🕵️♂️🤫🚫🗣️🥷 How Governments Spy On Protestors - And How To Avoid It | Incognito Mode | WIRED
🤖 AI Summary
- 👮 Police use multifaceted surveillance gear to identify and track protesters in real time.
- 🤳 Facial recognition apps like Clearview AI match photos against billions of internet images.
- 🎭 Algorithms now identify individuals even if they wear masks or obscure their faces.
- 📱 Cell site simulators or IMSI catchers impersonate towers to grab unique phone IDs.
- 🗺️ Geofence warrants allow authorities to pull location data for everyone in a specific area.
- 🕵️ Data brokers sell detailed profiles including browsing history and purchase records to police.
- 🚗 License plate readers track vehicle movement and can even capture text on clothing or signs.
- 🛸 Drones provide cheap aerial surveillance and can carry sophisticated sensors or thermal cameras.
- 🚶 Emerging tech like gait recognition identifies people by their unique walking patterns.
- 📉 Minimize risk by leaving phones at home or using Faraday bags to block signals.
- 🔐 Disable biometrics like FaceID to prevent forced phone unlocking during detentions.
- 💬 Use end to end encrypted messaging apps such as Signal for private communications.
🤔 Evaluation
- ⚖️ Wired focuses on privacy risks while the International Association of Chiefs of Police argues these tools are essential for public safety and identifying violent actors.
- 🛡️ Organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation highlight that these technologies disproportionately target marginalized communities and chill free speech.
- 🌍 Investigating the Global Expansion of AI Surveillance by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace provides a broader look at how these systems are exported globally.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
🕵️ Q: How do stingrays find people at protests?
🚨 A: These devices act as fake cell towers and trick phones into connecting so they can capture unique identification numbers.
🎭 Q: Can facial recognition identify me if I wear a mask?
🤖 A: Modern systems use facial geometry and can often identify individuals based on the areas around the eyes and forehead.
📍 Q: What is a geofence warrant?
📂 A: It is a legal request for tech companies to provide data on every device that was present within a specific geographic boundary.
📱 Q: Why should I turn off FaceID at a protest?
🔒 A: It prevents law enforcement from unlocking your phone by simply holding it up to your face without your consent.
📚 Book Recommendations
↔️ Similar
- 👁️🗨️💰⛓️👤 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff explores how personal data is commodified for profit and control.
- 📡 Your Face Belongs to Us by Kashmir Hill details the rise of Clearview AI and the end of privacy.
🆚 Contrasting
- 🚔 The Rise of Big Data Policing by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson examines how data can improve law enforcement efficiency and public safety.
- 🛡️ Open Strategy by Christian Stadler discusses how transparency and technology can benefit organizational security.
🎨 Creatively Related
- 📖 Little Brother by Cory Doctorow is a novel about teenagers using tech to fight back against a surveillance state.
- 🏙️ The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs discusses the concept of eyes on the street in urban environments.