An opera house in Spain just held a concert for plants. A town in China will allow potential marriage partners to get info on any past reports of their potential partner's domestic violence charges before tying the knot. In New York City, transit authorities are considering using facial recognition technology to monitor face mask compliance (and privacy advocates have strong objections to the plan). Join Ben Bowlin for more Strange News Daily, and share your stories on Twitter: #strangedaily.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I Heart Media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan
and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story
(00:44):
Today and Opera House in Barcelona reopened its doors on
Monday for the first time in over three months. They
held a concert, but not for human beings. Instead, the
audience was exclusively plants, nearly two thousand, three hundred house plants,
one in every seat. Organizers say the intention was to
(01:05):
reflect on the absurdity of the human condition and the
era of the coronavirus pandemic, which deprives people of their
position as spectators. Executive producer Eugenio and Pudio said nature
advanced to occupy the spaces we snatched from it. Can
we extend our empathy. Let's begin with art and music
in a great theater by inviting nature in. After the concert,
(01:29):
which was live streamed, the two thousand, two hundred and
ninety two nursery. Plants placed on every seat were donated
to frontline health workers. This concert for the bio scene
was made possible by the ending of Spain's state of
emergency on Sunday. It featured a string quartet playing Italian
composer Gecomo Pushini's Chrysanthemum was chosen for its requiem like Sadness.
(01:54):
The opera house observed all the usual rituals of a
regular musical performance, with announcements give and over loud speakers
when the concert was about to begin. Both before and
after the six minute performance, four elegantly dressed musicians respectfully
bowed to the audience of plants. The opera house says
it hopes the show will reaffirm the value of art, music,
(02:16):
and nature while serving as a roadmap for returning to
normal activity after the pandemic. Spain has been one of
the nation's worst affected by COVID nineteen. As of this week,
the country officially has twenty eight thousand, three hundred and
twenty three COVID nineteen deaths and a total of two
hundred forty six thousand, two hundred and seventy two cases
(02:37):
so far. Our second story today, a city in eastern
China is introducing a new system that will let people
getting married check if their partner has a history of abuse.
(03:00):
The town of you Wu is launching this inquiry service
and it will be available to residents starting this July.
People who are arranging to get married will soon be
able to fill out a form to see if their
partners have any history of violence, either between family members
or during times of cohabitation. All they need to do
to access this information is to produce a form of
(03:21):
I D as well as personal information on the person
they're planning to marry. One person is allowed to make
a maximum of two inquiries per year. The Women's Federation
in the city welcomes the move, saying the system will
help protect people from domestic violence. The Domestic Violence Registered
Database will begin by using information provided by the courts
(03:43):
and public security organs from seventeen onwards. This system also
got approval from academics like law professor Han Jin, who
says this system protects a person's right to be informed
about the personality of their significant other before tying the knot.
The system has also been praised on Chinese social media,
(04:04):
and many social media users are calling for this program
to be rolled out across the country. Some say the
new system should also include child abuse, noting that it's
geared towards giving transparencies of beatings and physical abuse rather
than sexual violence. There have been growing calls in China
in recent years to recognize and hold accountable people who
(04:25):
have a history of domestic abuse. Before two thousand one,
physical abuse wasn't even grounds for divorce. Domestic violence only
became punishable by law in March of six. Concerns about
victims of domestic violence have been growing amid lockdowns during
the epidemic. Domestic media sources are noting police reports on
(04:45):
domestic violence doubled or even tripled in some areas where
citizens were under lockdown, and just last month, fears about
domestic violence grew after China made it more difficult for
couples to divorce, introducing a new thirty day cool off
aread that was meant to allow both parties time to
rethink their decision. Social media users at the time race
(05:06):
concerned that this law could lead to some people being
coerced into backtracking, or that it could deter victims from
speaking out or leaving violent relationships. This law, which will
come into effect at the beginning of one is not
applicable to families with a history of domestic violence. However,
there are also standing concerns that not all cases can
(05:27):
be detected. We'll keep an eye on this situation and
update on its progress as the program kicks into gear.
Our third story today takes place in New York City,
(05:48):
where transit officials are exploring a controversial plan to use
AI software to track how many subway riders are wearing
face mask and where they're wearing them. This technology is
already used in Paris. It's one of a host of
ideas presented in a consultants report released to the public
earlier this week that could help transit authorities measure the
(06:10):
level of face mask compliance at specific subway stations. The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority commissioned this study in May. The forty
one page document details the best practices from transit systems
around the world and combating the spread of COVID nineteen.
The list includes things like high tech tools such as
(06:30):
thermal scanner temperature checks, as well as UV lamps or
even robots, which China has deployed on buses to kill
the virus on various surfaces. Andre Berman, a spokesman for
the m t A, says, we're exploring the feasibility of
a wide range of tools and approaches for helping to
keep our employees and customers safe. AI is one of
(06:50):
those tools, and will continue to research whether it might
be effective and if so, how it might be deployed
in an appropriate manner to continue ensuring best public health
practice is are followed for the safety of our customers
and employees. So why is facial recognition controversial? Well, it
has strong potential to be weaponized and using this in
(07:11):
such a widespread manner will likely continue the debate around
privacy and transparency, But the current debate over AI is
much more complicated. New Yorkers are struggling to resume their
lives amid the shadow of a pandemic that's already killed
more than twenty two thousand residents of the city. Nick
c Fuinte's, the executive director of the Tri State Transportation Campaign,
(07:34):
said we have to juggle legitimate privacy concerns and concerns
about public safety and public health. According to c fuinte Is,
the evidence suggests that the MTA needs to prioritize mass
enforcement over arguably more expensive and unreliable technology i e.
Temperature scans. He says the goal is mass compliance. The
(07:56):
public health threat that you pose is certainly much greater
than the privacy threat as a non compliant individual. Supporters
say concerns about privacy could be addressed by using anonymized data,
where the system would remove personally identifiable information. That's what's
happening in the Paris metro system. The software is not
used to punish individual writers, but instead to collect information
(08:20):
that will help city officials anticipate the location of future outbreaks.
The technology can also be used to measure the level
of mask wearing at specific locations, and this could allow
transit officials to direct resources to stations with low compliance. Still,
critics of this surveillance technique remains skeptical. In the m
(08:40):
t A acknowledged in a Wall Street Journal story that
it was already running a pilot program to record and
identify faces of drivers driving through the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.
The initial efforts here were not successful, A spokesperson said
the information was only being used for security. Albert Fox KHN,
the founder and executive director of Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
(09:04):
or Stop for Short notes that the m t A
has a standing trust gap with the public here. Stop
recently sued the m t A over its refusal to
provide information about a video monitor installed in Times Square
to detect fair evasion. Mt A officials said that the
camera was not using facial recognition technology, but Stopped demanded
(09:25):
to see internal agency documents about the cameras installation. In May,
a State Supreme Court judge ruled that the agency had
wrongly denied its fo I request without any explanation. Con
warns that the use of surveillance technology could give way
to a predictable result, more police encounters, more needless arrest
(09:45):
and more violence. He pointed out that m t a's
cameras were being used by NYPD to locate and remove
homeless individuals in subway stations. He also says excessive surveillance
is a matter of life and death. IM terrified that
we will see writers of color singled out by AI
and arrested for not wearing masks. Early on, information from
(10:08):
the city showed large racial disparities in the social distancing
and mask wearing policies of New Yorkers. In mid May,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the NYPD would no
longer enforce the face mask rule after a video of
a Brooklyn mother getting handcuffed in a subway station for
not wearing a mask went viral. Another challenge here, The
MTA will soon be managing a growing number of mass
(10:31):
transit users as the city continues to reopen. Subway ridership
passed one million on Tuesday June, and that's a more
than one fifty increase since April, before the pandemic. Weekday
subway ridership was around five point five million. Sarah Feinberg,
who is the interim head of the New York Metropolitan
(10:52):
Transportation Authority, recently said the key is going to be
masked vigilance. Danny Perlstein, the Policy and commun Vacations director
for the advocacy group Writers Alliance, still voices concerns has
urged the m t A to look more broadly at
other solutions, like increasing the frequency of service, especially during
off peak hours. In terms of safety, he said that
(11:15):
giving passengers even just a little extra breathing room would
be better than resorting to surveillance technology. Ultimately, he summed
it up by saying, using machines that can profile writers
will make people less comfortable than giving them an extra
six inches for their elbow. That's all for now. We've
been asking you to chime in with suggestions for stories
(11:37):
you think your fellow listeners might enjoy. To hit us
with your best or worst puns and bad dad jokes,
and to tell us about your personal experience with COVID nineteen,
the ongoing protests, or strange local stories from your neck
of the global woods. Let us know tag hashtag Strange
daily on Twitter, or reach out to me directly. I'm
at Ben Bolan hsw on Twitter or at Ben Bolin
(11:58):
on Instagram. Thank as always to our super producer Dylan Fagan,
our research associate Sam T. Garden, and most importantly, thanks
to you. I'm Ben Bully. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then,
stay strange
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I Heart Media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan
and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story
(00:44):
Today and Opera House in Barcelona reopened its doors on
Monday for the first time in over three months. They
held a concert, but not for human beings. Instead, the
audience was exclusively plants, nearly two thousand, three hundred house plants,
one in every seat. Organizers say the intention was to
(01:05):
reflect on the absurdity of the human condition and the
era of the coronavirus pandemic, which deprives people of their
position as spectators. Executive producer Eugenio and Pudio said nature
advanced to occupy the spaces we snatched from it. Can
we extend our empathy. Let's begin with art and music
in a great theater by inviting nature in. After the concert,
(01:29):
which was live streamed, the two thousand, two hundred and
ninety two nursery. Plants placed on every seat were donated
to frontline health workers. This concert for the bio scene
was made possible by the ending of Spain's state of
emergency on Sunday. It featured a string quartet playing Italian
composer Gecomo Pushini's Chrysanthemum was chosen for its requiem like Sadness.
(01:54):
The opera house observed all the usual rituals of a
regular musical performance, with announcements give and over loud speakers
when the concert was about to begin. Both before and
after the six minute performance, four elegantly dressed musicians respectfully
bowed to the audience of plants. The opera house says
it hopes the show will reaffirm the value of art, music,
(02:16):
and nature while serving as a roadmap for returning to
normal activity after the pandemic. Spain has been one of
the nation's worst affected by COVID nineteen. As of this week,
the country officially has twenty eight thousand, three hundred and
twenty three COVID nineteen deaths and a total of two
hundred forty six thousand, two hundred and seventy two cases
(02:37):
so far. Our second story today, a city in eastern
China is introducing a new system that will let people
getting married check if their partner has a history of abuse.
(03:00):
The town of you Wu is launching this inquiry service
and it will be available to residents starting this July.
People who are arranging to get married will soon be
able to fill out a form to see if their
partners have any history of violence, either between family members
or during times of cohabitation. All they need to do
to access this information is to produce a form of
(03:21):
I D as well as personal information on the person
they're planning to marry. One person is allowed to make
a maximum of two inquiries per year. The Women's Federation
in the city welcomes the move, saying the system will
help protect people from domestic violence. The Domestic Violence Registered
Database will begin by using information provided by the courts
(03:43):
and public security organs from seventeen onwards. This system also
got approval from academics like law professor Han Jin, who
says this system protects a person's right to be informed
about the personality of their significant other before tying the knot.
The system has also been praised on Chinese social media,
(04:04):
and many social media users are calling for this program
to be rolled out across the country. Some say the
new system should also include child abuse, noting that it's
geared towards giving transparencies of beatings and physical abuse rather
than sexual violence. There have been growing calls in China
in recent years to recognize and hold accountable people who
(04:25):
have a history of domestic abuse. Before two thousand one,
physical abuse wasn't even grounds for divorce. Domestic violence only
became punishable by law in March of six. Concerns about
victims of domestic violence have been growing amid lockdowns during
the epidemic. Domestic media sources are noting police reports on
(04:45):
domestic violence doubled or even tripled in some areas where
citizens were under lockdown, and just last month, fears about
domestic violence grew after China made it more difficult for
couples to divorce, introducing a new thirty day cool off
aread that was meant to allow both parties time to
rethink their decision. Social media users at the time race
(05:06):
concerned that this law could lead to some people being
coerced into backtracking, or that it could deter victims from
speaking out or leaving violent relationships. This law, which will
come into effect at the beginning of one is not
applicable to families with a history of domestic violence. However,
there are also standing concerns that not all cases can
(05:27):
be detected. We'll keep an eye on this situation and
update on its progress as the program kicks into gear.
Our third story today takes place in New York City,
(05:48):
where transit officials are exploring a controversial plan to use
AI software to track how many subway riders are wearing
face mask and where they're wearing them. This technology is
already used in Paris. It's one of a host of
ideas presented in a consultants report released to the public
earlier this week that could help transit authorities measure the
(06:10):
level of face mask compliance at specific subway stations. The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority commissioned this study in May. The forty
one page document details the best practices from transit systems
around the world and combating the spread of COVID nineteen.
The list includes things like high tech tools such as
(06:30):
thermal scanner temperature checks, as well as UV lamps or
even robots, which China has deployed on buses to kill
the virus on various surfaces. Andre Berman, a spokesman for
the m t A, says, we're exploring the feasibility of
a wide range of tools and approaches for helping to
keep our employees and customers safe. AI is one of
(06:50):
those tools, and will continue to research whether it might
be effective and if so, how it might be deployed
in an appropriate manner to continue ensuring best public health
practice is are followed for the safety of our customers
and employees. So why is facial recognition controversial? Well, it
has strong potential to be weaponized and using this in
(07:11):
such a widespread manner will likely continue the debate around
privacy and transparency, But the current debate over AI is
much more complicated. New Yorkers are struggling to resume their
lives amid the shadow of a pandemic that's already killed
more than twenty two thousand residents of the city. Nick
c Fuinte's, the executive director of the Tri State Transportation Campaign,
(07:34):
said we have to juggle legitimate privacy concerns and concerns
about public safety and public health. According to c fuinte Is,
the evidence suggests that the MTA needs to prioritize mass
enforcement over arguably more expensive and unreliable technology i e.
Temperature scans. He says the goal is mass compliance. The
(07:56):
public health threat that you pose is certainly much greater
than the privacy threat as a non compliant individual. Supporters
say concerns about privacy could be addressed by using anonymized data,
where the system would remove personally identifiable information. That's what's
happening in the Paris metro system. The software is not
used to punish individual writers, but instead to collect information
(08:20):
that will help city officials anticipate the location of future outbreaks.
The technology can also be used to measure the level
of mask wearing at specific locations, and this could allow
transit officials to direct resources to stations with low compliance. Still,
critics of this surveillance technique remains skeptical. In the m
(08:40):
t A acknowledged in a Wall Street Journal story that
it was already running a pilot program to record and
identify faces of drivers driving through the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.
The initial efforts here were not successful, A spokesperson said
the information was only being used for security. Albert Fox KHN,
the founder and executive director of Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
(09:04):
or Stop for Short notes that the m t A
has a standing trust gap with the public here. Stop
recently sued the m t A over its refusal to
provide information about a video monitor installed in Times Square
to detect fair evasion. Mt A officials said that the
camera was not using facial recognition technology, but Stopped demanded
(09:25):
to see internal agency documents about the cameras installation. In May,
a State Supreme Court judge ruled that the agency had
wrongly denied its fo I request without any explanation. Con
warns that the use of surveillance technology could give way
to a predictable result, more police encounters, more needless arrest
(09:45):
and more violence. He pointed out that m t a's
cameras were being used by NYPD to locate and remove
homeless individuals in subway stations. He also says excessive surveillance
is a matter of life and death. IM terrified that
we will see writers of color singled out by AI
and arrested for not wearing masks. Early on, information from
(10:08):
the city showed large racial disparities in the social distancing
and mask wearing policies of New Yorkers. In mid May,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the NYPD would no
longer enforce the face mask rule after a video of
a Brooklyn mother getting handcuffed in a subway station for
not wearing a mask went viral. Another challenge here, The
MTA will soon be managing a growing number of mass
(10:31):
transit users as the city continues to reopen. Subway ridership
passed one million on Tuesday June, and that's a more
than one fifty increase since April, before the pandemic. Weekday
subway ridership was around five point five million. Sarah Feinberg,
who is the interim head of the New York Metropolitan
(10:52):
Transportation Authority, recently said the key is going to be
masked vigilance. Danny Perlstein, the Policy and commun Vacations director
for the advocacy group Writers Alliance, still voices concerns has
urged the m t A to look more broadly at
other solutions, like increasing the frequency of service, especially during
off peak hours. In terms of safety, he said that
(11:15):
giving passengers even just a little extra breathing room would
be better than resorting to surveillance technology. Ultimately, he summed
it up by saying, using machines that can profile writers
will make people less comfortable than giving them an extra
six inches for their elbow. That's all for now. We've
been asking you to chime in with suggestions for stories
(11:37):
you think your fellow listeners might enjoy. To hit us
with your best or worst puns and bad dad jokes,
and to tell us about your personal experience with COVID nineteen,
the ongoing protests, or strange local stories from your neck
of the global woods. Let us know tag hashtag Strange
daily on Twitter, or reach out to me directly. I'm
at Ben Bolan hsw on Twitter or at Ben Bolin
(11:58):
on Instagram. Thank as always to our super producer Dylan Fagan,
our research associate Sam T. Garden, and most importantly, thanks
to you. I'm Ben Bully. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then,
stay strange
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