#surveillance-and-censorship

#surveillance-and-censorship

66% of internet users live where political or social sites are blocked, and 78% are in countries where people have been arrested for online posts. New social media regulations have emerged in dozens of countries in the past year alone.

Private detection and spying on people was only a cottage industry by comparison with what it is today, when everything happens, if not in the glare of publicity exactly, at least within the purview of electronic surveillance of one kind or another. Surveillance is to us what electricity was to James Thurber's aunt, that is to say leaking all over the house.

This large-scale and invasive AI-enabled surveillance of public spaces is not legal, necessary or proportionate to the legitimate aim of providing security. History shows us that this is the latest tool used by governments to invade the privacy of citizens and stifle freedom of movement and expression.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has rounded up several of these counter surveillance projects, and perhaps unsurprisingly many of these have to do with Flock, best known for its automated license plate reader (ALPR). Flock operates the largest network of surveillance cameras in America, and, while it has contracts with thousands of police departments and municipalities across the US, sometimes ICE gains access to this footage, according to US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and those who have looked into Flock's misuse.