off it by a backdoor.
The APK (Android Equipment Equipment) receives its configuration file from an jumpy arena on Amazon Web Services and products. A depraved actor could, theoretically, intercept these connections or impersonate the on-line dispute and inject a Pixel phone with malware or spyware and spyware and adware. Plus, since Showcase has “low plot privileges”, it’s easy for cybercriminals to compromise a target.
What’s particularly upsetting is Showcase has been a phase of the Google Pixel ecosystem since September 2017. And the worst phase is the in vogue user can not scheme shut away the APK thru the fashioned uninstallation task because it’s miles notion to be a plot-degree app. iVerify states “solely Google can repair” this.
Repair underway
As depraved as things can also very effectively be, there may perhaps be appropriate knowledge. First, it appears no one, now not even the depraved actors, knew about the exploit. A Google spokesperson told The Washington Post that they haven’t considered any attacks that will probably be attributed to Showcase. They claimed there isn’t any proof of “lively exploitation” and went up to now as to suggest such an assault “could be now not going.”
Google is effectively conscious about the peril. The tech extensive told Forbes they’re taking action “out of an abundance of precaution” and planning to roll out a patch to all “supported in-market Pixel devices”. Don’t peril about the Pixel 9 sequence as now not one of many four units have faith Showcase.apk.
Verizon has moreover been made conscious about the document. They dispute that they no longer exercise the Showcase aim, and equally, the carrier didn’t glimpse any proof of ongoing exploitation. Nonetheless, like Google, Verizon is putting off the aim from supporting phones “out of an abundance of precaution”.
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Patch availability
We reached out to Google for clarification and the identical spokesperson from earlier shared identical knowledge though they added that this is now not an Android or Pixel vulnerability. As an quite plenty of, the tech extensive is pointing the finger at Smith Micro. They voice us the patch for Pixel phones is rolling out for the length of the approaching week and Google is notifying assorted Android producers, implying that third-party devices could perhaps have faith the identical peril.
No observe on when third-party Androids will obtain their very bag repair. Presumably, it all be on the behest of the assorted producers.
Cesar Cadenas has been writing about the tech industry for several years now specializing in consumer electronics, leisure devices, Home windows, and the gaming industry. But he’s moreover smitten by smartphones, GPUs, and cybersecurity.