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More on Ordinance 33,021 and local resistance to surveillance, of interest to anyone who would prefer to move about the city without being treated as a prospective criminal. http://antigravitymagazine.com/column/new-orleans-looks-to-ban-facial-recognition-tech/ https://twitter.com/EOS_NOLA/status/1311346351440113664
ITT, context on this ordinance. First, an important concept is the panopticon. While it's a bit of an academic term, the concept can be explained briefly. You'll likely recognize the concept even if you didn't know the term. Quick explainer: https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/13things/7121.html
TL;DR the origins are in OG prison "reformer" Jeremy Benthem's architecture of a prison where ppl are observable in any location. Foucault later noted that in carceral society (a society where prisons exist) surveillance extends beyond prison walls and is internalized by people
So, we're living in a panopticon. Where does technology fit in? This article points out "the relative intangibility of data surveillance," meaning you might not FEEL surveilled. It's from 2015, so they're mostly talking about browser tracking. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/23/panopticon-digital-surveillance-jeremy-bentham
If you're a person who absorbs info more by listening than reading, we recommend these two recent podcasts on surveillance. They're current enough to talk about the implications—and efficacy—of contract tracing too.
https://www.surveillanceandthecity.com/all-episodes/episode-1-what-is-a-dirt-box
https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/tower-of-terror
https://www.surveillanceandthecity.com/all-episodes/episode-1-what-is-a-dirt-box
https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/tower-of-terror
Los Angeles just got caught using advanced militaristic surveillance on its own residents, using shady ol Palantir. https://twitter.com/tlupick/status/1311377960470032391
You might remember Palantir from when @MitchLandrieu secretly handed the city over to that company. We get the privilege of "pilot programs" a lot as y'all know (a "privilege" like how it's a privilege to be a lab bunny with mascara jabbed in your eyes). https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predictive-policing-tool-new-orleans-nopd
After getting caught, the city ended its relationship with Palantir, which was using software to "identify potential aggressors," i.e. increased policing/criminalization by algorithm—racist tech because it was created in a white supremacist society. https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/15/17126174/new-orleans-palantir-predictive-policing-program-end
But you already know it didn't stop there. @MayorCantrell, she of the rental assistance GoFundMe, immediately continued along that path in 2018, shelling out city funds to develop similar tech. https://thelensnola.org/2018/10/24/months-after-end-of-predictive-policing-contract-cantrell-administration-works-on-new-tool-to-id-high-risk-residents/
Setting aside how accurate it may even be, how *secure* is all that data New Orleans is keeping on you? Well, there was that expensive cyberattack that the City keeps pointing to when we ask where's the money for PPE, housing, the library, etc. https://thelensnola.org/2020/07/20/despite-city-law-new-orleans-hasnt-had-public-contract-database-since-2019-cyber-attack/
Many cities have opportunistically expanded surveillance during the pandemic (claiming it's for contract tracing; podcasts shared earlier debunk that). As recently as last year, @mayorcantrell was still using racist surveillance tech, even on our kids. https://thelensnola.org/2019/06/03/a-year-later-progress-continues-on-cantrell-program-to-id-high-risk-residents-but-few-details-available/
It's very difficult to roll back any form of policing once it's funded and implemented, so you should help @EOS_NOLA keep an eye on this surveillance and the current proposed ordinance to restrict it. http://antigravitymagazine.com/column/new-orleans-looks-to-ban-facial-recognition-tech/
Over the years, we've reported on surveillance a lot. This ol chestnut from 2016 on Mardi Gras masking and facial recognition should definitely be reread through the lens of pandemic masking. Right now, masking-as-freedom is a massive reframe. http://antigravitymagazine.com/feature/go-fret-a-watchman-carnival-surveillance-and-masking/
And from 2014 (!) yet fully relevant: reflections on our participation in surveillance and how it warps our minds. "When you see someone on surveillance footage, you expect them to misbehave; it’s a convention of the genre." http://antigravitymagazine.com/feature/watch-me-do-my-thing-surveillance-in-new-orleans/
The more demographically vulnerable you are to the criminal legal system, the more your life intersects with state institutions (whether it's jail or EBT or being followed round a store). The more you are watched by the state and by everyone, cause the panopticon's inside us.
So then consider a city where even aside from formal Palantir-esque programs, the police department, wealthy neighborhood associations, individuals, and private tech are all encouraged to collude in the interest of watching everyone. https://www.wdsu.com/article/how-the-ring-camera-system-is-helping-residents-and-the-nopd-fight-crime/26297723
Uncontroversial statements: we ought to be able to go about our lives without being treated as pre-criminals. Some modicum of privacy is essential to living with dignity. People treat each other better without a baseline of suspicion.
Increasingly popular statements: our budget priorities should keep us healthy, give us access to education, help us lift ourselves and each other up out of precarity. An evidence-based statement: increased surveillance and policing do not make us safer.
So that wraps up today's lesson on the panopticon in New Orleans and inside you. The moral of the story is to keep an eye on Ordinance 33,021, follow our pals
@EOS_NOLA
—and regard our governing bodies with the suspicion they treat us. Because there's evidence you ought to.
@EOS_NOLA
—and regard our governing bodies with the suspicion they treat us. Because there's evidence you ought to.
