This will likely go down as the year in which technology, once envisioned as an empowering and equalizing force, finally went headlong down the path toward dystopia and oppression. Our story this summer about Google planning to return to China with censored search at first shocked Silicon Valley, but it was the dark nature of what followed — internal dissent squelched, executives dissembling, Chinese users to be closely tracked — that proved most surprising.

Other depressing developments seemed right out of an ominous sci-fi film like “Blade Runner,” whether it was reporting that revealed the National Security Agency’s prowess at voice recognition, Facebook’s plans to use artificial intelligence to predict users’ future behavior, or just how badly ultrawealthy Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was exploiting underlings. As tech enters 2019, its brightest days seem to be well behind it.

Illustration: Other Means

Search app that will “blacklist sensitive queries” could be launched in six to nine months, according to documents and people familiar with the plans.

By Ryan Gallagher

Photo: Bill O’Leary/Getty Images

The feds are mad that, in a pilot program, airlines are keeping flights on time by letting passengers skip a facial recognition procedure at boarding.

By Sam Biddle

Illustration: Brandon Blommaert

Classified documents from the Snowden archive reveal the NSA has been developing technology to automatically identify a speaker from the sound of their voice.

By Ava Kofman





