For anyone born in the late 1980s or the decades before, the compact disc (CD) was once the most popular mode of playing music and for a time, sharing digital files. Though the format has all but become obsolete, replaced by downloadable mp3s and eventual audio streaming, many music lovers still prefer the physical touch – tactility – of the thin, glistening metallic wheel and the art-covered cases that contain them, not to mention the curated nature of only having 20 or so tracks on one disc. Today, it can feel as though there are too many immediately available options and less emphasis on unexpected discovery; finding a new favorite song among those that are further down the list of an album’s anthology.
Many still maintain carefully classified collections displayed extensively like books on a shelf within their living rooms. While the cassette tape-enabled Walkman marked a paradigm shift in how people listen to music – allowing them to do so on the move and on their own – it was the CD-equipped Discman that made this advancement stick.
Looking to recapture the awe of that moment, all while integrating the latest technological innovations, boutique British audio brand FiiO has just released the new DM15 R2R portable CD player. Sturdier and more cubical than its sleekly contoured and streamlined Sony predecessor, the device resembles the configuration of a record player, adding to its nostalgic appearance. It remains lightweight and easy to carry in a bag or even a large pocket. The tempered-glass lid – displaying the CD’s mesmerizing spin – is enclosed by a meticulously sewn-together leather case, available in a generous range of trend-conscious, moodier tones.
This more substantial form hints at its enhanced performance; a degree of sound quality that isn’t necessarily derived from the CD per se. DM15 R2R’s playback is accentuated by a high-fidelity R2R digital-to-analog conversion. Enhanced amplification – even through its especially robust Bluetooth transmission – delivers a noticeable boost: 310 mW + 310 mW. Its outputs rise to 1150 mW + 1150 mW. The player’s custom R2R DAC four-channel 24-bit resistor-array converter is built from 192 precision thin-film resistors (48 per channel). Each was selected for 0.1% tolerance and ultra-low temperature drift. DM15 R2R recaptures the quality of the CD but with the added bonus of a present-day hi-fi system.
As the retro-tech trend continues to sweep the industry, this device was developed with an eye toward the past and one toward the future.
To learn more about the DM15 R2R portable CD player by FiiO, visit fiio.com.
Ganz fluffig inn die Woche starten. Heute mit dem 164. Montagssorbet mit Laut & Luise. Serviert von Brigade.
ür die Ewigwachgebliebenen zum Feierabendbier, für die Frühaufsteher als Seelenfutter zum Wochenbeginn: Montagssorbet mit Laut & Luise. Alles erlaubt, was gut tut und Gedanken kreisen lässt, nur der Name ist Programm: cremig, fluffig und ganz schön weich.
When authorities used Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) facial recognition app on a detained woman in an attempt to learn her identity and immigration status, it returned two different and incorrect names, raising serious questions about the accuracy of the app ICE is using to determine who should be removed from the United States, according to testimony from a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official obtained by 404 Media.
ICE has told lawmakers the app, called Mobile Fortify, provides a “definitive” determination of someone’s immigration status, and should be trusted over a birth certificate. The incident, which happened last year in Oregon, casts doubt on that claim.
“ICE has treated Mobile Fortify like it’s a 100% accurate record retrieval system of everybody’s immigration status for the entire population of the U.S. when this is obviously not true, and could never be true from a technical perspective,” Cooper Quintin, a security researcher and senior public interest technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told 404 Media. “It is sickening that ICE is using this flawed app and unacceptable invasion of biometric privacy to supposedly determine whether someone is undocumented and deport them or even worse.”
The incident involved a 45-year-old woman who court records call MJMA. She was detained with more than 30 other people during a raid in Woodburn after authorities smashed a van’s driver side window and pulled her from the vehicle. MJMA is now suing ICE and being represented by attorneys from the Innovation Law Lab.
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Do you know anything else about this app? Do you work at ICE or CBP? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.
Oregon Live briefly mentioned the face scan in a December report. 404 Media has now obtained the CBP official’s full testimony.
The CBP official, called MK in the transcript, said she was trying to determine the woman’s immigration status. MJMA was refusing to answer questions.
“So then, in order to [...] to use another tool that I had to identify her, I took my government cell phone out of my pocket. It has the little facial recognition mobile query for CBP. And I took a photo [...] I tried to take a photo of her face, and she looked down,” MK said. Another part of the transcript specifically names Mobile Fortify.
“So then I remember I moved her shoulder back. And she complained because I did forget she had handcuffs on and [...] like, behind her back. And she kind of, like, yelped, like if I had caused pain, like a lot of pain. So then I apologized. I said (speaking Spanish), which is 'I'm sorry,' (speaking Spanish),” she continued.
MK said she explained to the woman she needed to take her photo. “So I took her photo, where she kind of looked at me. And then when I looked down at my mobile query, it came up to a very [...] like, a similar person. I wasn't sure if it was her or not.”
A screenshot of the testimony.
The first name the app returned was Maria, according to the testimony. “It matched to someone [...] I remember saying, ‘Maria? Like, is this Maria?’ And then at that point there was other ICE agents around me. So they were like ‘Maria, Maria,’ to see if she would respond because, again, she was refusing to talk to us, which is her right.”
After MJMA did not respond, either verbally or nonverbally with a change in her face, the CBP official scanned her face again. This time, Mobile Fortify gave a different name.
“And then I tried taking her photo again, and this time it came up to someone else. I can't recall the name, but we used that name as well, ‘Are you this person?’ She looked at us. Like, I remember her eyebrows kind of like [...] like, ‘Who are you talking about?’ She gave us that look,” MK testified.
MJMA again didn’t respond verbally, and instead crunched her eyebrows, according to the testimony. “And so then we were like, ‘Well, I don’t know. Possible.’,” the CBP official said.
A screenshot of the testimony.
Stephen Manning, executive director at Innovation Law Lab, told 404 Media both of the names Mobile Fortify returned were incorrect.
“The app returning different names for the same individual shows that it’s not reliable or accurate and shouldn’t be used in the field,” Homeland Security Ranking Member Rep. Bennie G. Thompson told 404 Media in a statement.
Oregon Live reported that after authorities moved MJMA to an ICE detention center in Tacoma, they released her the next day without any conditions. She is suing to assert her Constitutional rights, according to Innovation Law Lab. In her own testimony, MJMA said she was issued a B-2 visa, which is a tourism visa, and last entered the U.S. with it last January. Manning said that MJMA is seeking asylum.
“My job is to give people digital security advice and there is no advice I can give on this because you can’t change your face, and if you don’t submit to their demands ICE has demonstrated that they are willing to shoot you,” Quintin added.
Mobile Fortify uses CBP systems ordinarily used to verify travelers as they enter the U.S., according to the leaked material. The app turned the capability inwards onto American streets. In partnership with Reveal, 404 Media reported the app has been used against U.S. citizens.
404 Media previously obtained an internal DHS document under the Freedom of Information Act which showed ICE does not let people decline to be scanned by Mobile Fortify.
Last week a group of Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation, written by Rep. Thompson, that aims to rein in Mobile Fortify. That legislation would essentially kill the local law enforcement version of the app, restrict use of Mobile Fortify to points of entry into the U.S., and force DHS to delete images of U.S. citizens after 12 hours.
Rep. Thompson previously told 404 Media, “ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien.”
Inaccuracy has long been a concern of facial recognition systems, and mistakes have led to innocent people being detained or charged with crimes. When facial recognition tools do make mistakes, it is often against people of color.
“For over a decade, researchers have shown that facial recognition is a flawed technology that performs particularly poorly on women of color. Using it to determine a person’s status is inviting misidentifications and false positives,” Chris Gilliard, a privacy researcher, told 404 Media. “The willful use of such an error-prone technology suggests that the appearance of a process is more important than accuracy or fairness.”
“This is the logical extension of a landscape that promotes facial recognition as a tool for seemingly harmless purposes like fast food drive throughs or unlocking your phone,” he added.
CBP acknowledged a request for comment but did not provide a response in time for publication.
In another piece of testimony, this time from an ICE deportation officer called DR in the court records, the judge asked “what’s the rate of identification with Mobile Fortify?”
DR replied, “I [...] I can’t speak to that number.”
The Regicide Report, the last novel in the main Laundry Files series, is coming out on January 27th in the US (from Tor.com Publishing) and the UK (from Orbit).
If you want to order signed hardcovers, contact Transreal Fiction in Edinburgh. (I believe Mike is currently willing to send books to the USA, but don't take my word for it: check first, and blame Donald Trump if there are customs/tariff obstacles.)
Audiobooks: there will be audio editions. The Audible one is showing a January 27th release date on Amazon.com; Hachette Digital will be issuing one in the UK but it's not showing up on Amazon.co.uk yet. (For contractual reasons they're recorded and produced by different companies.)
Ebooks and DRM: The ebook will be available the same day as the hardcover. Tor.com does not put DRM on their ebooks, but it's anybody's guess whether a given ebook store will add it. (Amazon have been particularly asshole-ish in recent years but are promising DRM-free downloads of purchases will be available from late January.) Orbit is part of Hachette, who are particularly obstreperous about requiring DRM on everything electronic, so you're out of luck if you buy the Orbit edition. (I could tell you how to unlock the DRM on purchases from the UK Kobo store, but then my publisher would be contractually obliged to assassinate me. Let's just say, it can be done.)
What next?
The Regicide Report is the last Bob/Mo/Laundry novel. It's set circa March-May 2015 in the time line; the New Management books are set circa November 2015 through May 2017, so this one slots in beforeDead Lies Dreaming.
There may be a Laundry Files short story collection, and/or/maybe including a final New Management novella (it's half-written, but on "hold" since mid-2024), at some point in the future. But not this year or next. (I'm taking time off to get back in touch with space opera.)
None of the above precludes further Laundry Files novels getting written, but it's up to the publishers and market forces. If it does happen, I expect they'll be set in the 2020s in the internal chronology, by which time the Laundry itself is no more (it's been superseded by DEAT), and we may have new protagonists and a very new story line.
No, but really what's next?
I don't know for sure, but I'm currently working on the final draft of Starter Pack, my Stainless Steel Rat homage, and planning yet another rewrite of Ghost Engine, this time throwing away my current protagonists and replacing them with the ones from Starter Pack (who need another heist caper). Do not expect publication before 2027, though! I'm also awaiting eye surgery again, which slows everything down.
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