Great news! Thursday Belgium will vote on a national ban on Killer robots. Once again Belgium can lead the way internationally.

Wouter De Vriendt Peter Buysrogge ✌ Hendrik Bogaert
Guillaume Defossé Hugues Bayet
André Flahaut Denis Ducarme Tim Vandenput
Kris Verduyckt Theo Francken

#Belgium 🇧🇪 can make history on 2 May and prohibit #AutonomousWeapons .

Make this happen - call on MPs vote to #StopKillerRobots ! 🗳️
Faites-le!
Doen!

Wouter De Vriendt Guillaume Defossé Hugues Bayet André Flahaut Christophe Lacroix Denis Ducarme Hendrik Bogaert Tim Vandenput Kris Verduyckt

AI decision support systems are not weapons and as such not considered as part of #CCWUN international discussions on #AutonomousWeapons . But they should be. I expand a bit on my Walrus piece on the AI use in targeting in Gaza and implications beyond.
ploughshares.ca/publications/a…

Ireland is seeking legislation to allow the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) for policing, and there currently exist little critical discussion/awareness on its dangers.

I'm hoping my piece, fresh out of press, contributes. Pls share widely

irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/0…

✨Upcoming talks✨
🎤 Mar 26: Laura Nolan: 'Path Dependence: History Matters'
🎤 Apr 4: John Looney: Second System Effect - not a new problem
🎤 May 7: Patricia Aas 🐢🏳️‍🌈: Classic Vulnerabilities

Tix & dets: cupantaeconf.com/cupan-tae-conf…

#CupanTaeConf #TechTalks

SREcon24 Americas is happening next week, March 18–20, 2024! There's still time to join us: bit.ly/sre24ams #srecon

Our Call for Papers is officially open! This year's theme is 'Flow'.

shipitcon.com/call-for-papers

Closing date is April 30th and we'll reach out to successful speakers by the end of May.

#sic2024 #callforpapers

Seems like Ireland is about to go ahead and legislate for the use of FRT for law enforcement. Here's a brief analysis by Simon McGarr @[email protected] showing how what's proposed is illegal and full of inconsistent claims from the An Garda Síochána (Irish police)

thegist.ie/the-gist-facia…

The biggest fear every engineer should have with the coming wave of AI is not that they will be replaced, but that they will have to program python. I don't know if I can accept that future.

“Why Are We Having More Incidents?” Causal Loops in Reactions to Unwanted Events
In this post, I illustrate the progressive build of a causal loop diagram concerning reactions to unwanted events, including fixes that fail, based on practice and research. 
humanisticsystems.com/2024/01/29/why…

The AI hype and perception of falling behind is a potent driver of the use and adoption of untested technologies in security and defence applications. These uses are also carved out of most responsible AI regulations so good luck to us all.

Re-upping this report I wrote with ARES for the ICRC on explosive weapons - how they work, how targeting is done, what effects do weapons have, fragment numbers, lethality, etc - as we are seeing bombs falling in #Gaza and rockets in #Israel : icrc.org/en/document/ex…

I wrote about the genocide in Palestine, and how tech has been silent and complicit.

blog.paulbiggar.com/i-cant-sleep/

I (+others) risked my career to organize against Google's development of AI weapons. We won. Our arguments were evidenced and clear and made Google (temporarily) cancel the contract.

But being right is not a strategy. And I've been sickly sitting w this.
theguardian.com/world/2023/dec…

Happening on Monday! Tune in for these two back-to-back sessions on the deep entanglements between the tech sector and apartheid, its realities in Palestine, and the resistance of it. Privilege to be in conversation with these giants. Thanks @[email protected] on Mastodon for organising!

Sept/Oct 2023 IEEE Software issue is a must read tackling developing your soft. eng. career with insights from seasoned engineers as well as research, such as barriers faced based on educational backgrounds! @[email protected] on mastodon Filippo Lanubile Laura Nolan Rafael Prikladnicki

computer.org/csdl/magazine/…

'My Favorite Bits of OSDI/ATC'23', new blog post looking at some trends, some papers I enjoyed, and a few random themes from this week's conference: brooker.co.za/blog/2023/07/1…

Is there interest in this among the SREcon community? I know a lot of orgs are running a lot of JS

TOMORROW 8 May is the deadline for SREcon23 Asia/Pacific grant applications! This conference is being held 14–16 June. Learn more and apply now for Diversity Grants, Student Grants, and Grants for Black Students: bit.ly/sre23apgrants #SREcon

Suggested topics for talk proposals for SREcon23 Europe/Middle East/Africa include dealing with hypergrowth/high demand; non-tech focused industries where SRE is emerging; SRE and Artificial Intelligence; and more! View the CFP: bit.ly/sre23emeacfp #srecon