Goodbye NYC RoboDog, Apple Disrupting Tracking, And FL Drone Bill
Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition) Issue 24
From the Technology and Public Purpose Project
Everything Local Surveillance Laws Are Missing In One Post
As I have been researching "smart city" harms and prevention tactics, I have reviewed current surveillance technology laws with an eye for how they are being constructed, applied, and subverted. This post summarizes their status to date, what they are missing, and some initial thoughts on where legal protections might go next.
T👁️p 3 St👁️ries 👁️f the Week
City: New York Returns Its Police ‘Robodog’ After a Public Outcry
“The New York Police Department said Thursday it will stop using the ‘Digidog,’ a four-legged robot occasionally deployed for recon in dangerous situations. NYPD officials confirmed in a statement it had terminated its contract and will return the dog to vendor Boston Dynamics. Last December, the agency leased the Digidog, nicknamed Spot, for $94,000.” [WIRED, see also Ars Technica and The Verge]
Market: Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency is Upending Mobile Phone Tracking
“Apple’s long-awaited privacy update for iOS is out, and it’s a solid step in the right direction. With the launch of iOS 14.5, hundreds of millions of iPhone users will now interact with Apple’s new AppTrackingTransparency feature. Allowing users to choose what third-party tracking they will or will not tolerate, and forcing apps to request those permissions, gives users more knowledge of what apps are doing, helps protect users from abuse, and allows them to make the best decisions for themselves. In short, AppTrackingTransparency (or ATT) means that apps are now required to ask you permission if they want to track you and your activity across other apps.” [EFF]
Policy: Bill Allowing Police Drones to Surveil Crowds Heads Back To Senate Floor
“Under the [Florida] bill, law enforcement agencies have to develop policies and procedures for using drones, including the proper storage, retention, and release of any images or video captured by the drone, and address the personal safety and constitutional protections of the people being observed. But Rep. Omari Hardy (D-Mangonia Park) says that means each agency would be making its own rules for how to use drones.” [WFSU]
City Watch
British Columbia, Canada - RCMP Secrete Facial Recognition Tool Looked for Matches with 700,000 ‘Terrorists’ [The Tyee]
Sweden - “Walking bar codes”, Swedish Police and the use of Facial Recognition Technology [Lexology]
United Kingdom: FOI release BSCC/FOI/0121-2/KS: The use of military drones for surveillance [Gov.UK]
Various Global Cities - Four ways governments disrupt internet access [Rest of World]
Viera, Florida - Florida Cops Flew Spy Plane Above Press Conference for Black Teens Killed by Police [VICE]
Market Watch
Legal
Mobility
Google Promised Its Contact Tracing App Was Completely Private - But It Wasn’t [The Markup]
How User Data Privacy and Antitrust Law Got All Tangled Up [WIRED]
Lime taps user base for Complete Streets advocacy [Smart Cities Dive]
Video
ADT sues Ring over ‘virtually indistinguishable’ blue octagon design [The Verge]
Patents/New Tech
Purchasing Trends
Biometrics
Clearview AI Named to TIME’s Inaugural List of the Time100 Most Influential Companies [Business Wire]
Other
Policy Watch
China - Chinese city governments speak out against rising facial recognition technology use [QR Code Press]
European Union - ‘Facial Recognition put into question by EU privacy watchdog [Tech Story]
Maine, U.S. - Maine’s Police Surveillance-Tech Transparency Bill Advances [Governing]
U.S. Federal - Is Washington prepared for a geopolitical ‘tech race?’ [Tech Crunch]
U.S. Federal - Tell Congress: Support for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act [EFF]
Vallejo, CA, U.S. - Privacy watchdogs pleased with council’s decision to agendize police tech oversight committee [Vallejo Times-Herald]
Various U.S. Cities - NLC calls for engagement, proper training for facial recognition tech [Smart Cities Dive]
Washington, DC, U.S. - EPIC, Coalition Urge End to DC-Area Facial Recognition System [EPIC, see also Washington Post]
Watching the Watchers Watch
California, U.S. - Here Are 458 California Law Enforcement Agencies’ Police Documents All in One Place [EFF]
Russia - Russia: Police target peaceful protesters identified using facial recognition technology [Amnesty International]
San Diego, California - San Diego Held Back Materials Sought by Congress on Facial Recognition [Voice of San Diego]
Various Global Cities - Are You Feeding a Powerful Facial Recognition Algorithm? [PBS]
Bonus Section…A Presentation to Watch
🎥: "Perspectives of Public Purpose Week" Special Series: Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition) features Rebecca in conversation with public advocates describing smart city risks and what we can do to prevent them. [Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]
Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition) documents trends in the surveillance of public space. Curated by Rebecca Williams and Madeleine Smith as part of "smart city" surveillance research for the Technology and Public Purpose Project at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center.