The book of Eli

MARKETS

• Impeachment update: House Democrats wrapped up their opening arguments in President Trump’s impeachment trial yesterday. No one gets to sleep in today, though, as the president’s legal team will explain why he should remain in office.
• Markets: The major U.S. indexes suffered their first weekly loss of the year.

TECH

Big Ben Is Big Brother

The home of demon barbers and rippers named Jack will begin using facial recognition technology to spot suspects on city streets. It’s a significant and controversial plan that has some critics wondering whether London will turn into Beijing lite.

But first, how will it work?

Within a month, London’s Metropolitan Police will deploy cameras for 5–6 hours in neighborhoods considered magnets for criminal activity. The cameras, which run on technology from Japanese firm NEC, will scan faces in crowds to determine whether they're on police watch lists as soon as they're filmed on camera.

• The police say if no match is found, the system will erase the data in seconds. If there is a match...you better run.
• “As a modern police force, I believe that we have a duty to use new technologies to keep people safe in London,” an assistant commissioner argued.

Argued is the right word

Because the London police are about to flood the London streets with what the FT calls “highly invasive and often inaccurate biometric technology.”

• Highly invasive: While the government peeking in on citizens is common in China, London’s system will be a major escalation of public surveillance in a Western democracy. Facial recognition tech has also been criticized for showing bias against women and people of color.
• Often inaccurate: An independent review last year found that the Met’s facial recognition system had an error rate of 81%. Of the 42 matches it flagged, only eight were actually correct matches.

The Met disputes the review’s conclusions, and one of the authors said NEC has improved its algorithm since then. But there’s still loads of criticism.

• “This is a breathtaking assault on our rights and we will challenge it,” said Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, a group that...well, we think you can figure it out.

Zoom out: U.S. cities including San Francisco, Oakland, and Cambridge, MA, have banned the use of facial recognition tech.

MUSIC

We Thought Drama Was for the Oscars

After a week of turmoil right before its Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy is scrambling faster than Halsey’s PR team.

Verse: Just over a week ago, the Academy's new CEO Deborah Dugan was put on administrative leave after being accused of misconduct. She replaced longtime CEO Neil Portnow, who left last year after he told female artists to “step up” if they wanted Grammy recognition in 2018.

Chorus: This week, in a 46-page complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a national TV tour, Dugan alleged the Academy...

• Rigged the Grammy nominating process.
• Engaged in gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and unequal pay. Dugan claimed she was fired for trying to break up its so-called “boys club.”

Bridge: The Grammys are tomorrow night, and this dispute could leave a bitter taste in viewers’ mouths.

• The awards already face regular accusations of racism and sexism—from 2013 to 2018, only 9.3% of nominees in top categories were women.

Outro: The $19.6 billion U.S. music industry has largely been immune to the #MeToo reckoning in TV and movies. If Dugan’s accusations are legitimate, that could change.

OBIT

Clayton Christensen to Disrupt the Afterlife

Clayton Christensen, the OG business influencer credited with handing Silicon Valley the term “disruption,” died Thursday evening at 67 following cancer treatment complications.

Christensen walked so Gavin Belson could run. After writing The Innovator’s Dilemma in 1997, the Harvard professor cemented his spot in organizational behavior classes for decades to come. His main theory: “disruptive innovation.”

• The gist: Disruptive innovation happens when someone introduces “simplicity, convenience, accessibility, and affordability where complication and high cost are the status quo.”
• The examples: streaming video, plastic, and personal computers.
• The followers: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Apple’s Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon have all cited or shared Christensen’s work with their ranks.

But even Christensen tired of every venture capitalist putting “disruptor.” in their Twitter bio. To him, true disruption happens when an innovation 1) only appeals to a niche group at the outset 2) originally looks less attractive than the incumbent and 3) surprises everyone by overtaking that incumbent. So...not “Words With Friends for Dogs.”

+ Bonus read: what you might call an “exhaustive” Christensen profile in The New Yorker. Ping us when you finish Tuesday morning.

SPORTS

Who Needs an Offensive Line When You’ve Got a Fat 401(k)?

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning retired from the NFL yesterday as the top-earning player in league history—an accomplishment more improbable than his two Super Bowl rings.

Over the course of his 16-year career, Eli earned a record $252 million in salary, $3 million more than the career earnings of his brother Peyton. The inevitable tickle torture is worth it.

• Eli earned his fair share in endorsements, too. In 2018, Forbes called him “one of the most marketable players off the field” because of his promotional deals with heavyweights like Nike, Gatorade, Toyota, Visa, and more.

Looking ahead...we’re already starting to warm up the jokes for Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rodgers, who could all pass Manning’s record in the 2020 season. They’ve each earned at least $233 million in career salary.

ROBOTICS

So That's a Firm Grip

These grippers from Soft Robotics could unlock a world of new applications for robots that previously were unable to handle awkwardly shaped packages. The startup closed a $23 million funding round this week.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Coronavirus update: The CDC confirmed a second U.S. case, while France confirmed two of its own as the first in Europe.
• A massive explosion erupted from Watson Grinding and Manufacturing in Houston early yesterday morning, killing at least two people.
• American Express said it has reached “virtual parity” in coverage with Visa and Mastercard in the U.S.
• Boeing is reportedly weighing another production cut for its 787 Dreamliner jets.
• Intel stock jumped to a dotcom-era high yesterday after the company reported strong cloud computing demand in Q4 on Thursday.
• President Trump unveiled the Space Force logo. It looks oddly familiar...

SATURDAY HEADLINES

The motto of Saturday Headlines? Keep news weird. We'll give you four bizarre headlines from the week's news—it's up to you to find the one we made up.

SATURDAY HEADLINES ANSWER