Issue 117: Local Government Surveillance

Issue 117: Local Government Surveillance

After previous
DTLJ Thursday Threads
issues on
digital privacy
,
surveillance camera systems
, and
federal government systems
, I’m focusing this week on what is happening at the local level—mainly in policing.
This closes this loop on surveillance by coming back around to local activity — although it takes an unexpected jump back to the national level with a story published last month.
Law enforcement surveillance has dramatically evolved, influenced by cutting-edge technology and controversial practices.
This thread of stories highlights the complexities and ethical challenges arising from deploying these advancements.
From the sophisticated smartphone tracking tools like Fog Reveal to the spidering data collection activities of Flock’s AI-powered license plate readers, these stories underscore the growing tensions between public safety objectives and personal privacy rights.
So that is the focus of this week’s
Thursday Threads
issue:
In 2022, we learned of a
local police surveillance called Fog Reveal
that pinpointed mobile phones and de-anonymized users.
Two years later,
they were still at it
—this time asking police to augment Fog Reveal’s data to include information about doctor visits. (2024)
NYPD has
multi-million dollar contracts with controversial surveillance firms
that scrape social media and post fake users to get surveillance engagement. (2023)
Advances in surveillance technology mean we’ve seen the unchecked growth of
Real-Time Crime Centers
across America. (2023)
Police and other public officials have special protections from data brokers, and
West Virginia officers sue Whitepages
over unlawful info disclosure. (2024)
Here’s the recent national twist on local law enforcement surveillance:
ICE’s covert use of Flock’s AI camera network
for immigration enforcement. (2025)
This Week I Learned
: Ammonium chloride may be the 6th basic taste
Before we start…it is important to call out what is happening in the United States.
The Trump administration is using modern-day authoritarian tactics to frighten citizens into accepting a new normal.
I am more angry at what my national leaders have done than I am frightened, and I hope you will express your outrage, too, at a
No Kings in America protest this weekend
.
These are drafts of the two signs I’ll be waving:
In light of Elon Musk stepping back from a public role in the administration, I’ll retitle my
#TeslaTakedown protest sign blog post
(although, in keeping with cool-URLs-don’t-change practice, it is at the same web link) and will be adding these two signs when they are finalized.
You are welcome to visit that post to download printable versions of these signs or any other ones that I’ve made.
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