Electronic surveillance

Public in urgent need of surveillance transparency

Surveillance technology is rapidly advancing and can consist of automated license plate readers that track our travel patterns, fake cell towers that surreptitiously connect to our smartphones, algorithms that scrape our social media or devices that digitize our faces. Many technologies aren’t limited to gathering intelligence on suspects and instead collect information on everyone.

The Carlsbad incident raises questions about public trust and high-tech policing. Who should decide which surveillance technologies are appropriate for our communities? Should police have to disclose how these technologies are used and how often they’re abused?

Privacy and public safety are not mutually exclusive; it just takes a robust debate to land on the right balance. This conversation won’t happen unless the rules change so police obtain approval from the public and our elected officials prior to deploying invasive spy tech.