Tag: surveillance
Wastewater Surveillance as Public Health Infrastructure
How pooled sewage samples become population-level signals, and where measurement, interpretation, and trust can fail.
How AI Watermark Mandates Could Unmask Journalists Who Never Touched AI
Imagine a scenario where a documentary filmmaker, in the course of making the documentary, captures some damning footage of corporate malfeasance, which she wishes to share with an investigative reporting organization anonymously. Should we be concerned that mandates on AI watermarking might reveal who she is, even if she's not using AI at all? Last...
Power, Truth, and the People: This Week in Black Civic Life
From media literacy to power outages, Black voices break down what's shaping politics, communities, and the fight for progress.
Area (Atlantic) Columnist Decides *Now* Is The Time To Start Defending Flock Safety
Flock's ALPR (automated license plate reader) tech spread from HOAs to police departments at an alarming rate of speed. What was once a toy for the over-privileged soon became the go-to source of license plate images. Flock became the Ring of ALPRs, to mix a metaphor. And that's when the bad news began to roll...
The National Week of Action against ALPRs — in Washington and across the country
Whether you're in Washington or anywhere else, please get involved in the #NoALPRs Week of Action!
The Fake Free Speech President Has Unleashed ICE On Its Critics
It still amazes me that there are people out there who think that Donald Trump is a supporter of free speech. It has never been true. Anyone who looks will note that the Trump administration regularly engages in clearly unconstitutional attempts to suppress speech. But because he and his supporters like to claim he's a...
It’s Official: Flock Is For Stalking
Flock Safety is happy it's the go-to choice for tons of law enforcement agencies. While it does suffer some occasional bleeding, its supercharged automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) -- ones that not only capture plates, but pictures of drivers/passengers and full vehicle images to capture any other distinctive features -- are so widely deployed they're...
Another Federal Judge Says Cell Tower Dumps Are Unconstitutional
Well, it looks like investigators better go back to doing actual investigations in the Fifth Circuit, rather than just assuming a little paperwork and a whole lot of assistance from service providers is going to do their work for them. For at least the second time in the same state (Mississippi), federal judges have rejected...
16 Groups Warn FCC’s New ‘Robocall Plan’ Is Really About Dramatically Undermining Privacy
Back in May I noted how the Trump FCC had unveiled a brand new plan to “stop robocalls.” I also noted how the plan doesn’t actually stop robocalls because a well-lobbied U.S. government (1) refuses to hold big companies accountable or collect fines, (2) constantly embraces weak rules that make telemarketers and debt collectors happy...
California Town Says Flock Cameras Misread License Plates 71% Of The Time
Flock Safety's automatic license plate readers were first sold as upmarket add-ons for gated communities and HOA curtain-twitchers who wanted to keep tabs on what everyone was doing, whether they lived there or not. Flock soon realized that selling to rich people wasn't as profitable as selling to governments. Law enforcement agencies have always been...
Expansion Of Flock Camera Systems Is Leading To Even More False Positives
Flock Safety's aggressive expansion into the law enforcement market has been coupled with nearly constant negative coverage of its tech and its practices. Multiple cities have paused or cancelled their agreements with Flock following public outcry over the surveillance tech. Flock's willingness to allow law enforcement agencies to search a nationwide network of cameras has...
Court Shuts Down Federal Officers Who Wanted To Run A Stingray Device For A Month Straight
For a long time, cell site simulators, a.k.a. "Stingrays" made headlines on nearly a daily basis. Then they just kind of fell off the map. L3Harris -- the manufacturer of cell site simulators that commanded enough market share to see its flagship product become the victim of genericide -- saw the writing on the wall...
N things you can do today to fight bad internet bills across the world
Last updated July 11! If you've got suggestions for additional actions in these or other locations, please leave them as a comment.
Get FISA Right turns 18
Thanks to everybody who's been involved over the years!
What next on FISA Section 702? Good question!
Once things do pick up, they're likely to start moving quickly. So ... stay tuned!
The Cost of Comprehension
On May 23, @dame.is demonstrated something simple: a Claude agent, connected to Bluesky via bsky.md, paginated through approximately 2,000 of their posts and built a categorized political profile in minutes. Topics, representative quotes, behavioral patterns—all synthesized into a readable dossier.
April 30: Two Deadlines, One Question
On April 30, two deadlines converge.
The Online Identity Crisis
Thoughts on trying to keep one's identity compartmentalized
CISPA: Act now
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act just passed in the House, during a vote that was moved up a day and staged during the NFL draft. It vastly expands the already onerous act into one that allows significant domestic surveillance. As TechDirt notes: Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all. This bill must be blocked in the Senate. If you're a US citizen, you need to call your Senator now. This action list over on Reddit is fantastic, or, once again, Gras