A deepfake video created by Dutch police could help to change the often negative perception of the technology. Deepfakes use generative neural network architectures – such as autoencoders or generative adversarial networks (GANs) – to manipulate or generate visual and audio content. The technology is already being used for malicious purposes including generating sexual content of individuals without their consent, fraud, and the creation of deceptive content aimed at changing views and influencing democratic processes. However, authorities in Rotterdam have proven the technology can be put to use for good. Dutch police have created a deepfake video of 13-year-old Sedar Soares – a young footballer who was shot dead in 2003 while throwing snowballs with his friends in the car park of a Rotterdam metro station – in an appeal for information to finally solve his murder.

The Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) developed software to help Dutch police filter life-threatening messages sent by suspected criminals using the encrypted EncroChat phone network. After placing a "software implant" on an EncroChat server in Roubaix, French investigators began collecting live data from phones on 1 April 2020, which they then shared with Dutch police through a secure computer link. With the infiltration of the network leading to the interception of at least 25 million messages, Dutch police wanted a way of predicting which messages contained serious threats to life so they could take action. To do this, the NFI's forensic big data analysis (FBDA) team modified a computer model it had previously developed in late 2019 to scan for drug-related messages sent between suspected criminals in large volumes of communications data, as part of a research and development project. EncroChat, which had 60,000 users worldwide and around 9,000 users in the UK (see distribution map below), was used by organised crime groups for drug dealing, money laundering and plotting to kill rival criminals.

On 11 October, 2019 at KIN Center for Digital Innovation, we talked about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on work, delving into the case of the Dutch police and predictive policing. Professor Marleen Huysman opened the floor by comparing different perspectives on the study of AI. She discussed the labor perspective which focuses on macro-level changes on the whole labor market; the critical perspective which discusses ethical issues around AI in a theoretical/conceptual manner; the business perspective which talks about the potential of AI in tackling various challenges around organisation and innovation. Then Marleen introduced the practice perspective – a stance taken by the researchers at KIN – which looks into the actual practices around the design, control, and use of AI with the aim of going beyond the hype and working together with practitioners. After the brief yet comprehensive overview of different vantage points to research on AI and work, the floor was given to Dick Willems, a data scientist at the Dutch police and creator of the Dutch predictive policing algorithm: 'Crime Anticipation System (CAS)'.

Dutch Police are using artificial intelligence to crack unsolved cases, according to The Next Web. The national police force is working to digitize the more than 1,500 reports and 30 million pages of material in its cold case archive, only 15 percent of which is currently stored electronically. Once the transfer is complete, a machine learning algorithm will begin combing through the records and deciding which cases have the most promising evidence, reducing case processing time from weeks to a single day. "We're teaching the machine to do forensic screening," Jeroen Hammer, one of the architects of the system, told The Next Web. "The goal is that the AI can read cold cases we're currently digitizing, and decide which ones contain promising evidence that could lead to solving the case."

Remember back when you could fly drones without having to pay the government money first, and when the only thing you had to worry about was a midair takedown by an anti-drone hit squad made up of highly-trained Dutch eagles? We're sad to have to report that we probably won't be seeing compelling videos of eagles handling rogue drones anymore, and also that the United States government has flexed its muscles and mandatory drone registration is now back on. You probably remember how the FAA finalized its mandatory drone registration rules just in time for the holiday season in 2015. Any drone that weighed more than 0.55 pounds was required to be registered before being flown outdoors, a process that involved providing your complete name, physical address, mailing address, email address, and a credit card that was charged a one-time fee of US $5. In exchange, you got a unique registration number that had to be visible on all of your drones.

No-fly zones are to be imposed over jails in a drive to prevent drones being used to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into prisons. Figures have revealed increasing numbers of incidents involving the use of remotely-controlled devices for smuggling contraband into jails. Ministers have vowed to crackdown on the problem because prisoners are understood to be ordering illicit cargo using phone smuggled into cells and then a'pilot' controlling the drone from outside the walls lands the device or makes it hover outside a cell window. Ministers have vowed to crackdown on the problem because prisoners are understood to be ordering illicit cargo using phone smuggled into cells and then a'pilot' controlling the drone from outside the walls lands the device or makes it hover outside a cell window In one instance, a drone carrying super-strength skunk cannabis, mobile phones and chargers came down in an exercise yard at Category B HMP Bullingdon in Bicester, Oxon. Shocking footage captured at Wansdworth Prison in London in April, showed a black bag floating through the air via a drone into a window, where two pieces of wood tied together could be seen reaching out from a cell and hooking it in.

For the past year, the Dutch National Police and raptor training company Guard From Above have been investigating whether eagles could be an effective way of dealing with potentially dangerous drones. The trials have been a resounding success, and the Dutch police today announced that they're ready to operationally deploy an anti-drone team of specially trained bald eagles and their human partners. This video shows a demo that the Dutch police put on yesterday of a drone threatening a mock state visit. The eagle vs drone action starts at about 1:50. We use all kinds of technological solutions, like electromagnetic pulses, or even laser technology, and one of the projects is the use of birds of prey.

OSSENDRECHT, NETHERLANDS – After months of tests, Dutch police will become the world's first force to train and employ an army of eagles, using the centuries-old skill of falconry against the modern-day scourge of unauthorized drones. In their first public demonstration of their unorthodox new weapon, Dutch police on Monday sent out 2-year-old Hunter, a female American bald eagle, and her trainer, Ben. And what better scenario to show off the bird's prowess then a mock-up of a state visit? As the "visiting" head of state, played by a woman police officer, emerged from her car at a police academy in the southern Netherlands to shake hands, a drone suddenly appeared. "Attack, attack," came the cry, while sirens began wailing.