It was the first of its kind program of mass surveillance: the surreal, and initially-secret, deployment of an unmanned plane flying in circles over the city of Baltimore. Sociologist Benjamin Snyder discusses the Baltimore Police Department’s short-lived experiment in spying on the city’s residents. He considers how technologies like the spy plane are both embraced and feared –- without a deeper awareness of how flawed they often are.

Resources:

Benjamin H. Snyder, Spy Plane: Inside Baltimore’s Surveillance Experiment UC Press, 2024

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