Surveilling the Surveillance of Public Space, so You Don't Have To
Welcome to Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition) Issue 1
Welcome to Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition)!
As part of Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project, Rebecca Williams is spending the 2020-21 academic year assessing risks to civil liberties posed by “smart city” technologies and developing recommended interventions for the public, governments, and vendors.
To support this research, Rebecca and Madeleine Smith are gathering recent news and media related to “smart city” (and other) surveillance technologies of public spaces into one fun-size bundle for your inbox. Below is our first attempt at such a bundle. The goals of this newsletter are to take you along on our journey of examining how “smart city” technology contributes to and interplays with the surveillance of public spaces and to inspire you to consider: “Whose Streets?”
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City Watch
Baltimore, MD, and Washington, DC, U.S. - “Police cameras disproportionately surveil nonwhite areas of DC and Baltimore, CNS finds” [Capital News Service]
Belarus, Poland - “The COVID-19 pandemic has made the shutdowns of online civic space ever more consequential for exercising civil and political rights, and the Belarus protests are showing the importance of encrypted communications.” [Open Global Rights]
Los Angeles, CA, U.S. - “Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the development of the new Transportation Technology Innovation Zone during his opening comments for the fourth annual CoMotion LA conference yesterday.” [Government Technology]
New Orleans, LA, U.S. - “The New Orleans Police Department has confirmed that it is using facial recognition software to investigate crime, despite years of assurances that city government wasn't employing the technology.” [Government Technology]
Tampa, FL, U.S. - “Last week, the Housing Authority rolled out its latest security effort — six solar-powered surveillance cameras installed in and around the 35-acre Robles Park housing complex.” [Government Technology]
Washington, DC, U.S. - “EPIC filed a series of open government requests seeking information on a previously undisclosed facial recognition system used by police departments in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.” [EPIC]
Various U.S. Cities - “These [8] cities have focused on using technology to address their residents’ urgent needs during the pandemic.” [State Tech Magazine]
Various Global Cities - The annual World Smart City Awards winners have been announced on November 18. [Smart City Expo via BusinessInsider.in]
Market Watch
COVID-19 advancing mass video surveillance - Paper: Towards the sustainable development of smart cities through mass video surveillance: A response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [Science Direct]
E-scooter cameras - “E-scooters may soon come with pedestrian detection cameras, according to the Washington Post. Luna, based in Dublin, Ireland, is working with Swedish electric scooter micro-mobility company Voi to put Luna’s camera, telematics, and edge AI on Voi scooters. Luna uses GPS with centimeter precision (usually GPS is not that precise).” [Semi Engineering]
Intel and Nvidia - “Chips made by Intel and Nvidia, the American semiconductor companies, have powered the complex since it opened in 2016. By 2019, at a time when reports said that Beijing was using advanced technology to imprison and track Xinjiang’s mostly Muslim minorities, new U.S.-made chips helped the complex join the list of the world’s fastest supercomputers.” [NY Times]
Smart Cities trends - “Smart Cities Market Size, Share And Global Trend By Functional Area And Geography Forecast Till 2026.” [Fortune Business Insights]
Video analytics user manuals - “Through the Atlas of Surveillance project, EFF has found more than 35 law enforcement agencies that use advanced video analytics technology…To better understand how this software works, who uses it, and what it’s capable of, EFF has acquired a number of user manuals.” [EFF]
Policy Watch
Los Angeles, CA, U.S. - “The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) issued a moratorium on the use of third-party commercial facial recognition systems including Clearview AI. However, the LAPD will continue to use a Los Angeles County system which searches booking images.” [EPIC]
U.S. Federal - Podcast Episode: Fixing a Digital Loophole in the Fourth Amendment. [EFF]
U.S. Federal - Biden Administration expected to increase federal funding for safety initiatives/technologies that reduce accidents, like the Highway Safety Improvement Program, and launch a $1B competitive grant program to further the U.S. Department of Transportation's Smart City Challenge in five cities. [JoeBiden.com via Government Technology]
U.S. Federal - Digital rights organizations sign letter urging Biden Administration’s agency review teams to “prioritize civil rights and technology equities.” [Center for Democracy and Technology]
Various Global Cities - The Cities Coalition for Digital Rights founded by Amsterdam, Barcelona, and New York, and composed of 50+ global cities are “working to better define the rules of engagement to ensure technology deployed in their communities is fair, open and explainable.” [Cities Today]
Various Global Cities - The World Economic Forum has chosen the cities to pioneer a global policy roadmap developed by its G20 Smart Cities Alliance for the ethical and responsible use of data and technology. [Smart Cities World]
Watching the Watchers Watch
Belgrade, Serbia - “Hiljade kamera” (“Thousands of Cameras”) is a platform started by a community of individuals and organisations who advocate for the responsible use of surveillance technology. Their goals are citizen-led transparency and to hold officials accountable for their actions, by mapping cameras and speaking out about this topic to the public. The community has recently started tweeting out photos of cameras in Belgrade alongside the hashtag #hiljadekamera and encouraged others to do so as well.” [Privacy International via Hiljade.Kamera.rs via Nature]
Chicago, IL, U.S. - “Tens of thousands of moments were never captured on Chicago Police body cameras. Lax oversight allows it to happen.” [CBS 2]
Various European Civil Society Groups - A coalition of twelve European civil society groups launched a new campaign, #RECLAIMYOURFACE, this month calling for a ban on ‘biometric mass surveillance’. [ReclaimYourFace.eu via EPIC]
Bonus Section...A Film To Watch
🎥 Film: Alex Rivera’s 2008 science fiction film Sleep Dealer gives us a glimpse into a possible future, with a specific focus on the outcomes for people in the Global South. [Jacobin]