OPINION — Government surveillance isn’t new, but new wide-ranging technologies that can detect our faces and track our movements are making it more ubiquitous. While the tools have changed, the purpose remains the same: to chill independent thought, free speech and dissent, bringing our country closer to 1984.
Millions of Americans are being watched as the U.S. ramps up mass surveillance with help from AI, data brokers, and partnerships with private tech companies. Immigrants, people seeking reproductive healthcare and activists are among the most intensely monitored, but tech like Flock cameras has brought the issue into communities across the country.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, police departments have increasingly deployed automated license-plate readers powered by AI to track drivers “without a warrant, probable cause or even reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.” And they’re doing this with little to no oversight or regulation.
