Surveillance and the City

In our final episode of the season, we discuss the biggest surveillance story of the year: COVID-19, and all of the digital tracking technology that's spread along with it. From apps to wearables to Governor Cuomo's latest harebrained "Excelsior Pass" idea, we cover it all. Disclaimer: While we may be skeptical of vaccine passports, we highly encourage all of our listeners to get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible!

This week on Surveillance And The City, we discuss NYPD's so-called "gang database," which the Department claims is not racially biased despite chilling evidence to the contrary: The database is 98.5% people of color, the majority of individuals being Black. We also provide a brief overview of the fraught history of gang policing in the U.S., as well as discussion on similar "gang databases" in cities beyond New York.

Out, damned Spot! This week on Surveillance And The City, we discuss NYPD's latest surveillance boondoggle: a very expensive, 70-pound robotic dog affectionately named--you guessed it--Spot. We also cover the latest headlines on tech company rebranding efforts after public backlash against controversial products, such as predictive policing software company PredPol's name pivot to "Geolitica."

This week on Surveillance And The City, we discuss the movie Judas and the Black Messiah, a recent film about the life and death of Fred Hampton, and the history of COINTELPRO, the program that the FBI used to infiltrate the Black Panther Party, including its legacies in so-called "counterterrorism" and the surveillance of anti-racist movements today.

This week on Surveillance And The City, we briefly chat about Facebook's tech war with Australia before diving deep into New York City's policy on facial recognition.

This week on Surveillance and the City: Will Minneapolis be the latest city to ban facial recognition? Then, Albert Fox Cahn and Ali Winston take a deep dive into the latest reporting on how algorithmic decision making and tech giants are making even more of a mess of the vaccine roll-out.

This Week on SATC we look at the POST Act, the surveillance oversight law that forces the NYPD to account for the previously secret tech they use. Then we interview Jon Fasman, US digital editor at The Economist, about his new book, 'We See It All: Liberty and Justice in an Age of Perpetual Surveillance.'

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This week on Surveillance and the City, we look at the ominous threat of expanded “domestic terrorism” laws in the aftermath of this month’s attack on the Capitol.

Albert, Liz, and Ali see some reasons to be, maybe, optimistic, especially as it concerns the Office of Science and Technology. After that, it's all about Microsoft and its Iron Cage, followed by a dive into 1981's 'Escape from New York.'

This week on Surveillance and the City, we look at the wreckage of last week’s attack on the capitol, Leticia James & the NYPD, and the 1935 novel, and 'It Can't Happen Here.'