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Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

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Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#21

Post by shaki-dora »

John_KZ wrote: post #5
ForgorPsxrd123x wrote: post #4

Or they could legitimately be trying to make the world a better place along with making money. I know, naive right?

Yeah it's pretty naive. Google trying to make the world a better place would actually be illegal and would place the managers in jail for defrauding investors. Google's mission is to make as much money as possible, typical tactics include creating a good corporate image.

This is a myth, mostly.

First of all: no jail. This is civil law, not criminal.

Second: it's pretty hard not to have an excuse to do anything you want if you're the board + management. Google, and most other companies, give to charitable organisations, for example. "Now", you'll say, "they're just doing this for PR".

Maybe... But using the PR argument actually works perfectly fine for anything altruistic a company may do.

Unless management explicitly states that they're harming investors for the public good, it's almost impossible to run afoul of the law. Sick pay that exceeds the law? Important for employee retention (and PR). Match your employees' donation to any certified charity? Important to create a community (and PR).

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#22

Post by O_nlogn »

RainforestCx wrote: post #16

Thanks for checking out Rainforest Connection! Seems that there are lots of [appropriate] questions about how well this works in the forest, and how our partners on the ground follow up on alerts. Here’s a recent intervention in Peru that sums up the process: https://twitter.com/lilitjejauregui/status/97585519352188518...

This is a really cool application of this technology, great work! Do you have any blog posts explaining the types of models you're using or open source repos that one could contribute to?

(Asking as a ML/Software Engineer who's pleasantly surprised and yearning to contribute to something like this!)

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#23

Post by Rotdhizon »

RainforestCx wrote: post #17
Rotdhizon wrote: post #10

This technology is really cool. My question would be, "What happens when your AI detects chainsaws or logging trucks?". Do you contact some policy authority, some international authority? Also, why are their cell phone towers in the middle of the jungle? What about areas deep in the wilderness where no cell towers exist?

https://twitter.com/lilitjejauregui/status/97585519352188518...

That's for small time abuses. What happens in the case of a full blown illegal logging operation involving a entire company? What about cases where things get violent? It's not uncommon for mining operations in the Amazon to end with natives getting massacred, the loggers probably not unwillingly to do that to anyone who gets in there way. When you come across a full scale logging op, do things get complicated?

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#24

Post by alethiophile »

soVeryTired wrote: post #2

Anyone else wonder if google's on a massive PR drive given all the privacy-related bad press that tech has been getting recently?

If they're trying to get away from privacy-related bad PR, maybe "oh, by the way, we're capable of bugging the entire rainforest and analyzing the take in real-time" isn't the best approach.

Heaven knows it's only driving me more paranoid.

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#25

Post by soVeryTired »

bringtheaction wrote: post #18
soVeryTired wrote: post #2

Anyone else wonder if google's on a massive PR drive given all the privacy-related bad press that tech has been getting recently?

I don’t think so. Google is massive and people that work there have been doing lots of different research for a very long time. OP has nothing to do with the past days of Facebook stuff IMO.

Yep, no doubt. But you can make choices about whose work you highlight to the public.

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#26

Post by privateprofile »

Rotdhizon wrote: post #23
RainforestCx wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://twitter.com/lilitjejauregui/status/97585519352188518...

That's for small time abuses. What happens in the case of a full blown illegal logging operation involving a entire company? What about cases where things get violent? It's not uncommon for mining operations in the Amazon to end with natives getting massacred, the loggers probably not unwillingly to do that to anyone who gets in there way. When you come across a full scale logging op, do things get complicated?

Exactly. In that case they arrested a couple of poor peasants, but the people/organizations that both financed and enabled it walk free.

Like with drug labs in the jungle, all this cool technology is great for detection but ends up hitting a brick wall of corruption when it comes to actually solving the problem.

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#27

Post by loceng »

Are there methods to change the noise of a chainsaw, as there's money to be made in illegal logging - they'll have the incentive if they're organized, so it would be quiet enough or different enough to potentially sound like it's "outside" of a protected area or not a chainsaw at all?

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#28

Post by triangleman »

shaki-dora wrote: post #21
John_KZ wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's pretty naive. Google trying to make the world a better place would actually be illegal and would place the managers in jail for defrauding investors. Google's mission is to make as much money as possible, typical tactics include creating a good corporate image.

This is a myth, mostly. First of all: no jail. This is civil law, not criminal. Second: it's pretty hard not to have an excuse to do anything you want if you're the board + management. Google, and most other companies, give to charitable organisations, for example. "Now", you'll say, "they're just doing this for PR". Maybe... But using the PR argument actually works perfectly fine for anything altruistic a company ma…

If a publicly owned company started to contribute too much money to charity, they would certainly be subject to shareholder lawsuits and a proxy war over management.

Sick pay is easier to do because it's related to retaining good employees.

But generally, as Milton Friedman famously wrote, "the social responsibility of corporations is to increase their profits".

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#29

Post by John_KZ »

shaki-dora wrote: post #21
John_KZ wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's pretty naive. Google trying to make the world a better place would actually be illegal and would place the managers in jail for defrauding investors. Google's mission is to make as much money as possible, typical tactics include creating a good corporate image.

This is a myth, mostly. First of all: no jail. This is civil law, not criminal. Second: it's pretty hard not to have an excuse to do anything you want if you're the board + management. Google, and most other companies, give to charitable organisations, for example. "Now", you'll say, "they're just doing this for PR". Maybe... But using the PR argument actually works perfectly fine for anything altruistic a company ma…

Defrauding investors yields jailtime more often than not. Depending on the particular case is might be a civil case, but even civil cases often result in incarceration.

I'm not going to argue with the rest of your post because your belief that a company might be doing "anything altruistic" is just sad for me, perhaps laughable for others.

Re: Listening for illegal logging chainsaws using TensorFlow

#30

Post by aynsof »

Someone more familiar with satellites can correct me, but from my understanding you should be able to detect deforestation from real-time satellite data. You alert on changes in the level of greenery in the images. The indicator might trail behind detecting chainsaw noises, but it wouldn't require the mass distribution of detector devices.
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