Speaker: Dia Kayyali
Street level surveillance technology, such as surveillance cameras and iris scanners, is now a pervasive part of the daily lives of city dwellers, with disastrous consequences for freedom of expression. This talk will cover what kind of street level technology we’re seeing, how it’s spreading, and who’s making money off of it. We’ll also talk about some of the security flaws hackers have exposed on these technologies, and put out a call to action to CCC.
Surveillance was on the street before it was online, and that hasn’t changed. What has changed is that cities around the world are now bristling with street level surveillance technology, like GPS tracking devices, IMSI catchers, biometrics, drones, and cameras of all kinds. Much like the business of selling malware to repressive regimes, big multi-national corporations like General Electric and Morpho have made huge profits off the spread of this technology, and have helped it spread like wildfire.
Even in places like the United States, where, in the last 20 years, crime rates have steadily and significantly declined, the use of this incredibly invasive technology is excused by “public safety" or "crime prevention needs.” Justifications range from warnings about terrorism (often thinly-veiled jabs at activists like the Black Lives Matter movement or anti-austerity activists in Greece) to conflating “national security” with disaster preparedness. Similarly, In Latin American, government authorities have used surveillance measures to discredit and stigmatize social movements involved in protests.
Street level surveillance is also often part of preparation for major events. The technology left behind becomes integrated in to everyday policing. The 2012 Olympics in London was accompanied by a host of new technology, including iris scanners, biometric ID cards, automated license plate readers, and facial-recognition CCTV systems. In preparation for the 2014 World Cup
